Here’s where KU coach David Beaty saw progress in blowout loss to Oklahoma

Kansas coach David Beaty was asked a simple question during Monday’s Big 12 teleconference: Was it more encouraging that KU remained competitive through a quarter in a 56-3 road loss to No. 16 Oklahoma or discouraging that the Jayhawks couldn’t sustain that strong level of play?

“For us, it’s a sign of progress,” Beaty said. “We’ve got to look at reality and where we really are. One of our big goals coming off what we’ve done on the road to this point is going out and starting fast.”

KU certainly did that. At one time, the Jayhawks had 97 yards to the Sooners’ 2. Through one quarter, KU had six first downs and also had completed a 16-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a field goal (though the Jayhawks still trailed 7-3 following a Dede Westbrook punt return for touchdown).

“From our standpoint, for a quarter and a half there, that was the best first quarter that we’d played on the road,” Beaty said. “That is a sign of progress. I think the big thing is for us to continue to work on the fact that when one thing goes wrong, we don’t let one play turn into two and two turn into three and so on and so on.

“If we can do that, we’re going to have a chance to improve the team.”

KU did little right after that. The Jayhawks failed to score on their next 11 possessions (not including an abbreviated one before halftime) and also allowed the Sooners to put together six straight touchdown drives.

“Our execution has got to continue to improve,” Beaty said. “To say that we’re frustrated with that and our production offensively is an understatement. We have to be better from an execution standpoint. And then defensively, we’re still giving up a lot of points. I know we’re playing well throughout spurts of the game or large portions of the game, but we can’t give up points.”

One positive for Beaty was this: After watching film, he didn’t believe that effort was the reason for the Jayhawks’ issues.

“Man, we’ve got the right guys,” Beaty said. “If we didn’t, you’d see it. We don’t have anybody that’s not straining all the way through the echo of the whistle.”

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 11:42 AM with the headline "Here’s where KU coach David Beaty saw progress in blowout loss to Oklahoma."