Three-minute preview: Kansas football at Oklahoma

When/where: 6 p.m. Saturday at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla.

TV/radio: Fox Sports 1; KCSP (610 AM)

The series: Oklahoma leads 73-27-6

The line: Oklahoma by 40 1/2

What’s at stake

Kansas will look to snap a 38-game road losing streak and a 41-game skid away from Memorial Stadium in Lawrence when it faces 16th-ranked Oklahoma. The Jayhawks also have lost 20 straight games against FBS teams and 16 in a row against Big 12 opponents.

Cheers if …

KU’s offense continues its progress from last week against Oklahoma State. The Jayhawks only scored 20 points, but their efficiency was greatly improved with quarterback Montell Cozart getting the start. Not only did KU rush for 200 yards for the first time all season, but the team’s 6.2 yards per play were the most against an FBS opponent since 2011. Oklahoma allowed 59 points and 854 yards to Texas Tech last week, so one would think there should be a few opportunities for the Jayhawks to strike for big plays.

Jeers if …

Oklahoma rushes for an amount of yards that can be considered embarrassing for KU’s defense. That happened two years ago against KU in Norman when freshman Samaje Perine set a new FBS record with 427 rushing yards. The Jayhawks have been much better against the pass than the run this year, and the Sooners offensive line combined with dangerous running back Joe Mixon presents one of the biggest challenges of the season. Oklahoma should have some success running the ball … but it’d be good for KU to keep that final number in a respectable range.

Jesse Newell’s pick: Oklahoma 48-20

The 40  1/2 -point spread seems a bit high to me. Even if the score didn’t indicate it, KU is coming off one of its best offensive efforts of the year, with a few bad breaks turning promising plays into crushing turnovers the team couldn’t overcome. The offensive line also had its best game, and with Cozart managing the offense, KU many times was able to get into numbers advantages that resulted in solid plays against Oklahoma State. This will be a tough game for the Jayhawks defense, but predicting Oklahoma to get to the high 50s or even 60s seems ambitious. Even though KU has had lots of issues on the road lately, this still seems like one that won’t get out of hand the way Vegas is predicting.

Three things about Oklahoma

1 Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops is 11-0 against KU, with each of those victories coming with a margin of at least 15 points.

2 The Sooners are looking to start 5-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2004. The other three times this has happened under Stoops, Oklahoma went on to finish with a perfect 8-0 Big 12 record.

3 Oklahoma did not punt in last year’s 62-7 victory over KU in Lawrence, the first time the team had accomplished that since 1990.

Key matchup

KU’s offense vs. itself: KU already faces a talent deficit against most Big 12 opponents, but the team has made it even more difficult by posting an NCAA-leading 25 turnovers. Though the Jayhawks’ two interceptions were a bit fluky last week (one was a great play by a defensive tackle; the other was a deflection off a receiver’s facemask), the team still needs to prove it can play clean football through an entire game.

This story was originally published October 27, 2016 at 3:09 PM with the headline "Three-minute preview: Kansas football at Oklahoma."