Kansas State pulls away from Iowa State for victory in regular-season finale
For the first time in years, Kansas State and Iowa State played a football game that didn’t feature a wild or crazy ending.
The Wildcats played too well for this contest to go down to the wire and defeated the Cyclones 27-17 on a cold and windy night on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
“Was it perfect? No. But the conditions weren’t perfect either,” K-State coach Chris Klieman said. “I told the guys, ‘You can’t control the conditions. You’ve just gotta fight through it and play through the conditions,’ and it was obviously very windy out there. It affected a lot of plays. It affected a lot of balls.”
K-State (8-4, 5-4 Big 12) pulled away from Iowa State (7-5, 5-4) thanks to a resurgent running attack and a pair of clutch field goals from Blake Lynch.
Neither of those scenarios seemed likely before the game, as the Cyclones entered the day sporting the best run defense in the Big 12 and strong winds made kicking from any distance seem like a risky proposition.
But the Wildcats churned out 231 yards on the ground behind Jordon Brown (91) and Jacardia Wright (60). Both players found the end zone on 15-yard runs. And Lynch connected on field goals of 27 and 43 yards to help K-State extend its lead in the second half.
Fans have dubbed this rivalry as “Farmageddon” in part due to the wild endings that traditionally occur in the series, and it seemed like this game was heading for more of the same when the fourth quarter began with the score tied up at 17-17.
But the Cyclones were unable to take a lead in the third quarter when they had the wind on their side. The Wildcats took advantage when the field flipped and scored the final 13 points of the game to win.
“I felt like on a night like tonight the more physical football team was going to win the game,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “They did it and we didn’t. The reality is that they did what they needed to do to win the game and we didn’t.”
It was the end of a successful regular season for first-year coach Chris Klieman at Kansas State. His team was picked to finish ninth in the Big 12 preseason poll and then pulled off a winning record in conference play.
The Wildcats will now wait a week to hear of their bowl destination.
They might have helped their stock by beating the Cyclones. K-State finished third in the final Big 12 standings after being picked ninth before the start of Klieman’s first year as coach.
“It’s definitely a great feeling,” defensive end Wyatt Hubert said, “and we definitely bought into his program and his philosophy ever since he got here and you just want to play so much harder for a guy who you care about and a guy who reciprocates that to his players as well and we’re just so happy.”
This wasn’t an easy game.
The Wildcats owned the first quarter and were in control midway through the second quarter with a 14-0 lead. But they still had to fight until the end.
Things got off to a perfect start for the Wildcats when freshman receiver Joshua Youngblood returned the opening kickoff 93 yards for a touchdown. It was his third special-teams touchdown of the season, which will make him a candidate for all-conference honors.
Both teams traded punts over the next few series until K-State got its ground game going and pulled ahead 14-0 on a 15-yard touchdown run from freshman running back Wright. The scoring play capped a 13-play drive that spanned 98 yards and lasted 6 minutes, 53 seconds.
Following another Iowa State punt, K-State looked to create separation when quarterback Skylar Thompson found James Gilbert wide open across the middle on a third-down pass. But Gilbert dropped the ball and K-State was forced to punt. The Cyclones took advantage with a long return and scored eight plays later when Brock Purdy found Sean Shaw for a 15-yard touchdown with 5:59 remaining before halftime.
K-State was unable to move the chains on its next series, and Iowa State pulled even on a five-play drive that spanned 80 yards. Wichita product Breece Hall tied things up with 42 seconds left in the quarter.
The Wildcats arguably outplayed the Cyclones early on but had nothing to show for it.
Things changed in the second half. K-State continued to be the better team, and that eventually showed up on the scoreboard.
This story was originally published November 30, 2019 at 9:40 PM with the headline "Kansas State pulls away from Iowa State for victory in regular-season finale."