No. 18 Oklahoma State, Kansas hopeful about their QB health

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy watched from the sideline as Spencer Sanders, his star quarterback, was tackled laborious sufficient on his shoulder throughout a loss to Kansas State to finish up within the harm tent.

Kansas coach Lance Leipold may relate.

Three weeks earlier in opposition to TCU, the Jayhawks misplaced quarterback Jalon Daniels when he was tackled laborious on his shoulder, forcing them to show to Jason Bean with combined outcomes throughout what has grow to be a three-game shedding streak.

Both starters may very well be again Saturday.

Gundy mentioned Sanders would principally relaxation this week, slightly than apply like traditional, however “he’s doing good” and the No. 18 Cowboys are going to “try to get him back and get him going, just like we’ve been doing.” Meanwhile, Leipold mentioned Daniels practiced throughout the Jayhawks’ bye week, elevating hopes that his dual-threat dynamo would face Oklahoma State.

“He’s doing some things,” Leipold mentioned with out elaborating. “We’ll see.”

Even after he was held to 147 yards passing in a 48-0 loss final week to the Wildcats, the versatile Sanders stays second within the Big 12 in yards and touchdowns by the air. He can also be second amongst Big 12 quarterbacks with 343 yards speeding.

If he can’t go, the Cowboys (6-2, 3-2 Big 12) would flip to Gundy’s son, Gunnar, who completed out the sport final Saturday.

“Hopefully Spencer will play,” Mike Gundy mentioned, “because obviously that’s a different level. But if (not), then we go through the path that maybe you’re talking about and we figure it out, we go play and see where it goes.”

The Jayhawks (5-3, 2-3) would follow Bean if Daniels is unable to play. But whereas they’re comparable in model, Daniels is finishing the next proportion of his passes, working for extra yards per carry, and he’s thrown 11 landing passes in opposition to one interception whereas Bean has thrown 9 landing passes and three interceptions.

“All of our guys practice the same way, practice the same plays. Very similar to Kansas,” Gundy mentioned. “You look at the games that the other quarterback played in, just recently, they’re running the same plays and we run the same plays.”

MORE INJURY NEWS

The week off may additionally assist the Jayhawks get dynamic defensive again Cobee Bryant again from an ankle harm that he sustained in opposition to Oklahoma on Oct. 15. He has two interceptions, together with one he returned 86 yards for a landing.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT

Gundy blamed among the Cowboys’ struggles at Kansas State on some adjustments in apply that he made to cope with a rash of accidents. He didn’t describe them intimately, however Gundy mentioned apply can be again to regular this week.

“There’s a lot of different ways to handle this as a coach, different philosophies,” he mentioned, “but one consistent philosophy for most coaches is when you show up Saturday you want to have as many guys as you can have. I was a little more concerned than maybe should have been about where we were at from an injury standpoint.”

TRANSFER TIME

Deondre Jackson had six carries for 20 yards in opposition to the Wildcats, probably the most work the Texas A&M switch has had since he arrived at Oklahoma State. Or in his faculty profession, for that matter — he had 4 carries over the previous three seasons.

“It was certainly something we can work with,” Gundy mentioned.

WHAT’S AT STAKE

The Cowboys are a sport behind Kansas State and two again of TCU within the Big 12, and having misplaced to each, their hopes of taking part in within the convention title sport would possible be dashed by one other loss. Kansas continues to be attempting to win a sixth sport and grow to be bowl-eligible for the primary time since 2008.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Jayhawks return residence for the primary time in practically a month, and far has modified: They have been 5-0 heading into their final residence sport and have now misplaced three straight, together with two on the street. But Leipold is hopeful followers, who had bought out their earlier three residence video games, end up in large numbers as soon as once more on Saturday.

“I hope the future of this program and as we continue to work to build winning consistently in this program, that it’s not undefeated records that get us to fill this place,” Leipold mentioned. “Because that’d be a lot of non-filled stadiums across college football, and I still hope that people are excited and though the wins of late haven’t been there.”

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