Oklahoma Football: 3 takeaways from Week 6 road win vs. Kansas

3. Oklahoma pass defense came up big

The biggest knock against Big 12 teams is that they don’t know how to play defense. Even in recent years when the Sooners reached the College Football Playoff, defense was a marked weakness that prevented them from actually winning a national championship. But this year’s group could potentially be good enough to match up against the top groups in the country.

Oklahoma turned Kansas one-dimensional on Saturday as they shut down Carter Stanley and the Jayhawks passing offense through the first three quarters. They did not pick off the Kansas quarterback, and Stanley finished with 230 yards on 18-of-28 passing. Stanley did manage to throw one touchdown pass early as Kansas took a first-quarter lead, but his last two of his three passing scores came in garbage time when Oklahoma was already up by 35 points.

That forced Kansas to rely heavily on Pooka Williams Jr. and their ground game through the heart of the contest. Williams notched 137 yards on 23 carries and added five catches for 20 yards, but the rest of the backfield finished with negative-7 net yards thanks to several sacks on Stanley.

Oklahoma is going to have bigger tests in Big 12 play coming up, especially next week against a far better Texas offense. But if the Sooners defense continues to play like they did in Lawrence, they will make life difficult for every opponent they face over the course of the regular season.