Game Primer: Kansas State

October 17 | 2:30 p.m. | Manhattan, Kan.

¹⁹ Oklahoma

Kansas State

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OPENING KICK

• Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1) plays its first Big 12 true road game of the season when it takes on Kansas State (3-2, 0-2) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT in Manhattan, Kan. The game will be televised by ABC (full national broadcast) with Dave Lamont, Ray Bentley and Dawn Davenport announcing.

• OU (eight) and K-State (two) have combined for 10 Big 12 championships in the league's first 19 years (they shared the 2012 crown).

• Oklahoma's 72 all-time wins against Kansas State are tied for its second most among all opponents (84 vs. Oklahoma State; also 72 vs. Iowa State and Kansas).

• The Sooners are 5-0 under Bob Stoops in Manhattan (won all five by double digits). No other current Big 12 program has a winning record at K-State during the Stoops era. Besides relatively new league members TCU (1-1) and West Virginia (0-1), the program with the next best record at K-State since 1999 is Texas Tech at 2-3. Baylor is 2-4, Iowa State 1-6, Kansas 1-7, Oklahoma State 1-4 and Texas 1-4.

trophy locker room

The Sooners celebrate the 2012 Big 12 Championship, which they shared with Kansas State. Oklahoma and KSU have combined to win 10 titles in the league's 19 years.

• The visiting team has won the last four meetings in the OU-KSU series.

• The Sooners are coming off a 24-17 loss against Texas on Saturday in Dallas. Oklahoma, which never led, registered 21 first downs to UT's 20, but was outgained 368 yards to 278 on the day. One week after forcing five turnovers against West Virginia, OU did not force any against the Longhorns.

• Kansas State, which went 9-4 (7-2 Big 12) last season and lost 40-35 to UCLA in the Alamo Bowl, is off to a 3-2 start this year with wins against South Dakota (34-0), at UTSA (30-3) and versus Louisiana Tech (39-33 in triple overtime), and losses at Oklahoma State (36-34) and to No. 2 TCU (52-45).

• Under Stoops, the Sooners are 15-1 in the game after they play Texas (only loss was last year to Kansas State) and is 6-0 after a loss to Texas.

• Oklahoma is 40-6 since the start of the 2010 season against teams unranked in the AP Top 25 Poll.

• OU is 9-2 all-time when ranked No. 19 in the AP poll. The Sooners have won their last seven games under the circumstance and have outscored their opponents 277-75 in those seven victories (average of 39.6 to 10.7).

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

• Oklahoma has not lost back-to-back regular season games since Oct. 2 and 9, 1999, Bob Stoops' debut season. OU has won 34 consecutive regular season games following a regular season loss.

• OU owns a 72-19-4 (.779) all-time record and a 9-5 (.643) Big 12-era mark against Kansas State, the highest winning percentages by a Wildcats' opponent among current Big 12 programs. In fact, no other current Big 12 program has a winning record against K-State since the league began in 1996.

• An assistant coach on Bill Snyder's first seven K-State teams (1989-1995), Stoops served as the defensive backs coach his first two years in Manhattan before serving the final five as co-defensive coordinator. The Wildcats failed to go to a bowl game the first four years of the Snyder/Stoops pairing (18-26 record), but did each of the last three years (28-6 record). Stoops played at Iowa from 1979-82 under head coach Hayden Fry, and that staff featured Snyder as offensive coordinator each of those seasons. Stoops left K-State following the 1995 season to become assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at Florida.

• Snyder and Stoops rank second and third among active FBS coaches in career wins at their current school. Virginia Tech's Frank Beamer ranks first (234 in 29th year), Snyder is second (190 in 24th year) and Stoops is third (172 in 17th year).

• Since the start of the 2009 season, the Sooners are 11-1 against teams they lost to the previous season. The only back-to-back losses they sustained to one opponent during the stretch came to Baylor in 2013 and 2014. OU lost to Kansas State at home in 2012 but responded for a 41-31 road win over the Wildcats in 2013.

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE

• Kansas State enters Saturday's contest riding a two-game losing streak, and both of the heart-breaking variety. Two weeks ago, the Wildcats lost 36-34 on a last-second field goal at Oklahoma State. This past Saturday, they held a 35-17 halftime advantage against No. 2 TCU before falling 52-45 at home (TCU scored a touchdown with 1:10 left in the fourth quarter for the final points).

• Both of K-State's losses came when leading at halftime. Entering the OSU game, the Wildcats had won 49 straight contests when ahead at the half (was nation's longest such streak).

• K-State ranks sixth in the Big 12 in scoring offense (36.4 ppg) and eighth in total offense (370.0 ypg), while ranking fifth in scoring defense (24.8 ppg) and sixth in total defense (395.8 ypg). It has been outgained by 25.8 yards a contest.

• The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in kickoff return yards per attempt (26.4) and in time of possession (34:02 per game).

The Wildcats lead the Big 12 in kickoff return yards per attempt (26.4) and in time of possession (34:02 per game).

• Junior quarterback Joe Hubener has started the last four games and averages 165.4 passing yards and 44.8 rushing yards per outing. He has completed 47.7 percent of his passes, with two interceptions and four TDs. He ranks third nationally with his 15.9 yards per completion. Hubener has also scored six rushing TDs (no other Wildcat has scored more than three). Four of those scores on the ground came against TCU when he rushed for 111 yards on 26 carries.

• Redshirt freshman running back Justin Silmon, from Tulsa, Okla. (Union High School), averages a team-high 56.4 rushing yards per game. Junior wide receiver Deante Burton leads the team with his 15 catches and 44.4 receiving yards per contest.

• Junior defensive back Donnie Starks and sophomore linebacker Elijah Lee pace the Wildcats with their 6.0 tackles per game. Senior defensive end Marquel Bryant leads the squad with 3.0 sacks on the year.

• Senior defensive back Morgan Burns leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally with his 33.7 yards per kickoff return. He returned the opening kickoff of the season 100 yards against South Dakota. Senior kicker Jack Cantele is 8 for 9 on his field goal attempts (long of 44).

• Bill Snyder (William Jewel, '63) is in his 24th season as a head coach, all at Kansas State (190-96-1 record). His teams won Big 12 titles in 2003 (beat Oklahoma in championship game) and 2012 (shared with OU with 8-1 league record).

LAST YEAR VS. THE WILDCATS

defense ksu

• Michael Hunnicutt missed a late 19-yard field goal try as No. 14 Kansas State edged No. 11 Oklahoma 31-30 in Norman. Trailing by a point in the fourth quarter, OU drove to the K-State 1-yard line but couldn't punch the ball in. Hunnicutt then missed the short field goal that would have put the Sooners ahead with 3:53 remaining. The Wildcats took possession and ran out the clock. Hunnicutt also missed a 32-yard field goal attempt in the second quarter and had an extra-point attempt blocked in the fourth.

• Oklahoma outgained K-State in total yards, 533-385, and in first downs, 30-17. But in addition to their kicking game troubles, the Sooners threw a pair of interceptions (one by a receiver on a trick play at the KSU 17-yard line) while the Wildcats committed no turnovers.

• OU quarterback Trevor Knight was 26 for 32 passing for 318 yards with one interception and three touchdowns. His second-quarter interception was returned five yards for a touchdown by Danzel McDaniel.

• Sterling Shepard racked up a career-high 197 receiving yards and tied a school record with 15 catches, one of them a 47-yard TD grab. Running back Samaje Perine ran for 89 yards and a score on 24 carries.

• K-State quarterback Jake Waters was 15 for 23 through the air for 225 yards and two touchdowns, one of them for 62 yards to Glenn Gronkowski. He ran for 51 yards and a score on 10 carries. Tyler Lockett led the Wildcats with 86 receiving yards on six catches, one for a TD.

• OU ran 23 more plays from scrimmage than K-State (78-55).

MAYFIELD AMONG NATION'S LEADERS

Mayfield has thrown for at least one touchdown in all five games and passed for at least three scores in each of the first four.

• Junior quarterback Baker Mayfield is off to a strong start in his first year of competition with the Sooners. A former walk-on at Texas Tech who transferred to Oklahoma (also as a walk-on) after being named Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year as a Red Raider, Mayfield ranks fifth among FBS players in points responsible for per game (21.6), eighth in total offense per game (345.2), ninth in passing TDs per game (2.80) and 10th in passing yards per game (318.6).

• Mayfield has thrown for at least one touchdown in all five games and passed for at least three scores in each of the first four.

• Two weeks ago against a West Virginia defense that allowed just 7.7 points, 154.0 passing yards and 0.7 touchdown passes per game entering the day, Mayfield threw for 320 yards and three scores in a 44-24 win.

• Mayfield set the OU single-game record for total offense (572 yards; most by an FBS player this year) against Tulsa three games ago and tied the school record by accounting for six TDs (four passing, two rushing). His 487 passing yards stand as the fourth most in OU single-game history. He was 32 for 38 through the air, and his 226.6 pass efficiency rating was the highest by a Sooner with more than 30 attempts in a game.

SHEPARD CLIMBING RECEIVING CHARTS

shepard

• Senior receiver Sterling Shepard is rapidly ascending several OU career charts. A 2014 first-team All-Big 12 selection by the league's coaches, Shepard is tied for third in career 100-yard receiving games (9) and ranks fourth in career receiving yards (2,610), fifth in career receptions (173) and seventh in career TD receptions (18).

• Shepard tied the OU single-game record with 15 catches last year vs. Kansas State.

SENSATIONAL SEIBERT

• True freshman Austin Seibert is the first kicker in OU history to make each of his first eight field goal tries. He has also made all 23 of his point-after attempts.

• Seibert ranks fourth among Big 12 kickers and ranks sixth among all league players with his 9.4 points per game.

• Seibert ranks fourth in the Big 12 with his 43.8-yard punting average. Eight of his 28 punts have gone 50 yards or more, and 13 have been downed inside the 20-yard line (only one touchback).

OPENING KICK

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

SCOUTING KANSAS STATE

LAST YEAR VS. THE WILDCATS

MAYFIELD AMONG NATION'S LEADERS

SHEPARD CLIMBING RECEIVING CHARTS

SENSATIONAL SEIBERT

Players Mentioned

Michael Hunnicutt

Trevor Knight

Baker Mayfield

Samaje Perine

Austin Seibert

Sterling Shepard

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