Once Kansas left Baker Mayfield hanging during the coin toss,you knew it was game on.
In a game of words, taunts, gestures and scuffles, the Sooners pulled away from the Jayhawks and overwhelmed KU, 41-3, on Senior Day.
During the opening kickoff, Mayfield extended his hand to shake the KU captains’ hands. However, Joe Dineen, Daniel Wise, and Dorance Armstrong all stayed back, sparking a feud between the two squads the whole game.
Coach David Beaty, while not in complete agreement with their actions, understood where the captains were coming from.
““Our guys at some point in their careers, they just have to get tired of it….You’re gonna stick your feet in the ground. You’re gonna defend your grass. I think we got to display it better than that, obviously, but I get it.”
The disrespect… pic.twitter.com/9h92MV0Iua
— gifhawk (@GIFhawk) November 18, 2017
According to Dineen, the team refused to shake hands with the Sooners to gain an edge. He said the team would have did the same gesture to any of the OU captains, including Mayfield.
“It wasn’t an attack on him [Baker] personally at all. I respect him. He’s obviously a great player. It was more for us personally to put our foot down and try to get fired up before the game and let them know that we’re here and we’re just not going to back down because you’re Oklahoma.”
The psych-out worked for most of the first half, as Dineen and the Jayhawk defense gave up 105 passing to the leading Heisman trophy candidate and 170 yards total to a team that averaged 600 yards coming into today’s game.
“I thought we controlled most of that first quarter for sure,” Beaty said
The Sooner offense struggled to move the ball until 50 seconds to go in the first half when corner Hasan Defense committed two penalties, including a late-hit on the QB, to set the Sooners up for great field position. They would score on a 24-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown to make it 21-3.
Yeah, I’d say it’s personal between KU and Baker Mayfield. Hasan Defense lucky he wasn’t ejected. pic.twitter.com/CvMGxwHwYb
— Jesse Newell (@jessenewell) November 18, 2017
“I felt pretty bad for letting my team down. Giving up free yards, I felt like that was definitely something I shouldn’t have done. Probably didn’t feel as bad for hitting him [Baker] but I feel like I let my brothers down and at the end of that that’s all that matters.”
“We got to be smarter than that,” the Jayhawk coach said. “Those chunk penalties like that kill you in those situations.”
The OU signal-caller dished out his fair share of trash talk. In the third quarter after a 3-yard touchdown to tight end Mark Andrews, Mayfield yelled f-bombs to the KU sideline and grabbed his crouch to antagonize KU. He also taunted Kansas fans, saying they should “go cheer on basketball.”
With audio…. pic.twitter.com/xTyVamTIQj
— gifhawk (@GIFhawk) November 18, 2017
Beaty chalked all the trash talk as part of the game: “It’s just football….He’s a competitor. Guys do what they do. He’s not my player, so it’s not my job to manage him….I know Coach Riley is a classy guy and he’ll manage it.”
Mayfield would go on to complete 20 of his 30 passes for 257 yards and three touchdowns. OU would finish with 469 yards of total offense.
Carter Stanley and the offense struggled against and OU defense that came in allowing 27.4 points and 414 yards per game. Kansas managed only 155 yards collectively and 10 first downs. In the last three years, the Jayhawks have not scored more than seven points against the team from Norman.
Midway through the second quarter, Stanley threw a pass to Evan Fairs. The wide receiver failed to haul in the catch despite it hitting him in the hands, and linebacker Emmanuel Beal made the interception. That gave OU great field position inside the red zone. Senior receiver Jordan Smallwood would later score on a 3-yard reverse.
Kansas will finish the season next week with a trip to Stillwater to take on Oklahoma State, who fell to Kansas State 45-40.
