Oklahoma Sooners playing sloppy, uninspired football as they trail Kansas

It’s been a long time since the Oklahoma Sooners have looked as bad as they’ve looked in the first half of their game against the Kansas Jayhawks. Kansas may be leading at halftime, but this team isn’t helping themselves with the penalties and miscues.

It took the defense a quarter and a half to remember how to slow down the read-option, as Jason Bean was killing them every time they committed to the running back at the mesh point. When Bean dropped back to pass, there was little pressure, and the coverage couldn’t hold up as the Jayhawks marched down the field.

Kansas opened the scoring with 14 play 80-yard drive where the defense’s tackling issues reared its ugly yet again, and the Sooners expected the Jayhawks to make a mistake.

On offense, when the Sooners did have the ball, they struggled to get anything going. The offensive line struggled to pick up a free blitzer on the Sooners’ first drive, which led to a sack. And when the Sooners were getting time as Caleb Williams dropped back to pass, the Jayhawks’ zone coverages confused the true freshman quarterback.

But regardless of what Kansas is doing schematically, the Sooners aren’t locked into this game. They are playing uninspired football and are giving away too many yards with sloppy and undisciplined football.

Oklahoma was penalized eight times in the first half for 55 yards. There were several offsides calls on the opening drive for Kansas as Jason Beans’ snap count kept the Sooners’ defensive front off-balance.

The offensive line had two personal fouls, one on a blindside block and the other on an unnecessary roughness penalty. Both penalties occurred on the Sooners’ final drive of the first half as the Sooners attempted to get back into the game.

Caleb Williams has looked off all game. He does not want to run the ball when nothing is there in the pass concept. His interception was a forced throw, and he overthrew an open Trevon West.

Nothing has gone well for the Oklahoma Sooners against the Kansas Jayhawks, and it shows. They’re trailing 10-0 to a team that’s won one game in 2021 and hasn’t been ahead much in any of their five losses.

Oklahoma showed up to Lawrence thinking they could sleepwalk their way to a win, and it shows. They’re not showing much life, and they’re making stupid mistakes. This isn’t as much about execution as it is about energy. Oklahoma is lifeless and playing uninspired football.

The Oklahoma Sooners are on upset alert, and if they don’t find some life in the second half may well suffer one of the greatest upsets in college football history.