Shutdown And Shutout | Oklahoma's Defense Leaves Kansas State No Options

Over the last two weeks Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats put the fear of Vince Lombardi into Big 12 contenders Oklahoma State and TCU, On Saturday the Sooners didn't allow that to be even a remote possibility as defensive pressure created all kinds of problems for K-State's offense.

Starting quarterback Joe Hubener was racked up for two interceptions was ultimately benched for Kody Cook who promptly threw a pick-6 to Zack Sanchez. In all, KSU quarterbacks combined to go just 5-of-22 passing for 45 yards, and the three picks, while being sacked six times.

It wasn't working for the Wildcats on the ground either as the Sooner defense limited KSU runners to just 65 total yards on 31 attempts. Six different Kansas State players ran the ball on the afternoon and none of them tallied more than 19 yards individually.

It was a much different defense than the one we saw get pushed around by Texas last weekend in Dallas. Aggressive, opportunistic, and strong are all proper adjectives to describe what the Oklahoma defense looked like on Saturday. Typically when facing a Big 12 offense you want to be able to take one aspect away to limit their effectiveness. The Sooners were able to everything away from the Wildcats and ruined their homecoming by limiting them to just 110 total offensive yards and seven first downs for the game.

Prior to Saturday, the Wildcats hadn't been shutout since 1996 and hadn't been shutout in Manhattan since 1991.

Position Grades

Defensive Line - Matt Dimon, Marquise Overton, Charles Walker, Jordan Wade, and DJ Ward all recorded sacks on the day. They also were able to seal off the edges against a team that likes to run the ball with their quarterbacks. Overall Grade: A+

Linebackers - Frank Shannon was one of the three players tied with a team-high four tackles, all three of Eric Striker's tackles were for loss, and Ogbonnia Okoronkwo recorded a sack. The biggest thing the linebackers were able to do on the day, outside of plug gaps, was stop Kansas State's run/pass by not getting sucked in and staying home. Overall Grade: A+

Secondary - Zack Sanchez took one of his two interceptions to the house and Jordan Thomas added another pick to go along with his four tackles. Safety Steven Parker was the third player to be tied with the team-high four tackles. Overall Grade: A+

Special Teams - Kansas State had zilch in their return game and Austin Seibert was nails once again, averaging 38 yards per punt, going 2/2 on field goals and 7/7 on PATs.