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Oklahoma Football: Can Sooners avoid trap against Kansas State?

By Justin Heisey

FORT WORTH, TX - OCTOBER 20: Kennedy Brooks #26 of the Oklahoma Sooners carries the ball against the TCU Horned Frogs defense in the first half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - OCTOBER 20: Kennedy Brooks #26 of the Oklahoma Sooners carries the ball against the TCU Horned Frogs defense in the first half at Amon G. Carter Stadium on October 20, 2018 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /
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No. 8 Oklahoma football returns home after a triumphant win over TCU to take on Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats.

The Oklahoma Sooners found new life last week against a tough TCU defense and seem to have reestablished their run game. Trey Sermon and Kyler Murray have been picking up most of the yards on the ground for most of the season but the sudden emergence of Kennedy Brooks gives them that one-two punch that they were lacking after the Rodney Anderson injury.

Brooks came in last week against a TCU defense that allows 157 yards to opposing teams on average and ran for 168 yards and a score on only 18 carries. Trey Sermon had a great game in his own right with 110 yards and two scores on 17 carries before going down with a leg injury. Kyler Murray can run, but his talents are better utilized in the air and with a dominant ground game he can continue to flourish without having to do everything on his own.

Kansas State has surprisingly come on lately. The Wildcats were looking for a quarterback to step up and run with the offense but neither Skylar Thompson nor Alex Delton has really made a big impact in this offense this season.

However, Alex Barnes has really stepped up and given this Kansas State offense a real boost over the past three weeks. Barnes has gotten 75 carries over the past three weeks and went for 511 yards (6.8 yards per carry) and has scored a whopping seven times. Can Barnes get the ball moving against the 59th ranked run defense?

Date: Saturday, Oct. 27
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Location: Norman, Okla.
Venue: Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
TV: FOX
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go or FuboTV

Keys to Victory

Oklahoma just needs to look dominant on offense. The defense was the problem against Texas a few weeks ago but Kansas State has nowhere near the offensive firepower that the Longhorns have and they won’t be able to keep up against the third-best scoring offense in college football (48.6 points per game).

Defensively, just focus on stopping Alex Barnes. Thompson hasn’t proven that he can win a game on his own this season and if the Sooner defense makes Thompson win or lose this game, he will assuredly lose.

Kansas State needs to play efficiently and slowly. Army almost secured the upset over Oklahoma by keeping the ball away from Lincoln Riley’s offense and that’s the mindset that the Wildcats need to have.

Don’t look for flashy big plays or shoot downfield for big gains. Grind down the Oklahoma defense with a lot of runs and short passes and create 10 to 15 play drives. The time of possession is important in this game and Kansas State has to win that battle. Skylar Thompson also has an important job this weekend as well. Thompson has to throw efficiently and open up the ground game for Alex Barnes to move the ball.

Betting Odds

Courtesy of OddsShark

Point Spread: Oklahoma -24.5
Over/Under: 64

Next. NFL Mock Draft 2019: First round after Week 8. dark

Prediction

Kansas State just doesn’t have the personnel for this kind of upset. Alex Barnes can only carry the Wildcats so far and they just can’t sit on the ball for 40 minutes. Oklahoma wins this one and wins big.

Final Score: Oklahoma 49, Kansas State 24

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