Brown, No. 25 Oklahoma beat No. 24 Kansas 35-13

By DOUG TUCKER
AP Sports Writer

LAWRENCE, Kan.(AP) — To Landry Jones, the Oklahoma defense is
similar to a cool breeze on a hot afternoon.

“Comforting,” said the Sooners quarterback. “It’s really
comforting to have a great defense like that.”

While his defense intercepted Todd Reesing on Kansas’ first
three possessions and held the nation’s second-ranked offense
about 200 yards beneath its average, Jones threw two touchdown
passes and No. 25 Oklahoma cruised past No. 24 Kansas 35-13
Saturday.

Chris Brown scored three touchdowns for the Sooners (4-3, 2-1
Big 12) and Dominique Franks set the defensive tone with an
85-yard touchdown return of the second interception of the
Jayhawks’ career leading passer.

That made it 14-6 at the half, then the Sooners put the game out
of reach with two long scoring drives in the third quarter.

“We went in at halftime and we were talking about how we were
struggling a little bit,” said Jones, starting for injured
Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford. “When we came out (in the
second half), we knew we had to go out there and execute. We
came out in the second half and we did our thing.”

The Sooners were never threatened by the Jayhawks (5-2, 1-2),
who were hoping for a victory to validate their newfound status
as Big 12 contenders.

Instead, it was an almost complete domination by the Sooners.
Kansas had only two field goals until Reesing scored on a short
run with less than 5 minutes to play.

“Rough day at the office for us, that’s for sure,” said Reesing,
who came in as the nation’s No. 5 passer. “Three interceptions -
it’s kind of hard to bounce back from that no matter how well
your defense plays, or what else is going on.”

Jones had little trouble with a Kansas defense that’s been
undergoing a midseason overhaul, and the Jayhawks also hurt
themselves with penalties as well as turnovers. They had been
averaging 503 yards per game.

“I think what we saw today is about as good (a defense) as you
can get,” said Kansas wide receiver Kerry Meier. “I didn’t think
they were as fast as they were last year. But the speed they had
on the field and the way they closed on the ball in certain
plays, I think this is the top defense in the country right
now.”

Kansas’ Dezmon Briscoe, the nation’s leading receiver with 134
yards per game, was held to 60 yards on seven catches – 209
fewer yards than he had in a record-breaking day against the
Sooners last year.

“I thought (defensive coordinator) Brent Venables and our
defensive guys had a great game plan,” said Oklahoma coach Bob
Stoops. “We were very aggressive in how we played.”

Jones’ stats – 26 of 38 for 252 yards – were similar to
Reesing’s 22 of 42 for 224. But he was not sacked and he threw
only one interception that was not his fault. Reesing, who had
averaged 356 yards in his last five conference games, was sacked
three times and hurried constantly.

On the game’s first play, Quinton Carter picked off Reesing’s
pass and gave the Sooners the ball on the Kansas 46. Brown
eventually scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1.

The Jayhawks had a second-and-goal from the 13 three plays into
the second quarter when Franks left his man and started to creep
up behind wide receiver Bradley McDougald in the right flat.

“He made a great play,” said Kansas coach Mark Mangino. “He
looked like he was bailing. I think he was just bluffing that.
He timed it up perfectly and got right underneath the ball.”

Franks grabbed the ball in front of McDougald and sped 85 yards
without being touched or hardly even challenged, giving the
Sooners a 14-0 lead.

“As soon as he caught it I knew it was going to be a touchdown
because he had a full head of steam on the run and we weren’t
going to catch him,” said Mangino.

Brown also scored on an 8-yard pass and a 29-yard run, but those
weren’t needed the way the defense kept shoving the Jayhawks
around.

“We know we’ve got to play great defense,” said lineman Jeremy
Beal. “We’re getting better every week.”

The best newsletter on the web