If it wasn’t for their turnovers, Oklahoma State might have beat Kansas State, however, the Wildcats took advantage of the Cowboys’ turnovers to defeat OSU, 14-6 on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater.
“Hard-fought game, hard-fought win; didn’t play very well offensively throughout the day,” said Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman. “Give Oklahoma State credit, they stuck with the defense that they’d been playing maybe 30 percent of the time. They’ve been a 70 percent four-down team and a 30 percent three-down team, and they stuck with the three-down. It gave us some fits, I thought. We didn’t play very well at all on offense, but we found a way. I told the guys in the locker room, ‘Guys, I’ve been [at Boone Pickens Stadium] in 2019, 2021, and 2023 and lost games here.’ This is a hard place to play, so we’re going to enjoy this win. I’m not apologizing for winning in Stillwater, because it’s hard to win here. On the flip side, that was a dominant defensive performance.”
Oklahoma State (1-9, 0-7) committed five turnovers in the game, and K-State scored all their points off turnovers.
“We needed every one of those plays and we found a way to get a win” Klieman said.
The Cowboys took an early 6-0 lead on a pair of Logan Ward 47-yard field goals, one in each of the first two quarters.
The Wildcats (5-5, 4-3 Big 12) got on the scoreboard in the second quarter after it appeared the Cowboys stopped KSU on fourth-and-1. A penalty called against OSU gave KSU first down and on the next play, Avery Johnson connected with Jayce Brown on a 34-yard touchdown pass, putting KSU ahead 7-6. That would be the score at halftime.
Oklahoma State’s Parker Robertson intercepted a pass early in the third quarter to set the Cowboys up deep in Kansas State territory. But quarterback Zane Flores fumbled the ball when it was stripped by Cody Stufflebean, and KSU’s Zashon Rich recovered the ball.
With 12:31 left in the fourth quarter, Kansas State’s Joe Jackson ran 15 yards for a touchdown to put the Wildcats up 14-6.
The Cowboys mounted one more drive and reached the K-State 26-yard line before turning the ball over on downs in the final minute.
“The last drive or the second to last drive, we went for it twice on fourth down; a field goal in my mind was not going to do it,” Klieman said. “We were not going to try to win that game 10-6, we needed to get up 14-6 and make [Oklahoma State] score, because I thought that they were going to have a hard time getting into the endzone. I knew that they could kick field goals, I thought they’d have hard time getting into the endzone on us.”
OSU plays next at the University of Central Florida on Saturday, Nov. 22 at 3 p.m CT. at the Acrisure Bounce House. The game will be televised on ESPN+.