Oklahoma-Kansas Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog

John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Josh Callaway offer their real-time observations from the Sooners' game Saturday against Kansas.

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LAWRENCE, KS — Keep up with the SI Sooners live blog throughout today's Oklahoma-Kansas game. Just refresh your browser to see the latest posts.

Final stats:

2:06 p.m.

I don’t know what I just witnessed.

Caleb Williams is of a different breed. 

- JC

2:04 p.m.

I can’t believe what Caleb Williams just did.

As it looked like Kennedy Brooks was being stuffed on a crucial fourth down play at midfield, Williams reached in and ripped the ball away from Brooks and spun ahead for a first down.

I’ve never seen anything like that.

The play is under review.

— JH

Well, that’s one way to convert a 4th down. pic.twitter.com/Wk9dJ3Vlsh

— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) October 23, 2021

1:58 p.m.

Putrid response after it looked like Caleb Williams put the game away.

This Oklahoma defense will have a lot of questions to answer this week. 

- JC

1:56 p.m.

Well, it seems I was wrong — at least for now. Kansas answers with a five-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, capped off by Jason Bean’s 14-yard pass to Luke Grimm. The 2-point attempt is thrown for a loss, but the Sooners lead 28-23, 5:56 to play.

This one ain’t over yet.

— JH

1:50 p.m.

Superman saves the day again. This time, Caleb Williams gets in the shotgun on fourth-and-3 after an OU timeout, executes a delayed keeper to the right, then breaks three tackles at the line of scrimmage on his way to a 40-yard touchdown run.

Good call by Lincoln Riley. Perfect execution by the players.

And there’s 7:53 left in this one. The Sooners lead 28-17 and looks like they’re gonna survive a scare in Lawrence.

— JH

1:50 p.m

Caleb Williams is magic.

- JC

1:44 p.m.

Key Lawrence has quietly put together a really solid performance today. So many sure-handed tackles and now a HUGE strip. 

- JC

1:43 p.m.

KU’s first turnover of the game is a fumble on a screen pass, pulled out by Key Lawrence and recovered by Justin Broiles. The Sooners are suddenly playing with life.

— JH

1:36 p.m.

After trailing all day, OU just captured the lead in total offense as well. Sooners now lead it 276 to 272. Oklahoma with only 98 yards rushing, 178 passing.

— JH

1:35 p.m.

Oklahoma offense has absolutely found their groove, now it will be a matter of if the Sooners defense can get the necessary stops to finish the job.

Side note, what a ridiculous football game this has been.

- JC 

1:34 p.m.

Kennedy Brooks gives OU its first lead of the day with a 1-yard plunge. OU now leads 21-17, 12:35 left in the game.

— JH

1:30 p.m.

After KU drop an easy catch that would have been another third-down conversion, the Sooner offense has come to life.

Caleb Williams finds Kenned Brooks to the right for a check-down and he pops it for 24 yards, and on the next play, Williams swings it to the left to Eric Gray, and he takes it 23 yards to the KU - yard line.

Sooners are a yard away from taking their first lead.

— JH

1:26 p.m.

Third quarter stats:

1:21 p.m.

Caleb Williams threading the needle like a professional right there. That was fantastically done.

Oklahoma offense seems to have found a groove. 

- JC

1:19 p.m.

Nice answer there by the Sooner offense. Williams to Hall for the touchdown, and it’s 17-14 as we head to the fourth quarter.

OU’s drive was 3 plays, 75 yards in 1:16, highlighted by a 66-yard reverse run by Trevon West.

— JH

1:12 p.m.

Oklahoma is in some serious, serious trouble now. Kansas firmly believes they can win this and the panic has to be setting in on the Sooners sideline.

To not get a stop after the Oklahoma touchdown is truly baffling.

- JC

1:09 p.m.

Both corners came up big on that second-and-goal play. Latrell McCutchin blitzes Bean to a hurried throw, and Joshua Eaton is on the coverage in the end zone.

Bean scrambles to the goal line on third down, however. and the Jayhawks punch it in with a 1-yard TD run on fourth down. 

KU leads it 17-7, 1:30 left in the third quarter.

— JH

1:06 p.m.

Jason Bean just threw to Lawrence Arnold for a 22-yard pickup on third-and-3.

The Jayhawks are now 8-of-10 on third down.

That’s not a misprint.

— JH

1:00 p.m.

Methodical drive there with some much better play-calling. Running the football, dinking and dunking, taking what the defense was giving.

To say that was sorely needed would be an understatement. 

- JC

1:00 p.m.

Here's the Haselwood touchdown:

— JH

Williams ➡️ Haselwood and the Sooners are finally on the board. pic.twitter.com/jVSiEKpJiB

— 𝕺𝖐𝖑𝖆𝖍𝖔𝖒𝖆 𝖛𝖘. 𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖂𝖔𝖗𝖑𝖉 (@soonergridiron) October 23, 2021

12:57 p.m.

On third and 3 from the KU 5,, Williams throws a touchdown pass to Jadon Haselwood to put the Sooners on the board. Play-action fake, nice pop-up-and-throw to Haselwood in one-on-one coverage.

Drive took 15 plays, 75 yards, 7:03 off the clock. Easily one of OU's best drives of the season. 

OU trails 10-7, 7:57 to play in the third quarter.

— JH

12:54 p.m.

Jalil Farooq just got his first collegiate reception, a quick-hitch from childhood pal Caleb Williams. Turned it into a decent, 5-yard gain.

— JH

12:48 p.m.

Second half begins about the same as the first half: Sooners struggle early, pick up a third-down conversion, but Jeremiah Hall fumbles. He scrambled to get the ball back and OU’s drive is still alive. But man, this team is struggling in every facet of the game.

— JH

12:48 p.m. 

ESPN sideline reporter Quint Kessenich has been giving it to Oklahoma all game in terms of a lack of energy.

Hard for me to say without being there, but it sure seems like he is right. They just look flat. 

- JC

12:33 p.m.

Mike Woods went through pregame warmup but hasn’t played today. Now he’s on the sideline in street clothes for the second half.

— JH

12:27 p.m.

How bad is this? It's Kansas' first double-digit lead against an AP Top 5 team since 2008.

— JH

12:24 p.m.

Halftime stats:

12:24 p.m. 

Lincoln Riley and the Oklahoma Sooners are not going to score in the first half against the Kansas Jayhawks.

Is this real life?

- JC

12:22 p.m.

Eric Gray almost just made SportsCenter catch to potentially save this drive and possibly this game on a fourth-down chuck-it-up throw by Caleb Williams. That was fourth down. Sooners heading toward a first-half shutout.

— JH

12:20 p.m.

The implosion continues. After back-to-back personal foul penalties on the Oklahoma offensive line (one for a blindside block, one for unsportsmanlike conduct), a KU facemask gives the Sooners a first down, but then Caleb Williams commits an obvious intentional grounding penalty. After a 3-yard Sooner run, it’s another false start on OU.

The team is really lacking discipline and focus today. Like, to a level I’m not sure I’ve really seen before.

— JH

12:18 p.m. 

Marquis Hayes with an egregious penalty there. It doesn’t get much worse than that both in terms of hurting your team as well as just being a very obvious violation. 

- JC

12:15 p.m.

Caleb Williams had alllll day to throw there. Offensive line gave him fantastic protection as Kansas didn’t rush much. Found Haselwood, just what the doctor ordered.

- JC 

12:13 p.m.

Oklahoma comes out of a timeout with an offensive false start. Team's just not focused.

— JH

12:11 p.m.

Kansas barely misses a 57 (!) yard field goal that would have made it 13-0.

TV tells us that this is KU’s first lead against an AP Top 25 team since 2014.

Not sure exactly what we’re seeing here other than a massive underdog inspired to play clean football and a massive favorite whose body language would indicate they’d rather be anywhere else.

Lincoln Riley thought he had problems before? This is brutal.

— JH

12:07 p.m.

Kansas is up 10-0 and still driving with 6 1/2 minutes to go until halftime. The Jayhawks are an ungodly 7-of-8 on third-down conversions. OU still has just two offensive drives.

Something tells me Lincoln Riley is going to remind us that this was another low-possession game.

No kidding.

— JH

12:03 p.m.

Just a quick (if unpleasant) reminder: Nine of the last 10 years, Oklahoma has lost a game outright as a double-digit favorite. The only year that didn’t happen was 2018, when the Sooners were an 8-point favorite and lost to Texas.

That includes a 28-point spread in the loss to Kansas State last year.

OU was favored in this game by 38.5.

— JH

11:56 a.m.

Kennedy Brooks was wide open in the flat but Caleb Williams got impatient there wanting a big play to get the Sooners back in it.

Freshman mistake to the max. 

- JC

11:55 a.m.

Looked like Williams just believed in his arm a little too much that time. He scrambled, rolled right and pointed at Jadon Haselwood to go deep, and Haselwood did. But he never had a chance to catch that ball as Ricky Thomas fronted Haselwood and easily picked it off.

— JH

11:51 a.m.

This is bad. Really, really bad. The Sooners may yet rebound just fine and cover the 38-point spread and dominate this thing. But this start is alarming. After KU drives 14 plays, 80 yards and 12 plays, 69 yards, the Jayhawks have a 10-0 lead and just intercepted Caleb Williams.

— JH

#Sooners last shutout in the first quarter of a regular-season game 2017 vs. Ohio State and a Big 12 game for the first time since Bedlam 2016

— Ryan Aber (@ryaber) October 23, 2021

11:44 a.m.

First-quarter stats:

11:39 a.m.

Oklahoma defensive backs are playing ridiculously far off the Kansas receivers on third and short, and the Jayhawks are just taking what is there.

I am baffled by this approach right now. 

- JC

11:38 a.m.

Kansas now 4-for-4 on third downs. Ridiculous efficiency. And Devin Neal just popped a 44-yard run.

— JH

11:36 a.m.

McCutchin and Davis are now the corners. Broiles still at nickel. Stutsman at LB, Downs at DE.

— JH 

11:33 a.m.

From Ryan Chapman, who's on field level today: 

"KU student section chanting "We want Ratt-ler! We want Ratt-ler!"

I got nothing.

— JH

11:32 a.m.

Oklahoma’s protection didn’t account for an inside rush from defensive end Kyron Johnson on third down, and he drops Caleb Williams for a quarterback sack easily. Sooners punt. What a start.

— JH

11:28 a.m.

Broadcast just said Kansas’ headsets are using battery power while Oklahoma’s are not working, I don’t believe that is supposed to be allowed. 

- JC

11:26 a.m.

Power’s back.

— JH

11:26 a.m.

This is just the second time all season the Jayhawks, have scored a first-quarter touchdown. Not even kidding.

It's also the first time all year they've scored on their opening drive.

— JH

11:24 a.m.

Stadium PA just announced there is a "campus-wide power outage" and they will update us later.

Nice.

This happened to me in Waco in 2019, but it was after the game, in the middle of the night, the stadium was dark, and the only people in the press box were me and two Baylor media relation folks.

This is better.

— JH

11:22 a.m.

Absolute nightmare first drive for Oklahoma. Really the only question coming into this game would be if the Sooners would come in ready to play and with energy.

That question has been answered with a resounding no, embarrassing start for Alex Grinch’s defense. 

— JC

11:22 a.m.

Kansas converted three third downs and got aid from an Oklahoma defense that jumped offsides three times on the opening drive. KU score a touchdown on its opening drive.

The scoring drive was 14 plays, 80 yards. There's 5:45 remaining in the first quarter. What a drive by KU.

We know Oklahoma didn’t practice on Monday, but as Ryan Chapman asks, did they practice the rest of the week?

— JH

11:14 a.m.

And just like that, it’s a complete power outage in Lawrence. No joking, no aphorisms, no messing around. The electricity is out in the entire stadium. The lights are on and the P.A. works. But the scoreboard and play clock are out. The press box is "dark," so to speak. 

We’ll try to keep you updated.

— JH

11:15 a.m.

Giving a first down on two offsides penalties seems...far from ideal. Sooners got to wrangle this in, this is an ugly first possession. 

11:11 a.m.

Billy Bowman picked on in the first series. Tough sledding for him at corner last week. 

- JC

11:10 a.m.

It’s third down and long, and Jason Bean throws complete to Kwame Lassiter for a first down. He chose Billy Bowman’s side, as Bowman is starting at corner in lieu of D.J. Graham. Jaden Davis is the corner on the other side.

— JH

11:05 a.m.

As the teams meet at midfield for the kickoff, the crowd is sparse. Always sad to see a program that’s fallen on such hard times and just can’t get right no matter what. Talking to KU insiders, not sure it’s gonna get better any time soon.

— JH

The crowd is … here. #Sooners #Jayhawks pic.twitter.com/ffDHP7C1of

— John E. Hoover 🌮 (@johnehoover) October 23, 2021

10:51 a.m.

Kirk Herbstreit said on ESPN's College Gameday a short while ago that he expects Caleb Williams to be "the face of college football for the next three years."

That seems like the perfect sentiment going into a game that should be the Superman Williams show. Get ready for the fireworks everybody.

- JC

10:40 a.m.

A number of players are missing from today’s road game at Kansas. And a couple of starters who’ve missed time recently with injuries are at least suited up for pregame warmups as the team heads back into the locker room.

Defensive lineman Jalen Redmond and free safety Delarrin Turner-Yell are suited up.

Wide receiver Mario Williams, offensive lineman Savion Byrd, cornerback D.J. Graham and defensive lineman Kelvin Gilliam are out. Williams, Graham and Gilliam were injured in the Sooners’ game last week against TCU.

— JH

The pregame depth chart via #OUbeat

No Mario Williams, Savion Byrd, DJ Graham, Kelvin Gilliam.

Jalen Redmond suited out. @BPrzybylo @ryaber @jasonkersey pic.twitter.com/ZsSEgwc18a

— Eric Bailey (@EricBaileyTW) October 23, 2021