Can Kansas Make Things Interesting for Oklahoma State?

The 4-2 Cowboys will make the innocuous trip to Lawrence, Kansas later this week. Although they’ve had a couple of close calls up in Jayhawk country as of late, the series has been lopsided in recent history. The Pokes are 11-1 in the last 20 years against KU.

So what will we actually learn from Saturday’s game? Should we expect an easy blow out or can David Beaty’s squad make things interesting? I like to lean towards the positive side of things, so I thought I would see what the Big 12’s undisputed bottom-feeder was actually good at.

The 1-5 Jayhawks are off to an all-too-familiar start. They have won four — that’s right four — conference football games in the last eight seasons. This was supposed to be positive.

Okay. Through six games (three in-conference) the Jayhawks have actually shown a few things on the defensive side of the ball.

Wait a minute. I thought they were ninth in the conference in scoring defense (110th nationally) giving up 35.7 points per game? That’s correct. You’ve done your homework.

But did you also know that Kansas ranks in the top three in the Big 12 in passing defense, passes defended, tackles for loss, forced fumbles, interceptions, opponent third-down conversion percentage, opponent fourth-down conversion percentage, and opponent red-zone conversion percentage?

I bet you didn’t. Well, maybe you did. If so, just put your hand down.

Something else you may not have known, the Jayhawks’ poor scoring defensive ranking can be partially blamed on the fact that their first six games have included four of the the top 16 scoring offenses in the country, with three of those on the road.

Let’s take a look.

• 43-7 loss @ Memphis (No. 16 – 40.2 points per game)
• 55-19 loss @ Texas Tech (No. 5 – 48.8 points per game)
• 24-23 loss to TCU (No. 16 – 40.2 points per game)
• 49-7 loss @ Baylor (No. 9 – 43.7 points per game)

If the Jayhawks were that good defensively wouldn’t they have won an FBS game by now? Yes, normally. But they have one thing standing in their way. They are horrible on offense.

Scoring offense? Tenth in the Big 12. Rushing offense? Ninth. Passing offense? Eighth. Total offense? Ninth. The Jayhawks are last place in first-down conversion percentage, third-down conversion percentage and fumbles lost.

In fact, while the Jayhawk defense has forced 11 turnovers (tied for third in the conference), they still have found a way to be last in turnover margin with 22 “give-aways”.

The Cowboys have had some funny games up there. On their last trip, it took a Tyreek Hill kickoff-return touchdown to get out with a 27-20 win. In 2012, the Cowboys won 20-14.

So what does this mean for the Cowboys? Simple. Don’t get cute. Oklahoma State has no business letting KU hang around past halftime. The Cowboys have already messed around with a lesser team and we all saw what can happen.

Take care of KU. Go up early. Don’t turn the ball over and the Cowboys should win handily.