No. 23 Kansas State Blows Out No. 20 Oklahoma State

© Scott Sewell-Imagn Images

No. 23 Kansas State (4-1, 1-1 Big 12 Conference) dominated No. 20 Oklahoma State (3-2, 0-2) 42-20 on Sept. 28 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan. K-State quarterback Avery Johnson had a bounce-back game against the Cowboys throwing for 259 yards 3 touchdowns and an interception. Johnson also gained 60 yards on the ground and 2 touchdowns. Running back DJ Giddens ran for 187 yards and 1 touchdown on 15 carries. This was the 10th-straight win for Kansas State after losing a game.

Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman threw for 364 yards a touchdown and 2 interceptions. Running back Ollie Gordon II ran for 72 yards in the first quarter against a strong rush defense, but after the first quarter, Gordon had 4 yards for the rest of the game.

Game Summary

Both teams had rough performances last week and were looking to improve. Kansas State came out and had a big opening drive converting on two fourth-down attempts on the way to an 11-yard run by Johnson. Oklahoma State would move the ball well early with two drives ending in two field goal attempts making one and missing one. On the Cowboys' third drive, the offense scored a touchdown on a 77-yard flea flicker from Bowman to De'Zhaun Stribling to lead 10-7. The Cowboys tacked on another field goal after a Johnson interception before the floodgates opened. K-State then scored 35 unanswered points to take control of Oklahoma State. The K-State defense forced 3 turnovers.

Turning Point for Kansas State

Down 14-13 in the second quarter, Oklahoma State was driving down the field in what had the makings of a classic Big 12 shootout. On third-and-3 at the K-State 22-yard line, Bowman was not able to handle the snap, and the football was recovered by safety Colby McCalister.

Four plays later, Johnson connected on his first touchdown pass of the season to a wide receiver on 55 yards downfield to Jayce Brown to lead 21-13.

What It Means

This Kansas State team needed this win going into a bye week to put a bad performance against No. 22 BYU (5-0, 2-0) in the rearview mirror. Johnson had the most complete game of his career against the Cowboys looking like the player the K-State coaching staff knew he would become. The Kansas State defense played aggressively, forcing 3 turnovers in this game and slowing down an Oklahoma State offense that can score quickly. The Wildcats play at Colorado (3-1, 1-0) in two weeks and should be riding high after this big win.

Oklahoma State has some questions that need to be answered for the rest of the season. In the game against No. 10 Utah (4-0, 1-0) last week the defense gave up 249 yards rushing on the ground. This week it got even worse as Kansas State rushed for 300 yards against the Cowboys. The offense needs to find a way to get Gordon going when he was a part of the running game the offense was able to move the ball against K-State. When K-State forced Bowman to take over the Oklahoma State offense struggled to make plays consistently and turned the ball over. West Virginia (2-2, 1-0) comes to Stillwater, Okla., next weekend with another shot for Oklahoma State to make the changes to win their first Big 12 game.