Sunflower Showdown game report: No. 11 K-State 51, KU 13
First quarter
Key play: Jake Waters hit Tyler Lockett for a 44-yard touchdown pass on the first play of K-State’s second drive, giving the Wildcats a 14-0 lead.
Key stat: KU’s Michael Cummings threw two interceptions.
Second quarter
Key play: Lockett caught a touchdown pass that gave K-State a 31-6 lead and tied his father, Kevin, for the most touchdown receptions in school history. Earlier on the drive, he passed his father for the school’s receptions record.
Key stat: The Jayhawks’ 54-yard scoring drive was their longest since the third quarter of a loss to TCU.
Third quarter
Key play: Waters hit Curry Sexton for a 37-yard touchdown pass that gave the Wildcats a 45-13 lead.
Key stat: Jarvis Leverett, a third-string running back, ran for 7 yards in two carries. His presence signaled a K-State rout.
Fourth quarter
Key play: K-State’s Jack Cantele kicked a 39-yard field goal.
Key stat: Wildcats backup quarterback Joe Hubener ran for 29 yards.
Player of the game: Tyler Lockett. He broke one K-State record and tied another with another big day.
Reason to hope for K-State: The Wildcats regained their offensive balance, throwing for 311 yards and rushing for 194 yards. Similar numbers will be needed against Baylor.
Reason to hope for KU: The Jayhawks will spend the entire offseason thinking things will be better because of a new coach, whether that’s Clint Bowen or somebody else. It’s better than thinking about probable beatdowns in the Big 12. Also, unless Iowa State beats TCU next week, Kansas won’t finish last in the Big 12 for the first time since 2008. The Cyclones would be winless.
Reason to mope for K-State: K-State always struggles in Waco, Texas. It hasn’t beaten Baylor on the road since 2002.
Reason to mope for KU: The 3-9 final record is the same as last year, and it’s not been better for the Jayhawks since KU went 5-7 in 2009. And the Jayhawks will have another coach. If it’s not Bowen, the program will have a fifth coach in seven years.
Looking ahead for K-State: At least a share of the Big 12 championship will be on the line Saturday when the Wildcats face Baylor on the road. The Bears will be favored, but they didn’t look great against Texas Tech on Saturday.
Looking ahead for KU: There will be a news conference soon to introduce next year’s coach, then weeks of staff hiring news, followed by stories about how the staff is playing catch-up in recruiting. You know, the same story as 2010 when Kansas hired Turner Gill and 2012 when it hired Charlie Weis.
K-State report card
A | Offense | K-State’s rushing attack produced 194 yards and two touchdowns. That’s a big improvement from 1 yard against West Virginia. On top of 311 passing yards, it was a strong day all around. |
A | Defense | Kansas managed 197 yards of offense, and the Wildcats intercepted two passes. |
A | Special teams | The Wildcats converted all of their field-goal tries and had big plays in the return game. |
A | Coaching | No one motivates his team to play Kansas better than Bill Snyder. |
KU report card
D | Offense | Two touchdown passes by Michael Cummings were well-thrown, but his two interceptions were sloppy misfires that cost KU 10 points. Not much going on in the running game, and that’s been the case all season. Cummings was sacked four times. |
D | Defense | No huge breakdowns, but Kansas couldn’t come up with enough stops to keep the game interesting. If the key matchup was the Jayhawks’ secondary against K-State’s receiving tandem of Tyler Lockett and Curry Sexton, the Wildcats won. Each caught nine passes and scored a touchdown. |
D | Special teams | The biggest issues occurred within moments. K-State blocked an extra point by Kansas kicker Matthew Wyman after the first touchdown, and the Wildcats’ Morgan Burns returned the ensuing kickoff 53 yards. The first good thing that had happened for Kansas was followed by two special-teams mistakes. |
C | Coaching | History tells us any coach going against Bill Snyder for the first time is going to get smacked, and so it was for Clint Bowen. If Kansas delivered its best effort of the season in the Iowa State and TCU games and its worst against Oklahoma, this one fell in between, closer to the Oklahoma effort. |
| Kellis Robinett, krobinett@kcstar.com, and Blair Kerkhoff, bkerkhoff@kcstar.com
This story was originally published November 29, 2014 at 10:38 PM with the headline "Sunflower Showdown game report: No. 11 K-State 51, KU 13."