NCAAF Game Recap - Kansas State at Oklahoma
Sat Sep 26, 2020 12:00 PM EDT

Bama
38
MIZ
19
F
K St
38
Okla
35
F
UGA
37
Ark
10
F
Fla
51
Miss
35
F
MissSt
44
LSU
34
F
KY
13
Aub
29
F
Tex
63
TxTch
56
F OT
Vand
12
TxAM
17
F
FlaSt
10
MiaFL
52
F
UCF
51
ECU
28
F
Army
10
Cin
24
F
WVU
13
OkSt
27
F
Tenn
31
SCar
27
F
Troy
7
BYU
48
F
GaSo
18
ULLaf
20
F
NCSt
24
VaTec
45
F
Lou
20
Pitt
23
F
UAB
42
SoAl
10
F
MidTN
35
UTSA
37
F
Camp
21
App
52
F
GATec
20
Syr
37
F
FLInt
34
Lib
36
F
IASt
37
TCU
34
F
Tul
66
SMiss
24
F
UTEP
31
ULMon
6
F
Duke
20
UVA
38
F
TxSt
21
BC
24
F
HBU
38
LT
66
F
SFA
7
SMU
50
F
Kans
14
Bayl
47
F

Sep 26, 2020, 12:00 PM EDT

Final

1

2

3

4

T

Kansas State (1-1)

0

7

14

17

38

(3) Oklahoma (1-1)

7

14

14

0

35

Kansas State stuns No. 3 Oklahoma 38-35
Sat Sep 26, 2020 5:49 PM

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) A Kansas State squad that lost its opener to Arkansas State two weeks ago, had its roster depleted by COVID-19, and entered Saturday's game against No. 3 Oklahoma as a four-touchdown underdog overcame it all to pull off one of the biggest stunners of the season.

Skylar Thompson passed for 334 yards and ran for three touchdowns, and the Wildcats rallied from 21 points down to beat the third-ranked Sooners 38-35, a 50-yard field goal by Blake Lynch with 4:32 remaining providing the margin of victory.

Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said he didn't know until Friday if he'd have enough players available at all position groups to play the game. Turns out, the Wildcats had exactly what they needed.

"You find out a lot about a person and about a team from a challenge and adversity, and this team responded," Thompson said. "I had no doubt going into this game that we were going to have a chance to win just by the way that we handled the last two weeks, the way we practiced, the way we came together and corrected our mistakes."

Freshman Deuce Vaughn caught four passes for 129 yards and ran for a touchdown for the Wildcats. It was Kansas State's first-ever road win against a top-three team in the AP poll.

Kansas State upset Oklahoma 48-41 in Manhattan, Kansas, last year, making the loss especially disappointing for the Sooners. Oklahoma outgained the Wildcats 517 yards to 400 but had four turnovers to none for Kansas State.

"We just made critical errors that gave them a chance," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. "Give Chris (Klieman) and Kansas State a lot of credit. When we made errors, he made us pay."

Oklahoma freshman Spencer Rattler passed for 387 yards and four touchdowns, but he threw three interceptions.

"He's a young guy in his second start," Riley said. "We're going to continue to build on it and he's going to continue to get better and get coached better as well."

In the opening moments of the second quarter, Rattler threw into traffic and found Drake Stoops for a 32-yard touchdown. It was the first career score for the son of former Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, and it gave the Sooners a 14-0 lead.

Thompson's 39-yard touchdown pass to Chabastin Taylor in the second quarter cut Oklahoma's lead to 14-7, but the Sooners answered with Marvin Mims' 9-yard touchdown reception in the final minute of the first half.

Rattler's 53-yard pass to Stoops led to Seth McGowan's 5-yard touchdown run and gave the Sooners a 35-14 lead late in the third quarter.

"We knew when we were down 21 we were just like, we're going to get our chance, we're going to get our shot," Vaughn said. "We're going to see how good we are at battling adversity. That's exactly what we did. When things started to turn our way, we were like we can't get too high. We never got too low. We stayed even-keeled."

Two short rushing touchdowns by Thompson got the Wildcats back in the game.

Kansas State's Nick Allen blocked Reeves Mundschau's punt, and the Wildcats took over at the Oklahoma 38. Vaughn's 38-yard touchdown run on the Wildcats' second offensive play and the critical extra point tied it at 35 with 8:17 to play.

Kansas State's Jahron McPherson intercepted Rattler in the final minute to help close out the win.

"For me, I dream about this all the time," McPherson said. "For me, I was just so happy and happy for my team. I do everything for my team. I was just happy for all of us."

Oklahoma had a regular-season loss each of the four times it has reached the College Football Playoff. The Sooners hope they can bounce back again.

"We're very disappointed, but the resolve is very strong," Riley said. "We know how to respond to a loss around here, and we'll do it, and it's going to take every single one of us."

THE TAKEAWAY

Kansas State: The Wildcats didn't fold when they fell behind and the defense improved in the second half against Rattler.

"It's a great offense," Klieman said of Oklahoma. "The quarterback's an exceptionally good player. We had to keep trying to pressure him to get him off schedule."

Oklahoma: The defense fell apart much like it has many times in recent years.

"Defensively, it would be some of the busted coverages on the big plays and then a few missed tackles," Riley said. "Give Kansas State credit. Those are tackles they didn't miss. They tackled better than we did."

QUOTABLE

Thompson reminded his teammates at halftime that they were "overlooked, unappreciated, have been slept on and not given a chance."

Then, he laid out the opportunity in front of them.

"What better position could you ask for right now? I think when I was saying that, looking around you could see it in everybody's eyes, that they believed. That's special. That's special. I don't know how else to put it."

BIG KICK

Lynch bounced back from a 1-for-3 effort on field goals against Arkansas State to connect on his career long for the game-winner.

"I wouldn't say it was nerves, but I definitely had some adrenaline," he said.

STAT LINES

In the fourth quarter, Kansas State outscored Oklahoma 17-0. The Wildcats gave up 455 yards the first three quarters and 62 yards in the fourth.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: Hosts Texas Tech on Saturday.

Oklahoma: Travels to Iowa State on Saturday. The Cyclones beat the Sooners three years ago and nearly upset them last year before falling 42-41.

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More AP college football: https://apnews.com/Collegefootball and http://www.twitter.com/AP-Top25

Passing

K St Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
S. Thompson 25 18 72.0 1 334 78 0 127.5
Okla Att Cmp % TD-Pa Yds-Pa LgPa Int Rat
S. Rattler 41 30 73.2 4 387 51 3 104.4

Rushing

K St Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
D. Vaughn 8 45 5.6 38 1
S. Thompson 9 10 1.1 5 3
Okla Att Yds-Ru Avg LgRu TDRu
S. McGowan 13 73 5.6 14 1
T. Pledger 13 41 3.2 13 0

Receiving

K St Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
D. Vaughn 4 129 32.3 77 0
K. Mozee 1 78 78.0 78 0
Okla Rec Yds-Rc Avg LgRc TD-Rc
D. Stoops 3 93 31.0 51 1
A. Stogner 5 83 16.6 29 0

Fumbles

K St F FL
D. Vaughn 1 0
Okla F FL
S. McGowan 1 1
S. Rattler 1 0

Returning

K St KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
J. Youngblood 3 18.0 0 22 0 0 0
P. Brooks 1 17.0 0 17 0 0 0
Okla KR Avg KRTD LgKR PR Avg TD LgPR
M. Mims 0 0 0 2 -1.5 0 0
C. Rambo 1 22.0 0 22 0 0 0

Punting

K St Punt Yds Avg LgPu
T. Zentner 3 124 41.3 42
J. Blumer 3 119 39.7 45
Okla Punt Yds Avg LgPu
R. Mundschau 2 80 40.0 45

Takeaways

K St Int Yds InTD
J. Gardner 1 0 0
E. Sullivan 1 4 0

Team Stats Comparison

K St Okla
Points For 38 35
Total Yards 400 517
Rushing Yards 66 130
Passing Yards 334 387
Passing Completions / Attempts 18/25 30/41
Turnovers 0 4
Interceptions Thrown 0 3
Fumbles - Lost 1/0 2/1
First Downs 10 28
Penalties - Yards 13/108 10/75
Time Of Possession 52:52 08:08
Third Down Conversions/Attempts 2/11 7/12
Fourth Down Conversions/Attempts 2/2 1/2
Punts - Average Yards 0/0 0/0

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter K St Okla
Okla 09:31 TD Marvin Mims 11 yd pass from Spencer Rattler (Gabe Brkic kick) 0 7
2nd Quarter K St Okla
Okla 00:10 TD Drake Stoops 32 yd pass from Spencer Rattler (Gabe Brkic kick) 0 14
K St 09:50 TD Chabastin Taylor 39 yd pass from Skylar Thompson (Blake Lynch kick) 7 14
Okla 14:16 TD Marvin Mims 9 yd pass from Spencer Rattler (Gabe Brkic kick) 7 21
3rd Quarter K St Okla
Okla 08:25 TD Jeremiah Hall 21 yd pass from Spencer Rattler (Gabe Brkic kick) 7 28
K St 10:00 TD Skylar Thompson 1 yd run (Blake Lynch kick) 14 28
Okla 12:14 TD Seth McGowan 5 yd run (Gabe Brkic kick) 14 35
K St 13:24 TD Skylar Thompson 2 yd run (Blake Lynch kick) 21 35
4th Quarter K St Okla
K St 02:32 TD Skylar Thompson 4 yd run (Blake Lynch kick) 28 35
K St 06:43 TD Deuce Vaughn 38 yd run (Blake Lynch kick) 35 35
K St 10:28 FG Blake Lynch 50 yd FG 38 35

Game Information

Stadium: Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, Norman, Oklahoma
Attendance: 22,700
Game Time:
Weather: