Rhamondre Stevenson helps No. 19 Oklahoma rout Kansas 62-9

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma looks ready to make its usual late-season push.

Rhamondre Stevenson ran for 104 yards and two touchdowns and the 19th-ranked Sooners routed winless Kansas 62-9 on Saturday.

Stevenson, in his second game back from a suspension, also caught four passes for 60 yards.

Spencer Rattler passed for 212 yards and a touchdown and ran for a score to help the Sooners (5-2, 4-2 Big 12) win their fourth straight game. It was Oklahoma’s 22nd consecutive November win dating to 2014.

“We’ve got to continue our climb,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “We keep getting a little bit better, and that’s what we’ve got to keep doing is just keep getting better a week at a time. I know it sounds boring, but it’s the right recipe.”

The Sooners got a scare when Rattler left briefly in the second quarter with what appeared to be an injury to his left hip. He ran for a touchdown and took a hard shot right after he crossed the goal line.

Rattler returned and played much of the third quarter, but he wasn’t fully himself.

“It was just a little sore,” Riley said. “I think just trying to get through and finish on his throws — you could tell it was affecting him just a little bit. He was able at the end of his game to kind of get it loosened up and start throwing the ball fine again. He was fine. Had the game not been out of hand, we certainly would have left him in.”

Oklahoma tied a school record with nine sacks. Linebacker Nik Bonitto led the way with three.

“I feel like I played a good game,” Bonitto said. “Got in the backfield a lot, made a couple plays. It was really good to help my defense. I’m just happy we got the win with that.”

Jalon Daniels completed 11 of 31 passes for 115 yards for the Jayhawks (0-7, 0-6), who were held to 246 total yards. Kansas scored its lone touchdown on the final play of the game.

“I felt like we could run the football with them and throw efficiently,” Kansas coach Les Miles said. “Not necessarily deep balls down the field, but efficient throws.”

Miles said his team was hit hard by COVID-19 this week, especially on defense.

The Jayhawks kicked a field goal in the closing seconds of the first half to make it 31-3.

Stevenson’s 29-yard touchdown run in the third quarter increased Oklahoma’s lead to 41-3, and the Sooners cruised from there.

“I still don’t feel like they’re — that we can’t play with them,” Miles said. “I didn’t say we’d beat ’em, but certainly I thought that we would play with them today and give ourselves a chance to beat them late in the game. Nah. It didn’t happen that way.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas: The Jayhawks had hoped to post a better showing, but it was the third straight game they allowed at least 50 points while losing by at least 30 points.

Oklahoma: The Sooners have their running game in order heading into the critical final stretch of the season. Oklahoma ran for 200 yards after rushing for 213 last Saturday against Texas Tech. Oklahoma scored at least 60 points in two consecutive games for the first time since 2015.

SOONER SACKERS

In addition to Bonitto with three sacks, Ronnie Perkins, Marcus Stripling and Isaiah Thomas all had 1 1/2. They hit Daniels for 73 yards in losses.

Daniels limped off the field in the fourth quarter.

“The update is when I walked by him and he says it feels a lot better,” Miles said. “I don’t know to what extent that means. He got hit a lot of times in that game, and we can’t treat our quarterback like that or we won’t have one. That’s a fact.”

TURNOVERS

Oklahoma intercepted Daniels’ passes twice in the first quarter and harassed him for most of the game.

The Sooners had struggled to force turnovers in their first 1 1/2 seasons under defensive coordinator Alex Grinch. But they forced two against Kansas after forcing three against Texas Tech the previous week.

“We’re just really playing ball right now,” Bonitto said. “Like coach Grinch says, when you do the right technique, when you run to the ball, when you follow that, bottom line — good things are going to happen. You’re seeing these turnovers start to come in bunches now.”

RECORD PACE

Oklahoma’s Marvin Mims had his seventh receiving touchdown of the season, tying Mark Andrews and CeeDee Lamb for the school freshman season record. Mims has the most touchdown grabs by a Sooner through the first seven games of a career.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: Hosts Oklahoma State on Nov. 21.

No. 14 Oklahoma State holds off Kansas State, 20-18

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Oklahoma State was missing so many offensive players to injuries this week that coach Mike Gundy joked he took most of the reps at running back, even though he’s a 53-year-old ex-quarterback who was hardly known for his wheels.

Good thing the Cowboys’ defense showed up against Kansas State.

Jason Taylor II returned a fumble 85 yards for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and Oklahoma State stopped the Wildcats’ 2-point try that would have tied the game with 2:08 to go, allowing the No. 14 Cowboys to escape with a 20-18 victory Saturday night that kept their Big 12 title hopes alive.

“We don’t ever talk about it,” Gundy said, “but they need the credit this week for fighting through where they were and finding aw ay to win on the road and play this game. It’s extremely difficult when you don’t have your guys practicing, even though they’re some veteran guys. You need to practice.”

Spencer Sanders was held to just 108 yards passing without dynamic wide receiver Tylan Wallace and with running back Chuba Hubbard slowed by an injury. LD Brown helped to pick up the load, running for 110 yards, as Oklahoma State (5-1, 4-1) leaned on a defense that was trampled by Texas a week ago.

“With all the adversity we faced, all the guys out, we just found a way,” Oklahoma State linebacker Amen Ogbongbemiga said. “We have a great bond and it’s games like this that define who we are.”

The Wildcats (4-3, 4-2) were forced to try for the tying 2-point conversion after Will Howard’s short TD run because of their odd decision to attempt a 2-point try to stretch a 12-0 lead in the first half. Howard was incomplete on that one, and he never got a pass off on the second — he fumbled the ball as the pocket collapsed around him.

Oklahoma State guided the ensuing onside kick out of bounds and ran some time off the clock before punting back to the Wildcats, but Howard immediately threw an interception with 1:47 to go to seal their fate.

Howard finished with 143 yards passing and a touchdown and 125 yards rushing and another score, but most of the yards both through the air and on the ground came on a couple of big plays. He was just 10 of 21 through the air.

“You’re a true freshman,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said, “and some of those things are going to happen, but you know what? That kid is competing his tail off. He’s a competitor, and he’s continued to improve.”

Heading into the game, everything appeared to portend a big night for Oklahoma State’s offense: Hubbard ran for 296 yards against the Wildcats last season, Sanders threw for a career high 400 yards and four touchdowns last week against the Longhorns, and Kansas State was coming off a 37-10 shellacking at the hands of West Virginia.

So much for that.

The Wildcats dominated the line of scrimmage in the first half, forcing Sanders to continually throw away the ball when they weren’t putting him on his back, and the hobbled Hubbard had a mere three carries for 11 yards at the break.

Kansas State wasn’t exactly lighting it up, either. Blake Lynch kicked a pair of field goals, and it took Howard’s 69-yard run late in the first half to set up a touchdown with 37 seconds left — the score followed by their ill-fated 2-point conversion.

That wound up being a big point.

After six first-half punts, Oklahoma State finally got on the board with a field goal. Then the Cowboys forced a three-and-out, and Brown ripped off a 50-yard run to set up Brennan Presley’s easy touchdown jaunt on a jet sweep. And when Alex Hale added another field goal, the Cowboys had a 13-12 lead, their first of the game.

“We were pretty beat up. We had a number of guys not practice this week on offense and it showed,” Gundy said. “I just told the team I was proud of them. They had their backs against the wall and got a win on the road.”

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma State won despite gaining just 261 yards on offense and committing six penalties for 65 yards. The biggest reason? The Cowboys didn’t commit a turnover after coughing it up four times against the Longhorns.

Kansas State could have used the steady hand of senior quarterback Skylar Thompson, who is out for the season with a shoulder injury, and tight end Briley Moore, who got hurt last week against the Mountaineers. The offense was never able to get into a rhythm while playing a slew of underclassmen.

NOT SO UNIFIED

Oklahoma State remained in the locker room during the Big 12′s pregame celebration of unity, leaving Kansas State to line up alone along its sideline. In fact, the Cowboys were so late exiting the locker room they barely got 11 players on the field to take the opening kickoff. They promptly went three-and-out on offense.

UP NEXT

The Cowboys have a week off before heading to Norman for the Bedlam game against No. 19 Oklahoma on Nov. 21. Kansas State gets the week off before trying to snap its two-game skid at No. 17 Iowa State.