Season Preview: OU vs. K-State

Oklahoma's Oct. 15 showdown with Kansas State will serve as the Sooners' first Big 12 Conference home game of the season. OU is 15-2 in Big 12 home openers under head coach Bob Stoops (he won his first 13 such games from 1999 to 2011).

OU vs. K-State

The Sooners are 73-19-4 all-time against the Wildcats including a 37-10-1 record in Manhattan and 35-8-3 mark in Norman. The teams have split the last four meetings, with KSU winning in Norman in 2012 and 2014, but Oklahoma has won seven of the last nine.

Bob vs. Bill?

Bob Stoops shares a special bond with Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder. Stoops served on Snyder's staff from 1989 to 1995, helping Snyder accomplish one of the most impressive turnarounds in college football history. Stoops is 9-3 against his mentor, twice meeting the Wildcats in the Big 12 Championship game (won in 2000, lost in 2003).

Aside from the coaches' history with each other, they are also two of the best in college football. Stoops has more wins (179) than any coach in Oklahoma history and has led OU to 17 straight bowl berths and nine Big 12 titles. He is also the only coach to win a national championship and each of the BCS bowls.

In 1989, Snyder took over a Kansas State program that had lost 27 straight games and converted it into one that went to 11 straight bowl games and racked up six 11-win seasons. Snyder, a five-time national coach of the year, is just the fourth person in history to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as an active coach. He was inducted last year.

About the Wildcats

Despite going 6-7 in 2015, the Wildcats received a bowl bid for the sixth consecutive season. K-State, which fell to Arkansas in the 2016 Liberty Bowl, is one of just 24 schools to have made a bowl each of the last six years.

Kansas State returns all 10 of its full-time coaches in 2016. The Wildcats join Northwestern as the only teams in the nation to do so. KSU also brings back 90 percent of its offensive production (1,854 of 2,057 total yards), 70 percent of its total tackles (570 of 817) and 71 percent of its sacks (27.0 of 38).

Senior quarterback Joe Hubener will be back under center for the Wildcats this season. Last year Hubener rushed for 613 yards and 13 touchdowns and also threw for 1,837 yards on 48 percent passing with nine touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Leading rusher Charles Jones also returns. He picked up 696 yards on 142 attempts a year ago, averaging a healthy 4.9 yards per carry.

Veteran leaders are a hallmark of Bill Snyder-coached teams, and two senior keys to the Wildcat defense are back in 2016. Linebacker Elijah Lee led KSU in tackles with 80 a year ago, and added 7.5 tackles for loss and five sacks. Joining Lee in the front seven is Jordan Willis. The defensive end led the Cats with 9.5 sacks a year ago while also adding 15.5 tackles for loss and 34 total takedowns.

Last Time: The Turnaround

Last year's Oklahoma-Kansas State game and the manner in which the Sooners bounced back from a 24-17 upset loss to Texas the previous week kickstarted OU's run to the College Football Playoff.

"I've never seen that many guys care about one thing so intensely as we all did," said then-freshman offensive tackle Dru Samia last year about OU's loss to Texas. "We were all very impacted by that game. We were all very upset with how we played."

It showed.

The Sooners went to Manhattan and outgained K-State 568 yards to 110 in posting a 55-0 victory, dealing the Wildcats their first home shutout in 24 years. Baker Mayfield, who did not play in fourth quarter, completed 20 of 27 pass attempts for 282 yards and a career-high five touchdowns without an interception. All five scores came in the first two quarters, tying an OU record for TDs in a half.

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The 110 yards surrendered by OU were its fewest on the road since the 2005 season and the third fewest of the Bob Stoops era. The Sooners racked up 11 tackles for loss (six sacks) and three interceptions, one of them a pick-six by Zack Sanchez.

Said K-State head coach Bill Snyder following the contest: "I cannot remember being involved in a game like this since 1989 in the first year that we were here. I do not even know if we had one that bad during that first go around."

OU improved to 6-0 at K-State under Stoops, with each win coming by double digits.