Oklahoma Football: Can Kansas slow Jalen Hurts’ Heisman run?
Jalen Hurts and Oklahoma football have been unstoppable in the first five weeks of the 2019 season. This week they face the Kansas Jayhawks.
The Oklahoma Sooners enter their fifth game of the season averaging 55.5 points per game, while only allowing merely 18.8 on defense.
At this point last season, Oklahoma was averaging 44 point per game on offense and were allowing 21. These improvements, although seemingly small, are still the betterment of something that was already incredibly good. This is what the best teams in the country do. They find a way to get even better when the there is marginally little room.
The Sooners are well on their way to a repeat trip to the College Football Playoff, and Jalen Hurts is in the lead for the 2019 Heisman Trophy race.
Kansas, on the other hand, is still riding the struggle bus. Yet, they too have improved from previous years. The Jayhawks’ low point in their season thus far came when they lost at home to Coastal Carolina, 12-7. However, they responded impressively well by beating Boston College in their following game. Kansas enters the match against an undefeated Oklahoma team with a record of 2-3.
Here’s how to watch this Week 6 game between the Sooners and the Jayhawks:
Date: Saturday, Oct. 5
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Lawrence, Ka.
Venue: David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium
TV: ABC
Keys to Victory
Frankly, there isn’t much that either team can do to change the outcome of this game. Oklahoma could have their worst game of the season, Kansas play its best, and the Sooners will still win by at least 20 points. Therefore, let us focus on the keys for Jalen Hurts to continue his commanding lead in his quest for the Heisman Trophy.
Hurts has completed an amazing 77.6 percent of his passes for 1,295 yards and 12 touchdowns. At this rate, he will have just under 4,000 yards on the year and 36 passing touchdowns. However, he also has 443 yards rushing and five touchdowns on the ground. The graduate transfer quarterback is on pace to have over 50 total touchdowns on the year. And, those projections are just in the regular season. That doesn’t include a conference championship or two possible rounds in the playoff.
In order for Hurts to continue on this trend, he will need to keep things simple. That means passing to the open receiver and not forcing the ball down field. He should run out-of-bounds, vice risking a collision to get a few extra yards. And lastly, Hurts should trust his coaches and keep the plays they call. In closer games, changing plays at the line of scrimmage may be required. However, against the Jayhawks, the Sooners’ offense will have no issues moving the ball down field.
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of Bovada
Point Spread: Oklahoma -33
Over/Under: 67.5
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Prediction
I’m not in the business of recommending sports bets, but Oklahoma should win by a larger margin than 33 points. Assuming Lincoln Riley doesn’t pull out starting players extremely early, the Sooners will win big. With that same assumption regarding Jalen Hurts, he will have a huge day tearing up the Kansas defense. Hurts will put up over 400 yards of total offense for at least four total touchdowns.
Final Score: Kansas 3, Oklahoma 52