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The players and coaches at Kansas can offer a better perspective than just about anybody on this week's marquee Big 12 matchup between No. 10 Kansas State and 11th-ranked Oklahoma.
The struggling Jayhawks were spanked by the Sooners two weeks ago in Lawrence, a 47-17 rout in which Oklahoma wide receiver Ryan Broyles set all kinds of records. Then last week, Kansas State came to town and laid a 59-21 whipping on their I-70 rival at Memorial Stadium.
The Sooners visit Kansas State this Saturday in a game that will go a long way toward deciding the Big 12 champion.
''This is two different teams completely,'' said Kansas defensive back Bradley McDougald. ''One you have a quarterback who wants to run the ball, as opposed to last week, who was diving at a defender 5 yards away. Just a different mindset of the two teams. Two entirely different teams.''
Kansas State would be the team with the fearless quarterback flinging himself forward with nearly total disregard for his health. Collin Klein averages close to 100 yards rushing per game, among the best of all quarterbacks in major college football. He can throw the ball, sure, but he'd just as soon run it in right into the teeth of the defense.
The guy who was diving whenever a Kansas defender was near him is Oklahoma's Landry Jones, who has been just effective as Klein in a completely different manner.
The junior gunslinger would rather do anything but take off running - throw it into the ground, out of bounds, into the stands. Fortunately for Jones, he has receivers like Broyles who make it easy to find someone on the field to hit. Jones has already thrown for 2,589 yards, which ranks third nationally, and would be a lot gaudier had Florida State not held him to 199 yards in their game.
''Kansas State wants to dominate the clock and run the ball, and occasionally they throw the ball down field. But that's not their main goal. They want to come in and ground and pound,'' McDougald said. ''Oklahoma, they like to run, but they like to throw the ball down field a lot.''
While the two teams couldn't be much more dissimilar on offense, Kansas running back James Sims sees a lot of similarities between Oklahoma and Kansas State on defense.
Both have defensive lines that get plenty of pressure on the quarterback - the Sooners are second in the league in total sacks with 27, and the Wildcats are tied for fourth with 16. Both teams have a deep linebacker corps just as adept stuffing the run as they are dropping into pass coverage.
Oklahoma's secondary is third in pass efficiency defense, Kansas State's is fourth. The only team with more interceptions than those two schools is Oklahoma State, and the only team better at getting off the field on third downs is Texas.
''Both teams, they knew we were a run-heavy team and they loaded the box. They wanted us to pass the ball. That's it,'' Sims said. ''Can't really go off anything else.''
The Sooners proved to be fallible last Saturday, when they were stunned at home by the same Texas Tech team that squandered a lead against Kansas State a week earlier.
Like many of the Jayhawks, Red Raiders coach Tommy Tuberville has a unique perspective on the matchup between Oklahoma and Kansas State. While he said it's difficult to draw too many comparisons between them, he pointed out that both teams are still in the running for a Big 12 title.
Until last Saturday, both were in the running for a national championship, too.
''I knew the implications for them going into that game, and they knew it,'' Tuberville said of Texas Tech's win over Oklahoma. ''To win every game in college football is almost impossible. I don't care how good you are, how talented you are. You're dealing with 18-, 19-year-olds kids.
''It's just a very hard thing to do.''
