The Football Brainiacs

Image via Kyle Phillips / Associated Press

I wanted to at least honestly be able to say I tried to find some kind of stat that this KU team has done moderately well, but it just wasn’t there to be found. Or at least not in the time I was willing to spend looking. This certainly isn’t any revelation on my part, but on paper this game is every single thing you think it should be.

Barring some type of epic collapse an OU’s part and/or the Sooners just come out incredibly flat — somewhat similar to what Texas Tech did in Lawrence a couple weeks ago — there is no reason to believe Oklahoma can’t win this game on form alone.

You may or may not have already read, or will read, some people this week try to spin you on this particular aspect of the game and how it could make an impact. However, I’m not going to insult your intelligence like that. Unless OU commits something like five or more turnovers, there is no reason this game should even be a contest.

But even with all that said, we’re still gonna give this a go for another week. And I’d expect this is the case with these pretty much every week, but you should be going in (to my post, not the game) with low expectations.

* Ground Game: It’s somewhat similar to this past week against Tech in that this is really a lose-lose type of scenario in terms of OU’s run game. A second straight week facing a porous run defense, although believe it or not KU’s rush defense (119th nationally) is actually a slight upgrade from TTU (126th).

Success on the ground and you’re met with ‘So what, it’s Kansas. You should be able to run the ball.’ Meanwhile, struggle to move the ball and you’ll hear ‘WTF?!? You can’t even run the ball against Kansas???’ Hence, lose-lose.

Granted there will always be some who won’t take either side of that equation to the extreme as stated above, but if OU does struggle it would have to at least bring into question whether or not this o-line has indeed started to gel as many are now suggesting.

* Secondary: Kansas is at or near the bottom of almost every Big 12 offensive category, so it’s unlikely they provide much of a test for this OU secondary on Saturday. Although from what little I have watched of the Jayhawks this year, their freshman QB Ryan Willis can definitely spin it. And this will be an OU unit without one of their best players in Zack Sanchez. So in that respect it will be interesting to see how they (OU) respond, and how KU goes about attempting to attack them.

I believe as of the time this post will go up Dakota Austin is expected to get the start in Sanchez’s place, but Marcus Green is also supposed to be available and I’ve yet to really hear anything specific as to PJ Mbanasor’s status for this game. So will KU go after Austin, and will he be able to carry over the momentum after having come in unexpectedly against Tech and playing well?

And if this game gets out of hand, as I suspect some believe there is a good chance of happening, will we see a guy like Kahlil Haughton get some extensive playing time after seeing the field a decent amount last week as OU’s dime back.

* Young Wideouts: And if we’re sticking with the theme of assuming some of the young guys get a chance in this game, I’m anxious to see if Lincoln Riley tries to work them in like he did at times last week. The redshirts are off at this point, so by all means get A.D. Miller & Dahu Green out there to help build some confidence (especially the latter after dropping that gimmie TD against Tech). Jeffrey Mead could probably benefit from an easy catch or two, or maybe make an effort to get Michiah Quick in space, or offer proof Dallis Todd is actually still on the team. I’m not picky, just have fun with it.

* More Primetime: Coming off what was arguably his “breakout” game, I’m gonna go out on a limb and say I’m probably not alone in hoping Joe Mixon can keep it going on Saturday. I also seem to get the sense people are only just now coming around to the fact he’s not just about making people miss, as he did a number of times last week, but also his ability to run through/over people. He runs hard and is just as apt to put a move on you as he is lower his shoulder.

And while it was fun and all to see Mixon play so well last Saturday, the part that really intrigued me was the different ways Lincoln Riley is now starting to utilize getting Mixon the ball in space.

—

What will you be watching for Saturday afternoon?