The Oklahoma University football team is not accustomed to losing.

Winning is kind of the Sooners’ thing, so much so that, entering the 2008 season, they had managed to piece together more victories than any other team in the country since 2000.

So in the aftermath of last week’s disappointing 45-35 loss to rival Texas that dropped them to 5-1 overall and No. 4 in the polls, what effect does that figure to have on Oklahoma on Saturday when it takes the field against 16th-ranked Kansas for the first time since 2005?

Shaken confidence? A desperate desire for redemption on national television?

In Kansas coach Mark Mangino’s eyes, none of the above.

“I’ll tell you this,” said Mangino, who spent three seasons as a Sooners assistant before arriving at Kansas, “Oklahoma is steady, and they are not a program that’s based on emotion. They are workman-like. They come out and play well every week, week after week. You’re not going to see anything different from them.”

Mangino went on to add that the game’s location, a notoriously hostile Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, should have no ill-effects on his team’s performance, either, heading into the Jayhawks’ biggest conference game of the season so far.

“It’s an exciting place, and our kids should feed off the energy that’s in the stadium,” said Mangino, who added that many of his players have played in places like Lincoln, Neb., and College Station and Austin, Texas. “The fans are classy, (and) they’re loud. But they’re not allowed on the field. Oklahoma’s only allowed to send 11 guys out against our 11.

“So hey, let’s give it our best shot.”