Kansas upsets No. 6 Oklahoma for first win over Sooners since 1997

Oklahoma’s undefeated season is over.

Kansas RB Devin Neal scored with 55 seconds to go to give the Jayhawks a 38-33 win over the No. 6 Sooners on Saturday.

Oklahoma seemingly let Neal score after punting the ball back to Kansas with 2:06 to go. Kansas quickly got to midfield on its final drive and had a huge fourth-down conversion to the Oklahoma 10 yard-line when Jason Bean found a wide-open Lawrence Arnold for a 37-yard catch-and-run.

The Sooners had two timeouts left for their final possession and got to the Kansas 21-yard line with three seconds to go. But Dillon Gabriel's pass into the end zone fell incomplete.

The victory is Kansas' first win over Oklahoma since 1997 and the Jayhawks' first home win over a top-10 team since 1984. The team they beat that season? Oklahoma.

The Sooners had a phenomenal chance to end the game with less than three minutes to go after an incredible play by defensive lineman Ethan Downs. Kansas tried to run a delayed screen on a third down and Downs recognized the play right away. Kansas QB Jason Bean somehow made the decision to throw the ball anyway despite Downs’ recognition and threw it right to Downs for an interception.

But the Sooners went three-and-out and committed a false start on fourth down to bring the punt team on the field and give the ball back to KU for what was the game-winning drive.

The game featured six lead changes, a fumbled kickoff by each team and a Kansas drive where Oklahoma committed three personal fouls.

Jason Bean’s up-and-down game

Downs’ interception was the second in two drives for Bean. The Kansas QB was starting his fifth game of the season in place of Jalon Daniels as the preseason Big 12 player of the year is sidelined with a back injury.

The Bean experience, as Kansas fans will attest, is a roller coaster. He’s capable of making plays that make you shake your head in both frustration and excitement.

Bean finished the game just 15-of-32 passing for 218 yards and those two interceptions but had four carries for 62 yards and a TD on a 38-yard run that gave Kansas a 26-21 lead in the third quarter.

The win means Kansas is now 6-2 and bowl eligible for the second straight season. It's a remarkable turnaround for a school that had the worst Power Five program in the country before coach Lance Leipold arrived.

Oklahoma's playoff hopes are a whole lot slimmer

The Sooners survived an upset scare a week ago at home against UCF and flirted with danger throughout the entirety of Saturday’s game against the Jayhawks.

Kansas took a 14-0 lead early before Oklahoma reeled off 21 consecutive points in 10 minutes to take the lead before halftime. But the Jayhawks took the lead on that Bean TD run after Jalil Farooq fumbled late in the third quarter.

The Sooners responded well after Bean’s run, but the offense wasn’t good enough down the stretch. The Sooners punted after KU missed a field goal that would have extended the lead to eight in the fourth quarter and the drive after Downs’ interception lost two yards.

The loss will assuredly keep Oklahoma out of the top 10 in the first College Football Playoff rankings of the year on Tuesday, but the Sooners’ playoff hopes aren’t totally dead. An undefeated finish to the regular season could set up a rematch with Texas in the Big 12 title game. And the winner of that game could be in the playoff.

But the Sooners have to get through Week 10 before worrying about the playoff. Oklahoma heads to Oklahoma State next week for what could be the final Bedlam rivalry game for the foreseeable future.