Oklahoma 41, Kansas State 31
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- The Oklahoma Sooners defeated Kansas State 41-31 to keep their faint Big 12 title hopes alive on a cold, blustery senior day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium Saturday.
The Sooners (9-2, 6-2 Big 12) took the lead on their first drive and never trailed. In the process, Bob Stoops became the winningest coach in OU history, passing Barry Switzer. Stoops is 158-39-0 in 14-plus years at Oklahoma. Switzer was 157-29-4 from 1973-88.
The temperature at kickoff was 25 degrees with winds that gusted to 20 mph. Both teams took the wind into account, especially Kansas State in the second quarter.
The Wildcats (6-5, 4-4) ran just eight offensive plays in the second quarter with the wind at their backs. The eight plays -- seven passes -- netted 234 yards and three touchdowns, after gaining just 37 yards in the first quarter. All three touchdowns were to Tyler Lockett (48, 30 and 90 yards), who tied a school record for touchdowns in a game. Lockett also set school records with 278 receiving yards for the game and 440 all-purpose yards.
The Sooners, meanwhile, dominated on the ground in the 38-point second quarter. They gained 160 yards on 19 carries with two touchdowns. A Michael Hunnicutt 30-yard field goal with 2 seconds left gave OU a 24-21 halftime lead. Brennan Clay gained 160 of those yards, and he finished with a career-high 192 yards.
The pace slowed considerably in the second half, with the teams trading field goals. Hunnicutt's 37-yarder tied a school record for field goals in a season with 21. Oklahoma used 9:49 of the clock against the wind in the third quarter, limiting Kansas State to eight plays.
The fourth quarter was all Oklahoma. A punt in the first minute of the quarter pinned K-State on its own 3-yard line. After three plays gained no yards, Mark Krause's punt traveled 30 yards. Jalen Saunders returned it 30 yards and the Sooners scored on a 3-yard run by Brennan Clay on the next play.
On the next drive, Kansas State was moving in Oklahoma territory, but Zack Sanchez made his first career interception and raced 74 yards for the touchdown.
Jake Waters scored K-State's final points on a 1-yard plunge with 6:10 remaining.
Notes: Kansas State set total and game-average records in attendance for the season. The 52,773 in attendance Saturday brought the total to 423,095 -- an average of 52,887 -- which passed records from 2002 and 1999 respectively. The average represents 105.8 percent of capacity, second in the country to Oregon. ... Oklahoma stands 9-2 against Kansas State under Stoops, including 5-0 in Manhattan. Stoops is 10-0 as a head coach in the state of Kansas (5-0 also at Kansas). ... Oklahoma has won 10 straight games against opponents that defeated the Sooners the previous season. The Sooners have won 41 straight games when they led at the half.
