By the Associated Press:
Caleb Williams threw two touchdown passes, ran 40-yards for a score on a pivotal fourth down and No. 3 Oklahoma rallied to beat Kansas 35-23 and avoid an enormous upset Saturday.
The Sooners (8-0, 5-0 Big 12) trailed by double figures on two occasions — including 10-0 at the half —- but outscored the Jayhawks 35-13 in the second half to win their 16th straight game.
“I’m excited for the win, but we played poor football in the first half,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “We couldn’t get Kansas off the field and missed several opportunities. I give our team credit for rising up. Kansas deserves a lot of credit, and they did a few things that gave us trouble.”
Jason Bean passed for 246 yards and a score for Kansas (1-6, 0-4), which led 17-7 late in the third quarter.
A 66-yard run by Trevon West sparked the Oklahoma offense after that. and scored two plays later for their first lead, 21-17, early in the fourth quarter.
Kansas was able to stay in the game because of the legs of Devin Neal who ran for 100 and a pair of touchdowns. Kansas didn’t punt for the first time until the fourth quarter and held Oklahoma scoreless in the first half.
“I’m proud of our guys and the way the first half especially went,” Kansas coach Lance Leipold said. “When you design things and want it to go a certain way, we did a great job of managing the clock. We were able to mix some things together and keep their explosive offense off the field.”
Kansas plays at Oklahoma State next Saturday.
