Kansas quarterback Jason Bean looks to pass during the second half of an NCAA college football game against TCU Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, in Lawrence, Kan. TCU won 38-31. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

It’s hardly rare to call the quarterback matchup a key to any college football game. But this week’s QB clash between No. 19 Kansas and the 3-3 Oklahoma Sooners is a little odd.

Kansas (5-1 overall, 2-1 Big 12) will be without its starter, Jalon Daniels, who was injured in last week’s loss to TCU. And Oklahoma (3-3, 0-3) is expected to get its starting quarterback — redshirt junior Dillon Gabriel — back this week after he missed a couple of games with a head injury.

That will make the matchup at the game’s most position a battle between KU backup Jason Bean, who was solid in relief of Daniels last week, and Gabriel, a transfer who may still be trying to shake off some of the rust of missing time.

Regardless of how either plays or what the OU QB looks like, Kansas is preparing for an angry and explosive Sooners team that will be looking to snap a three-game losing skid.

“With Gabriel, they’re high-paced, without Gabriel, they’re high-paced,” KU safety Kenny Logan Jr. said this week. “They’ve got a lot of speed, so you just have to make sure you’re communicating and ready to make plays when they come to you.”

OU enters this week’s game on the heels of a 49-0 loss to rival Texas a week ago. Prior to that, the Sooners fell to both Kansas State and TCU, giving up nearly 40 points per game in the process.

KU coach Lance Leipold said he believes that a lot of OU’s recent struggles have been more about the teams that they’ve played than any major issues on the Oklahoma side of things.

“When you’re a program like (OU), you get everybody’s best shot,” Leipold said this week. “That’s too good of a staff, too good of a program and roster… It’s going to be a big test for us this weekend.”

It’s been 28 days since the Jayhawks played a road game. But the typically unfriendly confines of the road have been good to the Jayhawks this year.

KU won a Week 2 game at West Virginia and followed that up with a road win at Houston in Week 3.

Winning at Oklahoma, against a Sooners team that’s reeling and looking for a get-right game, is a different challenge altogether, though, and these Jayhawks know that.

“It’s a big game,” sophomore running back Devin Neal said this week. “Especially coming back from a loss. We’re going to see how well we respond.”

Neal likes the fact that KU is on the road this week. Even though playing in front of sold-out home crowds was a blast for everyone in a KU uniform, Neal said road games, particularly after a loss, often tighten the focus for a team. He thinks that will be the case this week and that this team can lean on its prior success on the road this season.

“It can help us a lot,” Neal said. “I think we’re kind of used to playing in those kinds of crazy atmospheres and I think we’re ready to handle whatever’s thrown our way. … Sometimes those losses can kind of be humbling for you and set you in a better direction.”

WEEK 7 AT A GLANCE

Kansas Jayhawks (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) vs. Oklahoma Sooners (3-3, 0-3 Big 12)

• Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Okla., 11 a.m.

• Broadcast: ESPN2

• Radio: KLZR 105.9 FM / KLWN 1320 AM

• Opening line: Kansas +7; over/under 62.5

• Series history: OU leads, 79-27-6

This season

Points per game: Kansas 39.8; OU 30.8

Points allowed per game: Kansas 26.3; OU 29.2

Yards per game: Kansas 440 (213.6 rushing, 226.3 passing); OU 433.7 (210 rushing, 223.7 passing)

Yards allowed per game: Kansas 395.8 (120.3 rushing, 275.5 passing); OU 450 (214.5 rushing, 235.5 passing)

Turnover margin: Kansas +2; OU +2

KEYS FOR KANSAS

• Run the football – Saturday’s matchup is a clash between one of the best rushing teams in the Big 12 Conference, in Kansas, and one of the worst run defenses, in Oklahoma. Whether it’s with quarterback Jason Bean in the QB run game or by handing the ball to Devin Neal, Ky Thomas and Sevion Morrison, the Jayhawks should and likely will look to control the game on the ground. KU OC Andy Kotelnicki said this week that Morrison and Thomas had their best week of practice yet, and Neal has been a workhorse throughout the season. Add to that the fact that Bean is the fastest player on the KU roster and it makes sense for Kansas to try to find success on the ground, especially considering OU is giving up 310 yards per game on the ground in Big 12 play.

• Cleaner 4th quarters – In 12 games last season, KU had 15 fourth-quarter penalties. Through just six games this season, that number is already at 14. “That’s not acceptable,” Leipold said. “We have to be better. You know, you live that way it’s going to cost you.” Asked how he would address fixing that area, Leipold said it was a matter of discipline and also identifying the types of penalties that are happening. If it’s a holding call, is a guy getting tired? If it’s offsides on a kickoff or on third down, it might be more of a matter of focus. “You’ve got to look at a lot of different things,” he said.

• Support for Bean – Bean was terrific last week after coming in off the bench, and the expectation is for the offense to continue to cruise with him starting. A full week to work with the first unit and digest the game plan no doubt will help, but his teammates have to do their part to make sure he’s as comfortable as possible. That means the O-Line continuing its stellar season. That means the receivers making tough catches like they did against TCU. And that means Kotelnicki and Leipold using Bean the way he needs to be used to be most effective. “You’re always going to tweak to somebody’s strengths,” Leipold said Tuesday. “And we’ll continue to do what we can to be as multiple as possible.”

BY THE NUMBERS

6: KU defensive end Lonnie Phelps ranks fifth in the country and second in the Big 12 in sacks, with six. That’s the most by a Jayhawk in the first six games of a season since Dorrance Armstrong had six in 2016.

7.33: The Kansas offense enters the weekend ranked fourth nationally in yards per play at 7.33. That trails only TCU (8.08), Ohio State (8.07) and Alabama (7.49).

33: The Jayhawks have scored 33 touchdowns so far this season, which is the second most by a KU team in a single season over the past 10 years. The only season that Kansas scored more TDs in the past decade was 2019, when the Jayhawks reached the end zone 36 times.