Game report: Baylor 31, K-State 24

First quarter

Key play: Jarrett Stidham hit KD Cannon for a 55-yard touchdown pass to put Baylor ahead 14-7.

Key stat: K-State possessed the ball for 12:18.

Second quarter

Key play: Joe Hubener threw an interception, allowing Baylor to take over and score on the next play.

Key stat: The Wildcats lost two turnovers.

Third quarter

Key play: Corey Coleman caught a three-yard touchdown pass to put Baylor ahead 28-10.

Key stat: K-State didn’t score a touchdown.

Fourth quarter

Key play: Kody Cook threw an interception on K-State’s final play.

Key stat: Joe Hubener threw for a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.

Offense

B+

This was about as good as K-State can look on offense. It leaned on its running game and got big production out of Joe Hubener and Charles Jones. Take away three turnovers and things would have been different.

Defense

A

You can’t ask a defense to do more than what K-State did against Baylor. The Bears averaged 61 points beforeThursday.

Special teams

C

K-State never got anything going in its return game.

Coaching

B+

The Wildcats have lost five in a row, but you wouldn’t know it by the way they play. Other than a 55-0 loss to Oklahoma, K-State has fought hard against favored opponents, including Baylor.

Player of the game: Corey Coleman. The Baylor receiver terrorized K-State’s secondary for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He made Duke Shelley, the Wildcats’ top cover corner, look like a freshman for the first time.

Reason to hope: K-State fell just short to all three of the Big 12’s undefeated teams – Oklahoma State, TCU and Baylor. If it continues to play that way it will start winning against lesser opponents Texas Tech, Iowa State, Kansas and West Virginia.

Reason to mope: The Wildcats have lost five in a row and don’t seem to know how to close out a game.

Looking ahead: K-State heads to Texas Tech for a game that will be important for both sides. Bill Snyder has never lost to Kliff Kingsbury, but the Red Raiders have a stellar offense.

Kansas State’s football game against Baylor was officially labeled a sellout with 52,108 in attendance, but there were noticeable pockets of empty seats at kickoff. And the number of open seats grew as the game went on.

When Baylor took a 21-7 halftime lead, many fans left the stadium and didn’t return.

A half-filled stadium remained as K-State mounted its comeback.

Several Wildcats players seemed upset about the empty seats, but opted against criticizing fans.

“I want to thank the fans that stayed,” receiver Deante Burton said. “We really appreciated their support.

Several special guests attended Thursday’s game.

Three bowl representatives – from the Citrus, Sugar and Texas Bowls – watched from the West Stadium Center. So did 31 NFL scouts from 21 teams, including Kansas City Chiefs general manager John Dorsey.

This story was originally published November 5, 2015 at 11:14 PM with the headline "Game report: Baylor 31, K-State 24."