Sure, Oklahoma State brings averages of 37.3 points and 325.5 passing yards into Saturday’s home game against Kansas (19.2 points a game). But the Jayhawks and coach David Beaty will be even more concerned with what the Cowboys can do on the other side of the ball.
The OSU defense tends to wreak havoc, and has established itself as the strength of coach Mike Gundy’s team this season. In the past four games alone, the Cowboys (6-0 overall, 3-0 Big 12) have recovered eight fumbles.
Oklahoma State, which excels at pressuring the quarterback (more on that to come), has held four of its last five opponents under 200 yards passing. Kansas State got more than 200, but just barely — 207 — on Oct. 3. No such luck for Central Arkansas, Texas-San Antonio, Texas and West Virginia.
On the season, the Cowboys have allowed an average of 332.2 yards a game on defense, which ranks them 29th in the country.
As so often is the case in Big 12 matchups for Kansas, the Jayhawks haven’t defeated Oklahoma State since Todd Reesing played quarterback.
The Cowboys have beaten KU in five consecutive meetings, and OSU has won 43 of its previous 48 games against unranked opponents.
For Kansas to have any kind of chance at Boone Pickens Stadium (2:30 p.m. kickoff, on FOX Sports 1), the offense will have to figure out ways to stay on the field — and score points — against a stingy OSU defense.
Here are five Oklahoma State defenders whom the Jayhawks should be worried about this weekend.
**FIVE COWBOYS TO WATCH**
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*No. 38: DE Emmanuel Ogbah | 6-4, 275, jr.*
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• With 1.25 sacks a game, the massive junior defensive end ranks fifth in the nation and No. 1 in the Big 12 in disposing of quarterbacks.
• Nine times this seasons, Ogbah has hurried a quarterback, making him OSU’s all-time single-season leader in that category. With two more hurries this season, he’ll become the program’s all-time leader, with 18.
• In all six of OSU’s games this season, Ogbah has recorded at least one sack, a feat he has pulled off in 12 of his last 14 games.
• In other words: watch out, Ryan Willis. No. 38 is coming your way.
• Oklahoma State probably wouldn’t be undefeated if it wasn’t for Ogbah. He scored a defensive touchdown, forced a pair of fumbles, recovered a fumble, finished with eight tackles and sacked the quarterback once in the Cowboys’ 33-26 overtime victory at West Virginia two weeks ago.
*No. 13: FS Jordan Sterns | 6-1, 205, jr.*
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• OSU junior free safety Jordan Sterns just seems to end up at the ball. Sterns leads the Cowboys with 56 total tackles through six games, and has made 39 of those by himself.
• In three of the last four games, Sterns’ total tackles numbers have reached double digits.
• Averaging 9.3 tackles a game, Sterns leads the Big 12 in total tackles and ranks 23rd in the nation.
• Halfway through the fall, Sterns also has a tackle for loss, two pass breakups and a fumble recovery.
• In 2014, as a sophomore against West Virginia, the safety racked up 20 tackles. Twenty.
• Last season Sterns’ 103 tackles made him the first OSU underclassman to break the century mark. He also blocked two kicks in 2014.
*No. 92: DE Jimmy Bean | 6-5, 250, sr.*
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• As if having Ogbah on one end of the defensive line wasn’t enough for KU to worry about, senior defensive end Jimmy Bean can bring heat from the opposite end.
• Ogbah’s 1.83 tackles for loss rank him eighth in the NCAA, but Bean is bringing ball-carriers down in the backfield at nearly exact same rate: 1.75 (10th in the nation).
• In 2014, Bean had 3.5 sacks. Midway through his final college football season, he’s already at 5.5 sacks.
• A starter since the first week of his sophomore year, Bean has 10.5 tackles for loss this season.
• Surprisingly, Bean and Ogbah are not the top sack duo in the nation. That distinction belongs to Penn State’s Carl Nassib and Austin Johnson (13.5 sacks combined), who lead Bean and Ogbah by 0.5.
• Bean has hurried the QB two times this season.
*No. 96: DT Vincent Taylor | 6-3, 300, soph.*
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• Guess what. OSU has another playmaker on the defensive line: sophomore tackle Vincent Taylor.
• A breakout star inside, Taylor made his first career sack in OSU’s season opener, and now has three sacks and 6.5 tackles for loss as another disruptive force at the line of scrimmage.
• In the Cowboys’ overtime victory at WVU, Taylor finished with a career-best nine tackles — a difficult number to achieve as an interior lineman.
• Taylor has 26 tackles on the year.
*No. 20: LB Jordan Burton | 6-3, 215, jr.*
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Jordan Burton @bighit20 @ Oklahoma State 4merly Kilgore JuCo @KCRANGERSFB n action vs Central Michigan pic.twitter.com/oez2OuAl8I
— JuCo Football Forer (@JuCoFootballACE) September 5, 2015
• A junior-college transfer who played his freshman year at Stephen F. Austin, junior linebacker Jordan Burton hasn’t had much trouble acclimating at Oklahoma State. Burton ranks second on the team in tackles, with 37.
• The new Cowboy came up with a sack and two tackles for loss in OSU’s victory over Kansas State.
• Another key player in Oklahoma State’s road win at West Virginia, Burton finished with 11 tackles his last time out.
• Through six games, the junior linebacker has 25 solo tackles, 5.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery.