#18 Oklahoma Sooners At Kansas Jayhawks | Opponent Q&A

Giving us an inside look at the Jayhawks is Warden11 from SBN's Kansas site, Rock Chalk Talk.

CCM: Charlie Weis is an offensive coach and yet the Jayhawks have the statically worst offense in the conference.  What are the major issues that are costing Kansas on that side of the ball?

RCT: This answer could go on for days, especially after the news that came out this week about the restructuring of the offensive duties for the coaches.  However, on the field it comes down to every part of the offense not producing for various reasons.  It all begins with the offensive line not being able to run or pass block.  We had a lot of turnover from last season to this season and it hasn't gone well, the starters have been switched around at least 3 times.  We've tried 3 different centers.  Because the line can't block, Heaps has been pressured often and he can't move well so we take big losses on sacks. The receivers have not shown any speed or ability to get open, so we're stuck with short passes to the running backs or Tony Pierson.  The commitment to establishing the ground game has been lacking.  It might be because Weis doesn't have faith in the line or because he believes we have to be able to pass to win.  The reason doesn't really matter, the production hasn't been there.  James Sims ran for 112 yards a game last year to 78 this year and that's before we've played half the conference games.  Yeah, it's been bad.

CCM: Talk about the receiving corps for Kansas. We all know what James Sims is capable of on the ground but can Oklahoma man up the receivers and play to stop the run or do the Jayhawks need to draw a defender over the top?

RCT: As I mentioned in the first answer, the guys at receiver have not been productive.  Tony Pierson has been our best receiver and he's a slot guy that has speed but is undersized. He also missed last week's game against TCU due to a concussion in week 5.  I think he's listed as day-to-day this week.  Jimmay Mundine is a decent receiver at tight end and is our second most productive receiver.  Former OU player Justin McCay has been invisible this year.  Tre Parmalee has not done anything.  The best player we have at wide receiver is Andrew Turzilli and he's only got TWO receptions this year.

So to answer your question, yeah I think you guys are safe if the defensive backfield plays up to stop the run.  We haven't hurt anyone yet with the pass, doubt it happens this week either.

CCM: They Jayhawks seem to be improved on the defensive side of the ball this year. What can we expect to see from Kansas when the Sooners have the ball?

RCT: The defense has been quite a bit better this year.  The defensive backs have been all over the receivers and have done a great job of breaking up passes.  Blitzes have been timed well to create pressure when it's needed without getting hurt too much.  Our best linebacker, Ben Heeney, was hurt last week against TCU so that might be a problem. The defense has struggled against the run at times and that scares me heading into the weekend.  If you guys try to establish the run, I think the Jayhawk defense will struggle. The other area we tend to struggle is defending the short passing game.  At times it has looked ok but more often than not, we allow those passes to be completed.  That might be a problem because we're not athletic enough to tackle and stop big gains from happening here. The defense also has been forced to deal with short fields and lots of time on the field thanks to our offense not being able to move the ball.  I'm not overly impressed with this unit yet, Tech put up a ton of yards and TCU's offense just isn't very good.  We'll know a lot more after this week.

CCM: How about special teams? Is that a strength or a weakness for the Jayhawks?

RCT: Special teams have been a bit of a bright spot for the Jayhawks.  Punter Trevor Pardula has helped to push opponents back when the offense couldn't do it, averaging 47 yards a punt.  He might be the team MVP so far this season, probably says more about the rest of the team though.  Field goal kicking has been average to above average, Wyman is only 5 for 8 but his misses have been decent lengths, like the one last week from 52 yards that hit the cross bar.  The return game hasn't been anything special outside of week 1 against FCS South Dakota.

CCM: After watching the Sooners get upset in Dallas last weekend are Kansas fans thinking they can duplicate it this weekend in Lawrence? Give us a score prediction.

RCT: I haven't seen any Jayhawk fans thinking this is a winnable game.  We're going to be outmanned at almost every position.  Last week was nice but we also know that all of our points came directly from TCU giving us the ball deep in their own territory.  We simply can't score enough points to win a game against the top half of the conference based on what we've seen this season. Hopeful prediction is the defense continues to play well and we lose 35-13.  Scary prediction occurs if the defense is exposed and we lose 70-3.  If I had to bet, I'd take the middle ground and go 47-10.