Game Primer: OU vs. Kansas State

Saturday, October 2

Manhattan, KS

2:30 PM

University of Oklahoma

Kansas State

Photo by: Ty Russell

October 01, 2021 | Football

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^6/4 Oklahoma

Kansas State

Saturday, Oct. 2 / 2:30 p.m. CT / Manhattan, Kan.

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OPENING KICK

• No. 6/4 Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) plays its first road game of the season when it faces Kansas State (3-1, 0-1) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. CT at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan. The game will be televised nationally by FOX with Aaron Goldsmith and Brock Huard announcing.

• Oklahoma has won 14 Big 12 championships in the league's first 25 years while Kansas State is tied for third with three titles (the two programs shared the 2012 crown).

• The Sooners have won 26 of their last 28 true road games and are 15-2 in such contests under fifth-year head coach Lincoln Riley.

• OU has scored at least 30 points in a school-record 33 consecutive true road games. The next longest streak nationally since at least 1980 is 19 games by Northern Illinois (2010-13). The next longest current streak is 10 by Alabama.

• Dating back to the start of the 2012 season, Oklahoma is 43-8 (.843) in regular season games away from home. OU has scored at least 30 points in 44 of those 51 contests.

• OU has won 12 games in a row, which represents the 11th winning streak of at least 12 games in program history and the Sooners' longest since winning 14 straight over the 2016 and '17 seasons (last 10 games of 2016 and first four of '17). The 12-game streak is also the second-longest in the country, with only Alabama (18) owning a longer active streak. Just one other Power Five program (Iowa at 10) has a winning streak longer than eight games. OU has registered winning streaks of at least seven games in each of the past six seasons.

• The Sooners have as many Big 12 titles the last six seasons (six) as they have lost games against Big 12 opponents (52-6 record; includes four Big 12 Championship games).

• Come Saturday, Oklahoma will have been Big 12 champion for 2,136 consecutive days.

• OU is 147-31 (.826) in regular season Big 12 play since the start of the 2000 season. That's 26 more wins than the program with the next most victories during that period (Texas; 121-57) and 46 more than the program with the third most (Oklahoma State; 101-78).

• Saturday's contest will mark Oklahoma's seventh straight against K-State when the Wildcats are unranked in the AP poll (the Sooners are 4-2 in the previous six). Including this season, OU has been ranked in the AP poll in 18 of the 21 meetings since the start of the Big 12 Conference in 1996 (not ranked in 1996, 1997 or 2005 matchups), including 12 times in the top 10.

• Oklahoma is 40-4 all-time as the No. 6-ranked team in the AP poll and 13-1 on the road. The lone road loss was a 29-20 defeat at No. 10 Nebraska in 1963. OU has faced Kansas State on the road once as the No. 6-ranked team (a 13-10 victory in 1939) and is 2-1 all-time against the Wildcats while ranked sixth. The Sooners defeated K-State 56-10 at home in 1986 and lost 24-19 to No. 15 KSU at home in 2012.

• An Oklahoma win Saturday would mark the 50th in 58 games in the head coaching career of Lincoln Riley. Only Barry Switzer (56) and Bud Wilkinson (57) reached 50 victories at OU faster than 58 games.

• Saturday's game will mark OU's first away from home this season. The last time the Sooners opened a campaign with four home games was in 2004 when they beat Bowling Green (40-24), Houston (63-13), Oregon (31-17) and Texas Tech (28-13) as the AP's No. 2 team in all four contests.

• Kansas State opened the season with wins over Stanford (24-7 in Arlington, Texas), Southern Illinois (31-23 at home) and Nevada (38-17 at home) to rise to No. 25 in the AP poll before falling Saturday at Oklahoma State (31-20).

KEY STORYLINES

• Oklahoma has lost only six Big 12 games since the start of the 2015 season and two of the defeats have come to unranked Kansas State squads the last two years. The Wildcats downed No. 5 OU 48-41 in 2019 in Manhattan and rallied for a 38-35 win over the No. 3 Sooners last year in Norman. OU's other Big 12 losses the past seven seasons came to Texas in 2015 and 2018, and to Iowa State in 2017 and 2020. None of the six defeats were by more than seven points.

• The road team in the OU-Kansas State series has won seven of the last 10 meetings. In fact, since the start of the Big 12 Conference in 1996, the visiting team is 11-7 in the series. The Sooners are 7-2 in Manhattan in the Big 12 era (losses in 1996 and 2019) and have scored at least 31 points in all nine meetings (averaging 44.7).

• Saturday's game will feature an Oklahoma run defense that has held all four opponents this season to 100 or fewer ground yards (74.3 average). Meanwhile, Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn is averaging 98.3 rushing yards per contest this year and is tied for second in the Big 12 with five rushing touchdowns. Over OU's last 17 games, only one running back has rushed for 100 yards in a game against the Sooners (Iowa State's Breece Hall had 139 yards in the third game of last season). OU ranked 19th nationally last year by allowing 3.5 yards per rush and this year is permitting just 2.4 per carry to rank 10th nationally. K-State ranks sixth in the country by allowing just 2.2 yards per rush this season.

• The Sooners have committed only three turnovers through four games and rank 10th nationally with their +5 turnover margin on the season. The next best margin in the Big 12 is +2 by three teams (K-State ranks seventh in the conference with its -1 margin). Oklahoma has yet to fumble this season while its opponents have fumbled 12 times (lost five). OU has also registered three interceptions.

• Oklahoma's defense has spent a lot of time in the opponent backfield this season. OU ranks 14th nationally with its 3.5 sacks per game and is 13th in the country with 8.0 tackles for loss per contest. Defensive lineman Perrion Winfrey is tied for second in the Big 12 with his 3.5 sacks (K-State's Felix Anudike-Uzomah has 4.0) while outside linebacker Nik Bonitto and defensive linemen Isaiah Thomas have 2.5 sacks each to rank seventh in the league. The Wildcats are permitting 2.0 sacks per outing.

Kori Roberson

RECAPPING THE WIN OVER WEST VIRGINIA

• Gabe Brkic kicked a 30-yard field goal with no time remaining to lift No. 4/3 Oklahoma to a 16-13 home win over West Virginia on Saturday night in Norman. The play marked what is believed to be OU's first-ever game-winning kick with zeroes on the clock and gave the Sooners their only lead of the evening.

• On a night that yielded few offensive yards or big plays for either team, OU outgained WVU 313-226 (4.9 yards per play to 3.6). The Sooners gained just 57 yards on the ground but held the Mountaineers to 47 (1.6 per carry).

• With the game tied at 13, OU took possession on its own 8-yard line with 3:39 left in the fourth quarter and proceeded to go 80 yards on 14 plays to set up Brkic for his game-winner. Brkic connected on all three of his field goal attempts on the night (28, 35 and 30 yards), with each coming in the second half.

• West Virginia gained 75 yards on its first possession and took a 7-0 lead but registered only 151 yards the rest of the night (62 in the second half and -9 in the fourth quarter). WVU converted 4 of 5 third downs in the first quarter but was 0 for 9 the remainder of the game.

• OU quarterback Spencer Rattler completed 26 of 36 passes (72.2%) for 256 yards and a touchdown to improve to 13-2 as a starter. He was 6 for 6 for 54 yards on the game-winning drive and completed 15 of his final 16 attempts.

• Michael Woods II had a career-high eight receptions for 86 yards (54 yards after the catch) while Austin Stogner caught the TD pass (5-yarder on OU's opening drive). It was Stogner's first TD catch of the year and sixth of his career.

• Linebacker Brian Asamoah and safety Pat Fields led the Sooners with nine tackles apiece and safety Delarrin Turner-Yell registered his second career interception on the first play of the second quarter.

• The Sooners' 16 points were their fewest since getting beat 40-6 by Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl on Dec. 29, 2014. The 16 points were their fewest in victory since downing West Virginia 16-7 Sept. 7, 2013, in Norman.

• OU trailed 10-7 at halftime, marking its first home deficit at the half since trailing Ohio State 35-17 in 2016.

• Oklahoma improved to 9-0 vs. the Mountaineers since they joined the Big 12 prior to the 2012 season. The Sooners are the only Big 12 program West Virginia hasn't beaten since joining the league.

LAST YEAR VS. KANSAS STATE

• Oklahoma outgained K-State by 117 yards (517-400), had 28 first downs to the Wildcats' 10 and held KSU to a 2-for-11 performance on third downs, but gave up the last 24 points (was outscored 17-0 in the fourth quarter) in a 38-35 home loss on Sept. 26, 2020, in the Big 12 opener for both teams. The Sooners held leads of 28-7 and 35-14.

• The loss snapped OU's 17-game home winning streak and gave K-State a second straight victory in the series. The last time the Sooners had lost games in consecutive seasons to the same opponent was 2013 and '14 (Baylor). OU's 53-game streak of winning when leading after the third quarter also came to a halt.

• The Sooners led 21-7 at halftime thanks to a 17-for-19 passing performance (for 181 yards and three touchdowns) by Spencer Rattler. An Oklahoma TD run with 2:46 left in the third quarter gave OU a 35-14 lead, but K-State held a 185-50 advantage in total yards the rest of the way. Oklahoma's last five drives ended in a fumble, three punts (one of them blocked) and an interception.

• The Sooners committed four turnovers on the day (K-State had none), and the Wildcats converted them into 14 points. KSU also scored a touchdown following its fourth-quarter blocked punt.

• Rattler finished the day 30 of 41 for a career-high 387 yards and four touchdowns but was intercepted three times. Two of Marvin Mims' five catches went for touchdowns, and Austin Stogner and Drake Stoops each posted career highs in receptions and receiving yards. Stogner caught five passes for 83 yards, while Stoops had three receptions for 93 yards, one of them a 32-yarder for his first career score.

• OU surrendered seven total points over the Wildcats' first seven possessions but gave up 31 points over its last six. K-State managed just 98 yards in the first half and had just 107 with 6:35 left in the third quarter.

• Sixty-seven percent of Kansas State's offensive yards (267 of 400) came on five plays. It averaged just 2.9 yards on its other 46 plays.

ROAD WARRIORS

• Oklahoma has won 26 of its last 28 true road games, with the only losses during that stretch coming in 2019 at Kansas State (48-41) and last season at Iowa State (37-30).

• The 2019 defeat at K-State snapped OU's 22-game true road winning streak (the Sooners hadn't lost since Oct 4, 2014, at TCU), which was the second longest such streak nationally since at least the end of World War II.

• During the 22-game streak, OU outscored opponents 1,076-626 (49-28 average) and outgained them 12,829 yards to 9,208 (583-419 average).

• The Sooners have outgained their opponent in 25 of their last 28 true road games.

Marvin Mims

OU'S BIG 12 DOMINATION

• Oklahoma's win over Iowa State in the 2020 Big 12 Championship resulted in the Sooners' sixth straight Big 12 title and 14th since 2000 (no other program has won more than two during the span). For perspective, the two Power Five programs with the next most conference titles this millennium are Ohio State (11 in Big Ten) and Oregon (eight in Pac-10/Pac-12).

• The Sooners' 14 Big 12 titles are 11 more than the program with the next most. Texas has won three Big 12 championships and is followed by Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska (two each), and Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M (one each). Colorado and Nebraska left the Big 12 after the 2010 season and Texas A&M departed after the 2011 campaign.

• Since 2010, OU has won eight Big 12 titles and is followed by Baylor (two) and Kansas State, Oklahoma State and TCU (one each).

• Oklahoma is the only program to win at least three straight Big 12 titles, and it has done so twice (2006-08 and 2015-20). Baylor (2013-14) is the only other program to win two Big 12 championships in a row.

• At 11-1, the Sooners are the only program with a winning record in Big 12 Championship games. Texas has the next best mark at 3-3.

• Since Lincoln Riley came to Norman as offensive coordinator in 2015, OU has posted a 48-6 (.889) record in regular season Big 12 play. The next best mark during the period is 35-20 (.636) by Oklahoma State.

DEFENSE PLAYS BIG HAND IN 12-GAME WINNING STREAK

• Oklahoma's defense has figured prominently in the program's 12-game winning streak that started on Oct. 10, 2020, against Texas. Here are some notes pertaining to the stretch:

• OU has held its last 12 opponents below a 50% third-down conversion rate (highest during that period was 43% by Nebraska two games ago while the next highest was 36% by Texas Tech last year). Eight of the Sooners' last nine opponents have failed to convert more than 31% of third downs. OU ranks second nationally during the time period with its 29.1 opponent third-down conversion rate, trailing only Wisconsin (27.6%). In fact, OU ranks third nationally in the category since the start of the 2019 season (defensive coordinator Alex Grinch's first year in Norman) with its 30.2% figure.

• The Sooners have totaled 45 sacks over their last 12 games to rank second nationally since Oct. 10, 2020, with 3.8 sacks per contest (for a total of 282 lost yards). In the same time frame, OU has registered 93 tackles for loss for an average of 7.8 per game and a total of 401 lost yards.

• Oklahoma has registered at least one takeaway in 10 straight games and in 11 of the last 12. It has multiple takeaways in eight of the last 12. OU is plus-14 in turnover margin (25 takeaways to 11 turnovers) during the 12-game winning streak and is plus-9 over its last seven contests.

• OU has 18 interceptions over its last 12 games. The 1.5 interceptions per contest since Oct. 10, 2020, are tied for second most in the country.

2021 OFFENSIVE NOTES

• Despite being held to a total of 39 points over the last two games, the Sooners rank 20th nationally with their 38.8 points per contest.

• Among teams with at least 15 red zone trips this season, Oklahoma ranks third nationally with its 95.5% score rate (21 scores on 22 trips). Seventeen of its 21 red zone scores (81.0%) have been touchdowns.

• Redshirt sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler enters Saturday's game ranked first in the Big 12 in passing offense (254.3 ypg), completions (100; next most is 77), completion percentage (career-best 74.1) and passing touchdowns (eight; tied), and second in total offense (277.3 ypg). Rattler tied an OU record for TD passes in a half with five vs. Western Carolina and did not play in the second half. He has thrown at least one TD pass in all 15 of his career starts (13-2 record as a starter) and is coming off a performance against West Virginia in which he completed 15 of his final 16 pass attempts.

• Receivers Michael Woods II, Jadon Haselwood and Mario Williams lead the squad and rank fifth in the Big 12 with 18 catches while another receiver, Marvin Mims, has 10 receptions for a team-high 193 yards.

• Haselwood, who missed all but three games last season due to injury, has made his first four career starts this year. The consensus No. 1 national receiver in the 2019 recruiting class is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with two receiving TDs this season (both vs. Western Carolina).

• Williams was ESPN's No. 1 receiver in the 2021 class and caught a TD pass in each of his first two collegiate games.

• Mims, a preseason second-team All-American, set the OU freshman record for receiving touchdowns last year with nine, besting the former record of seven shared by Mark Andrews (2015) and CeeDee Lamb (2017). Mims has yet to catch a TD pass this season.

• Redshirt junior Kennedy Brooks and junior Eric Gray are OU's only scholarship running backs and have shared the bulk of the rushing workload this season. Gray, a transfer from Tennessee, has started all four games and has rushed 45 times for 223 yards (5.0 per carry; 55.8 yards per game) and has six catches for 68 yards and a touchdown. Brooks has 39 carries for 227 yards (5.8 per carry; 56.8 yards per game) and three touchdowns. Walk-ons Jaden Knowles and Todd Hudson earned carries against Western Carolina and each scored two TDs.

OU FOOT NOTES

• During Lincoln Riley's four-plus-year head coaching career, Oklahoma ranks first in the Big 12 and fifth nationally with its 84.0% success rate on field goal attempts (84 for 100). Kansas State is the next best Big 12 school in the category during the span, ranking 18th at 80.0%.

• During the same period, the Sooners rank third nationally in PAT conversion percentage among teams with at least 150 attempts, converting 319 of 320 tries (99.7%). Only Georgia (235 for 235) and Virginia Tech (185 of 185) have a higher success rate.

• Redshirt junior kicker Gabe Brkic, who was a 2020 first-team All-Big 12 selection (coaches and AP) and a Lou Groza Award semifinalist, is 45 for 53 (.849) on career field goal attempts and has made all 116 of his PAT tries. The OU career record for field goal percentage is .833 (75 for 90) by Michael Hunnicutt (2011-14). Brkic ranked third nationally last season by averaging 2.0 field goal makes per game and this year is averaging the same.

• Brkic is 8 for 10 on field goal attempts this season and is 4 for 5 on tries from over 50 yards. The longest field goal made this season nationally is 56 yards and Brkic has two of the four makes from that distance. He is tied for first nationally with his eight makes from 50-plus yards since the start of the 2020 season (with LSU's Cade York) while no other player has made more than five 50-yarders. Brkic's nine career makes from 50 or farther are the most in OU history (next highest total is four). He also sits atop the Sooners' career chart with 15 makes from at least 40 yards.

• Redshirt senior punter Michael Turk transferred to OU from Arizona State in August and earned the starting job. The 2019 and '20 first-team All-Pac-12 selection averaged 46.2 yards per punt over the last two seasons and totaled 28 boots that went at least 50 yards. He has only punted eight times this year and is averaging 46.5 yards per punt (has four punts over 50 yards).

Gabe Brkic

FIRST TIME STARTERS

• Ten players have made their first Oklahoma starts this season. Against Tulane, first-time OU starters were senior Chris Murray (OL; started 24 games at UCLA), senior Michael Woods II (WR; started 29 games at Arkansas), redshirt junior transfer Robert Congel (OL; started 13 games at Arizona), junior transfer Eric Gray (RB; started five games at Tennessee), redshirt sophomore Jadon Haselwood (WR), sophomores Reggie Grimes (DE) and Anton Harrison (OL) and freshman Billy Bowman (DB).

• Freshman Latrell McCutchin (CB) earned his first starting nod Sept. 11 vs. Western Carolina.

• Redshirt senior Justin Broiles started at nickelback against Nebraska. It was his sixth career start (first since 2018).

• Sophomore center Andrew Raym made his first career start Saturday against West Virginia.

YEAR THREE OF "SPEED D"

• Hired in January 2019, coordinator and safeties coach Alex Grinch, who was a 2019 Broyles Award semifinalist, has overseen major improvement on the defensive side of the ball in his two-plus seasons in Norman.

• Oklahoma ranked third nationally last season in interceptions (16), fourth in opponent third-down conversion percentage (27.9), sixth in sacks per game (3.6), ninth in rushing defense (105.1 ypg) and passing defense efficiency rating (112.9), 16th in tackles for loss per game (7.5) and 29th in total defense (350.6 ypg) and scoring defense (21.7 ppg).

• Grinch's unit was particularly stingy down the stretch in 2020. After Nov. 1 (five games), OU led the nation in interceptions per game (2.2) and ranked second in sacks per game (4.0) and passing defense efficiency rating (94.5), fourth in opponent third-down conversion percentage (25.0), sixth in scoring defense (15.4 ppg), eighth in passing yards per attempt (5.4), ninth in opponent passing completion percentage (51.4), 14th in rushing yards per game (112.2) and 18th in rushing yards per carry (3.4).

• Oklahoma's 1.45 interceptions per game last season were its second most in the last 17 years (1.53 in 2015). The team's 16 interceptions were its most in a season since registering 20 in 2015 (13 games) and were three more than it registered over the 2018 (six) and 2019 (seven) seasons combined. And from the second quarter of the Dec. 5 game vs. Baylor through the first quarter of the Dec. 30 Cotton Bowl vs. Florida, the Sooners registered eight interceptions over an eight-quarter stretch (two vs. Baylor, three vs. Iowa State and three vs. Florida).

• OU has allowed opponents to score on their opening drive of a game just seven times in its 29 contests under Grinch. Eighteen of the 29 opponent opening drives have lasted five plays or less.

• Since the start of the 2019 season, Oklahoma has allowed only three opponent wide receivers to register at least 100 receiving yards in a game (Kansas' Stephon Robinson and LSU's Justin Jefferson in 2019; Iowa State's Xavier Hutchinson in last season's Big 12 Championship).

OFFENSE HAS ROLLED UNDER RILEY

• Oklahoma owns the nation's most productive offense since the start of the 2015 season, which was Lincoln Riley's first year as OU's offensive coordinator. Riley still calls plays in his fifth year as head coach.

• Since the start of the 2015 campaign, OU ranks first nationally in scoring (44.1 ppg; next most is 42.0), total offense (541.5; next most is 502.0), yards per play (7.6), TDs from scrimmage (457), pass efficiency rating (184.4; next best is 174.3) and completion percentage (69.3). It ranks third in passing offense (319.1) and ninth in rushing offense (222.4). No other program during the span ranks in the top 15 in passing and rushing offense.

RILEY'S FAST START

• The FBS's youngest head coach (33) at the time of his hiring, Lincoln Riley became just the fifth mentor in FBS history with no previous head-coaching experience at a four-year college to win at least 12 games in his debut season. At 24-4, 36-6 and 45-8, he also holds the OU record for most wins by a head coach in his first two, three and four seasons (Barry Switzer held the records of 21 and 32, and Bob Stoops held the record of 43). He needs seven more wins to set the outright record for most victories in the first five years of an OU coaching career (Stoops holds that standard with 55 [1999-03]).

• Riley is the only person to ever win an outright FBS conference title in each of his first four seasons as a collegiate head coach.

• No one in the previous 125 years won more games in their first three seasons as a college head coach than Riley did from 2017-19. Penn's George Woodruff (1892-94) was the last to win more than 36 games in his first three seasons.

• Riley is the third-fastest OU head coach to reach 49 wins (57 games). Only College Football Hall of Famers Switzer (55 games) and Bud Wilkinson (56) did it faster.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

• During the modern era of college football (since the end of World War II), the Sooners are the nation's No. 1 team with more wins (677) than any other program (next most is 637 by Alabama).

• Oklahoma is the highest-scoring program in college football history with 37,011 points (in 1,303 games).

• OU leads all FBS programs with 50 all-time conference championships. The rest of the top five includes Nebraska (46), Michigan (42), Ohio State (39) and USC (37). The Sooners' 14 league titles since 2000 are the most among Power Five programs (Ohio State ranks second with 11).

• No program has more all-time 10-win seasons than Oklahoma, which is tied with Alabama with 40 (OU has a nation-leading 17 10-win campaigns since 2000). In addition, OU's 26 seasons with at least 11 wins are the most in college football history.

• Since former head coach Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, OU leads all Power Five conference programs in wins (239) and points scored (11,456).

EXTRA POINTS

• Oklahoma is scheduled to play nine games to start the season before its bye week. That's OU's longest stretch at the beginning of a season without a bye since 1995 when it played 10 games before a week off.

• OU is tied for third nationally this season with its eight forced fumbles and is tied for eighth with its five fumble recoveries. The Sooners had three forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries all of last season.

• Redshirt senior linebacker Bryan Mead played in his 56th career game Saturday, most in program history.

• Redshirt senior defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas had his streak of recording at least half a tackle for loss in 14 consecutive games snapped against West Virginia on Saturday. Since the start of the 2020 season, Thomas has OU highs of 15.5 tackles for loss and 11.0 sacks. He has 2.5 TFLs this season (all sacks) and is tied for fifth nationally with his two forced fumbles.

• The Sooners have outscored their opponents by a combined 51-3 margin in the second quarter this season.

• Co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach Cale Gundy is OU's all-time leader in victories (270) as a player (31) and/or coach (237). Barry Switzer ranks second with 215, all as an assistant or head coach.

• In 83 games since Riley arrived in Norman in 2015, OU has punted more than its opponent just 13 times.

• OU is the only program that has produced at least four NFL Draft picks each of the last 14 years.