Oklahoma State (4-2, 1-2 in the Big 12) badly needs a win over Kansas State (2-4, 0-3) Saturday to keep any hopes alive to make the Big 12 championship game.

The chances fell dramatically Saturday as the Cowboys fell to Iowa State, 42-48, in Stillwater. That’s the second conference game that OSU has lost at home.

Kansas State lost to Baylor, 34-37, in a shootout and that virtually killed the Wildcats bid to win the Big 12.

West Virginia and Texas are tied atop the Big 12 with Oklahoma and Baylor tied for third place.

“The concern is that some of the issues we have are defending the deep ball and not being good up front with protection, not with where we play,” said OSU coach Mike Gundy. “My goal in the game was to start fast and we did, then we dropped a punt. Everything just leveled out from that point. We did a good job of putting ourselves in good positions. If Tylan Wallace catches the ball in the fourth quarter with four minutes left, he is going to run into the end zone and we are up by two or three points, and now the pressure will be on them. He’s a good player, good kid, we just didn’t make the catch.”

Against Iowa State, OSU quarterback Tyler Cornelius was 19 of 33 passing for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Justice Hill, he Big 12’s leading rusher, gained only 66 yards on 24 carries but he did score a touchdown.

“He played well,” Gundy said of Cornelius at his Monday press conference. “Every week I’ve come in here and given you my honest opinion. I’ve given it to you after the game. After the first few games of the year, I told you that he was very average. He’s gotten better every game. It’s extremely difficult to play the position he does when you get sacked seven times and are running for your life another 16 times. You don’t set your feet, your eyes get violated and you don’t do a good job looking downfield – it’s just natural for a quarterback to not want to progress as he should when there’s pressure on him.

“He played a good game. But I don’t think he had the capability of playing a really good game because he was on the run the whole time. I would’ve liked for him to carry the ball a little more, but some of that was not set up that way based on what Iowa State did. We hit them on it early, and then they started folding guys over the top, which keeps him from keeping the ball. That’s pretty much common knowledge. He played good, but would he have liked to have some throws back? Probably. But that’s something that’s pretty common across the country.”

OSU holds a 39-25 all-time advantage in the series with Kansas State, including an 18-15 edge on games played in Manhattan. The Cowboys have won two of the last three and six of the past nine matchups overall, including a 43-37 victory the last time the teams played in Manhattan in 2016.

The Wildcats won last year’s game in Stillwater, 45-40, and the last four games played at K-State have been split, 2-2. Coach Mike Gundy is 6-4 in his career against KSU, while KSU coach Bill Snyder is 12-7 in his career against the Cowboys.

“Well first off, they’re better than what people think,” Gundy said. “Three of their losses are to top-25 teams, and two of those are top-10 teams. I’m not trying to justify anything, but you get a bad rap by having a losing record early in the year. I’m going to guess that they’ve played one of the most difficult schedules of anyone in this conference up to this point.

“Defensively, they’re very similar to what they’ve always done. I don’t think they’ve changed much from when I first saw them in the late ’80s. Same concepts up front and the same philosophies on the back end. They believe in it and they’re good at it.

“Offensively, they played better in the last game – much better than they have been. Again, they’ve played some tough defenses. Texas is athletic on defense, West Virginia is athletic on defense and Mississippi State is athletic on defense. At times, it’s not really easy to move the ball and score points. Special teams-wise, it’s very similar to what you’ve seen in the past.”

The game is at 11 a.m. Saturday in Manhattan, Kansas.