Oklahoma State football is prepared to take on Kansas this Saturday for a Week 9 matchup that is featured as part of the annual Homecoming festivities in Stillwater.
The Cowboys (6-1, 3-1) are ranked No. 15 in the nation after last week’s 24-21 road setback to Iowa State, while the Jayhawks (1-6, 0-4) are coming off a surprisingly competitive loss against No. 4 Oklahoma. Entering the Iowa State game last weekend, OSU had won its first six contests of 2021 and had beaten three ranked opponents in three consecutive games for the first time in school history.
Oklahoma State football, coming off a loss at Iowa State, will take on a seemingly overmatched Kansas team for Homecoming this weekend.
OSU has beaten Kansas in 11 straight meetings, and the previous six OSU victories have all come by at least 18 points. The Cowboys and the Jayhawks met every year between 1946 and 1995, mostly as fellow Big 8 and Big 12 conference members. Overall, OSU leads the series between the two teams with 40 wins, 29 losses, and two ties. Mike Gundy has only lost once to Kansas — a 43-28 setback to Mark Mangino’s Jayhawks squad in 2007.
Fortunes haven’t changed much for the struggling Kansas football program under first-year head coach Lance Leipold, who has lost six straight games. Already charged with leading a team that hasn’t enjoyed a winning season since 2008, Leipold took over after the school parted ways with former coach Les Miles. He had experienced success at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater and at Buffalo before coming to Lawrence.
The Jayhawks began the season with a 17-14 win against FCS foe South Dakota. After that, KU’s next six losses (including Duke, a Sun Belt team, and Texas Tech) have come by an average of 29.2 points.
Here are the most important numbers to know before OSU’s Homecoming game against Kansas:
6. Kansas is second-worst among all Power 5 teams in total defense.
The Jayhawks give up an average of 471 yards per game to their opponents, a mark that ranks second-worst (in front of only Missouri) among all power conference teams and puts KU at No. 123 in the country.
5. Kansas is worst among all Power 5 teams in scoring defense.
In line with the yards allowed, Kansas gives up an average of 42.1 points per game. This mark is the worst among all power conference teams and is No. 127 in the nation, in front of only Tulane, UMass, and Arkansas State.