Oklahoma vs Kansas

Written by Kyle Hunter

Just last season Oklahoma was in the BCS Championship game, but to Sooner fans that seems so long ago now. An injury riddled season has held back a team with a lot of a talent, and their Heisman trophy winner from a year ago is likely to miss the rest of this season. Kansas was 5-0 heading into Boulder last weekend, but the Buffaloes of Colorado upset them and now they need to rebound to get their season back on track.

It’s not that the Oklahoma Sooners don’t have talent left, they have plenty. It’s just that the Sooners top two players in Bradford and tight end Jermaine Gresham are out for the season and their most explosive running back is being hobbled by a nagging ankle injury. They still have plenty of talent to compete, but they don’t have the talent to get to where they wanted to when the season started. Landry Jones has done an admirable job in stepping in for Sam Bradford. Jones has thrown 11 touchdowns to just 5 interceptions in his freshman campaign. The Sooners have two very good running backs in DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown. The Sooners defense has been the strength of the team thus far this season. The defense is allowing only 9.7 points per game and a minuscule 68 yards per game on the ground.

Todd Reesing is the leader of a Kansas Jayhawk offense that can put points on the board in a hurry. The Jayhawks are averaging 39 points per game and 347 yards per game through the air. Reesing has thrown for 1,979 yards and 15 touchdowns in just 6 games. Freshman Toben Oprum has given the team a solid running threat that keeps defenses honest at all times. The Jayhawks have two of the best wide receivers in the Big 12 in Kerry Meier and Dezmon Briscoe. Meier serves as more of a possession receiver, while Briscoe is the home run hitter. The Kansas defense started the season looking much improved, but they have regressed in recent weeks. For the year they are allowing just 21 points per game, but in the last 3 games they have allowed 33 points per game and 410 yards per game.

Despite being the team that has just a 3-3 record and being on the road the Sooners are favored by 7.5 points in this matchup according to our NCAA football lines. The posted total for the game is set at 54.5 points. Kansas is 24-10 against the spread in their last 34 games, but the Sooners are 6-1-1 against the spread in their last 8 road games. The under is 7-0 in the Sooners last 7 games. The over is 4-0 in the Jayhawks last 4 games.

The Jayhawks need this game in a big way, so I would be surprised if we don’t see their best effort in this one. Their defense will likely allow quite a bit of yards to the Sooner offense, but Todd Reesing and the offense of Kansas should have success as well. I think the play in this one is Kansas at home with the points.

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