Game Primer: OU Vs. Kansas

OPENING KICK

• No. 6/6 Oklahoma (9-1, 6-1 Big 12) looks to wrap up an undefeated home schedule when it hosts Kansas (3-7, 1-6) Saturday at 6:30 p.m. CT. The game will be televised nationally by FOX, with Tim Brando, Spencer Tillman and Holly Sonders announcing.

• Oklahoma is 75-27-6 (.722) all-time against the Jayhawks and has won 13 straight in the series. It is OU’s longest active winning streak against an opponent.

• The Sooners have won 31 of their last 33 games (.939) against Big 12 opponents dating back to the 2015 season. Eighteen of those 30 victories have been by at least 15 points, and nine by at least 30 points.

• OU has won 15 straight November games (last loss on Nov. 8, 2014). Since the start of the 2000 season, the Sooners are 59-11 (.843) in the month.

• A win Saturday would give OU a final 7-0 home record this year, tying the school standard for home victories in a season (also in 2003 and 2007).

• For just the second time in the last 10 seasons, OU has scored at least 48 points in four straight games. It also reached the 48-point mark in four consecutive contests in 2015.

• OU is the nation's only team this year with at least 30 rushing touchdowns (31) and at least 30 passing TDs (33).

• Oklahoma leads all FBS programs with its 38 seasons of at least 10 wins. A victory over Kansas would extend that number to 39. It would also mark OU's nation-leading 16th season of double-digit wins since 2000.

• The Sooners have won more Big 12 championships over the last 19 years (11) than they have lost home games. OU is 112-10 (.918) at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season, with all 122 of those games sellouts.

• Oklahoma is coming off a 48-47 home win over Oklahoma State in which the Sooners gained a season-high-tying 702 yards and scored the game-winning touchdown with 3:29 remaining on a Trey Sermon 1-yard run. OSU scored a touchdown with 1:03 left, but its two-point pass attempt failed. Kyler Murray threw for 349 yards and a TD, while Kennedy Brooks (165, 3 TDs) and Sermon (124, 2 TDs) each topped the 100-yard rushing mark. Marquise Brown caught eight passes for 142 yards and a score.

• Kansas, which has three wins on the year (its most since 2014), dropped a 21-17 contest at Kansas State on Saturday. The Jayhawks took a 17-14 lead with 14:46 left in the fourth quarter on a Steven Sims 65-yard touchdown catch from Peyton Bender, but K-State scored a TD with 2:46 to go. KU got to the Wildcats' 32-yard line in the waning seconds but lost a fumble, and K-State ran out the clock.

FOR THE FANS

• Approximately two hours before each home game, head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners will disembark the team buses immediately west of the intersection of Lindsey Street and Jenkins Avenue for the "Walk of Champions." A pep rally, conducted by OU Spirit, will be held 15 minutes prior to the team's arrival. This week's pep rally will take place at approximately noon with the team arriving at approximately 4:15 p.m. Fans are encouraged to cheer on the team upon arrival and watch as Coach Riley and the squad walk the final yards west along Lindsey Street to their locker room.

• Sooner Fan Fest will be held in the Rhyne Hall parking lot directly east of McCasland Field House. It opens at 4 p.m. off Jenkins Avenue and concludes at 6 p.m. Fans will have the opportunity to meet Boomer and Sooner, and have their photos taken with the Sooner Schooner, the mascots and members of the OU spirit squads at the OU Marketing trailer. Other elements at Fan Fest this week include a GoVision jumbotron showing other games across the country, a photo booth and an inflatable football toss. Food will be available from the following food trucks: Midway Deli, The Meating Place, Phill Me Up Cheesesteaks and That Pie Truck. And the Sooner Radio Network (flagship 107.7 The Franchise) will be broadcasting live from Fan Fest from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. with Toby Rowland, Merv Johnson, Chris Plank, Teddy Lehman and Rufus Alexander.

KEY STORYLINES

• Eighteen OU seniors and redshirt juniors will be honored before Saturday's game. In alphabetical order, they are OL Jonathan Alvarez, RB Rodney Anderson, DE Amani Bledsoe, LB Curtis Bolton, FB Joe Castiglione Jr., QB Reece Clark, OL Alex Dalton, S Kahlil Haughton, WR Sam Iheke, FB Carson Meier, OL Quinn Mittermeier, WR Chase Nevel, OL Ben Powers, OL Dru Samia, K/P Austin Seibert, RB Marcelias Sutton, WR Myles Tease and WR Reggie Turner. Bledsoe, Bolton and Samia have started all 10 games this season, while Powers has started nine and Meier eight. Seibert has been OU's primary kicker, punter and kickoff specialist in every game.

• With a victory Saturday, Lincoln Riley, who is 21-3 at Oklahoma, would set the outright program record for most wins by a head coach in his first two seasons. He enters this weekend tied with Barry Switzer, who went 21-0-1 in 1973 and '74. Bob Stoops was 20-5 in his first two campaigns (1999 and '00), while Bud Wilkinson was 17-3-1 (1947 and '48) and Chuck Fairbanks was 17-5 (1967 and '68).

• Each of the last 13 meetings in the Oklahoma-Kansas series have been OU victories by at least 15 points. The Sooners have outscored the Jayhawks 548-146 in those contests (average of 42-11) and have outgained them 6,368 yards to 3,155 (average of 490-243). The last four games have seen OU win by a combined score of 203-20. KU has been held to seven or fewer points in each of the last four meetings and five of the last six.

• Oklahoma has rushed for at least 300 yards and passed for at least 300 in a game a school-record four times already this year (the previous record was two times in 2012), including in each of the last three contests. Entering this season, the feat had only been accomplished six times in school history. This is the first time OU has ever gone for 300/300 in three consecutive games.

• Oklahoma ranks 115th out of 130 FBS teams with just 64.8 offensive plays per game, but it ranks first nationally with its 577.1 yards per contest. That's because the Sooners lead the nation with a staggering 8.9 yards per play, a figure that would shatter the FBS single-season record of 8.6 by Hawaii in 2006. The OU single-season record of 8.3 yards per play was set last year, and the program's second-best figure is 7.6 in 1971. Alabama ranks second this year with its 7.8 yards per play, and Memphis third at 7.5. OU also leads the nation by gaining at least 10 yards on 32.3 percent of its plays (209 of 648). Alabama ranks second at 28.8 percent.

• Despite losing preseason All-Big 12 running back Rodney Anderson for the season due to an injury against UCLA in the second game of the year, Oklahoma leads the Big 12 and ranks ninth nationally with its 257.4 rushing yards per game. More impressively, OU ranks first nationally with its 6.8 yards per rush, which is almost two full yards more than the next highest team in the Big 12 (Oklahoma State averages 4.8). Running backs Trey Sermon (84.6) and Kennedy Brooks (80.0), and quarterback Kyler Murray (64.0) rank fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively, in the league in rushing yards per game.