• The Road Warrior Report - Kansas Review - October 31, 2015

      by
      Phil
      Published on 10/31/2015 08:44 PM
      0 Comments Comments
      LAWRENCE, KANSAS – As football games go, it wasn’t much of one, not that it was expected to be. The Sooners demolished the winless Kansas Jayhawks 62-7 this afternoon on a gloriously crisp Halloween Saturday, in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicated, if that can be said of a 55-point game.


      KU’s only points were courtesy of a muffed punt by Sterling Shepard. Without that, the Sooners would have shut out the State of Kansas for 2015. As it is, the score in the Sunflower State stands at Oklahoma 117, State of Kansas 7. Oklahoma has not lost in the State of Kansas in the 21st Century.


      The Sooner dominance was such that they did not punt. The drive chart for the day went like this: missed FG, TD, TD, TD, fumble, TD, FG, TD, TD, TD, FG, fumble, TD, end of game. Where Samaje Perine’s record-setting day in the rain tormented the Jayhawks a year ago, this time they held the big man to a measly (by comparison) 91 yards, albeit only on 11 carries. Alex Ross had 103 yards on 14 carries in extensive mop-up duty, while Joe Mixon had 44 yards on only 6 carries. Mixon also had a cross-country 68-yard TD reception that opened the scoring.


      The main damage to Kansas was done through the air, as Baker Mayfield shredded the Jayhawk secondary to the tune of 27 of 32 passing (that’s an 84.375% completion rate, for those of you scoring at home), 383 yards, and four touchdowns. And he didn’t play much into the third quarter, giving way to Trevor Knight and, eventually, Cody Thomas. Shepard led the 10 Sooners who caught passes with an outstanding 11 catches for 183 yards and a TD. Altogether, the Sooners racked up 710 yards of offense.

      The defense, meanwhile, deserved a shutout again, but was denied by Shepard’s miscue. They forced a pair of fumbles and held KU to only 216 total yards. Frankly, the two fumbles (the other by Alex Ross late in the game) and an injury to Jonathan Alvarez were really the only negatives on the day. Alvarez appeared to be walking OK leaving the field, so we will see on that.

      All in all, it was a successful, if not particularly entertaining, afternoon in Northeast Kansas. It might have been entertaining if you are a fan of the clubbing of baby seals, but other than that, it was a businesslike outing. Other than Bob Stoops putting on a Yoda mask in the locker room.

      Next week, it’s Iowa State in another rare non-morning kickoff in Norman. And after that, things really start to get interesting. The last three weeks of the season have the potential to be a Red November on the order of the Red October of 2000. Whether November lives up to that potential depends on what happens two weeks from today in Waco. We can’t wait. See you Saturday night in Norman.

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