Cowboys Looking To Get Back on Track by Limiting KU’s Offense on Saturday

STILLWATER – For possibly the first time ever, the Kansas Jayhawks outgained the Oklahoma Sooners in a football game. It’s certainly one of the few times they’ve outgained an opponent over the past several seasons, and they nearly shocked the world by beating OU, but came up short in the end.

The Jayhawks are hungry and looking to pick up their first conference win since they beat the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Homecoming way back on Oct. 26, 2019. More than two years.

The offense was really good on third and fourth down this past weekend as they converted 9-of-13 third down attempts and were 1-for-1 on fourth down. They also rushed for 166 yards, 16 yards more than their season average of 150 yards per game.

The Cowboys have been very good at getting off the field on third down this season, holding Texas and Iowa State to just nine of 28 on third down attempts. They’re holding opponents to just a 30% success rate when it comes to third downs and that’s one of the keys to the Pokes’ success this Saturday.

“Get off the field on third down,” said Brock Martin. “I think KU was 8-for-9 or something on the first drive on third downs. I think they were like 90% on that drive, so you’ve got to get off the field on third down. You can’t let them establish anything; you let them extend those drives, they get to fatigue out the d-line and linebackers and they get to kind of do whatever they want. That’s why we take a lot of pride of getting off the field on third down.”

KU quarterback Jason Bean also had a solid day against the Sooner defense as he went 17-of-23 for 246 yards and one touchdown. His main target was super senior receiver, Kwamie Lassiter II, who recorded seven catches on nine targets for 101 yards. Redshirt freshman receiver Lawrence Arnold was next on the list with four catches for six targets for 73 yards.

“I see a couple of guys with a lot of speed over there, a lot of guys going hard every rep trying to find a window to get open,” said Christian Holmes. “Just got to keep our eyes in the right spot and we’ll be fine.”

Covering receivers was an issue for the Pokes this past weekend as Brock Purdy had his best of the season as he posted 307 yards and two touchdowns on 27-of-33 passing, with Xavier Hutchinson torching the Pokes for 125 yards and two touchdowns on 12 catches. Holmes said there’s been a lot of improvements the corners have been working on since getting back to work on Sunday.

“Mainly just keep your eyes on your man, keep your feet up under you. Really the only thing we’re working on is being a better cornerback and that consists of really everything: feet work, eyes, hand placement. We had a lot of drills working it, so it was good to shake back from a game like [Iowa State].”

While the Jayhawks nearly shocked the world, this is the perfect game for the Pokes to get everything back on track. While the Iowa State game was disappointing, I feel the team is going to be hungry and ready to prove they still belong in Arlington in December.