Big Eight Roundup : Holieway’s Backup Leads Sooners Over Kansas State, 56-10

Sixth-ranked Oklahoma, behind backup quarterback Eric Mitchel, took a 28-0 lead in the first 17 minutes and coasted to a 56-10 victory over Kansas State Saturday at Norman, Okla., in the Big Eight opener for both teams.

Mitchel became the first Oklahoma back to rush for more than 100 yards in a game this season with 126 yards in 12 carries. He scored two touchdowns and passed for another before leaving after three quarters.

“We didn’t play as well as we could,” Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer said. “I was hoping we would have a better game execution-wise. But obviously, we played a lot of people, and got it too easy in the first quarter.”

Mitchel was subbing for Jamelle Holieway, who is nursing a bruised shoulder. Mitchel scored Oklahoma’s second touchdown on a 54-yard run, then added a 3-yard scoring run that gave the Sooners a 28-10 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, he found split end Carl Cabbiness down the left sideline for a 58-yard touchdown pass that made the score 35-10.

Mitchel’s backup, Glenn Sullivan, scored two of Oklahoma’s three touchdowns in the fourth quarter, when the Sooners substituted heavily.

Oklahoma (3-1) lost four of five fumbles but made up for it by recovering two fumbles and intercepting two passes. The Sooners scored 28 points off turnovers. The Wildcats (1-4) could capitalize only once, with a field goal.

Iowa St. 21, Wyoming 10--Alex Espinoza teamed with Eddie Bridges on a 49-yard pass play for the go-ahead touchdown, then directed an 88-yard drive that produced an insurance score as the Cyclones beat the Cowboys in a nonconference game at Ames, Iowa.

Bridges’ touchdown with 9:08 left in the third quarter erased a 10-7 Wyoming lead and helped Iowa State (3-1) to its third straight victory, the first time the Cyclones have won three in a row since 1981. Wyoming is 3-2.

Kansas 35, So. Illinois 23--Mike Orth passed for 321 yards and 4 touchdowns as the Jayhawks came from behind to beat the Salukis in a nonconference game at Lawrence, Kan.

Orth, a 6-foot-5, 205-pound junior who started only one game before this season, completed 19 of 42 passes, 3 of them for second-half touchdowns.

The rally erased a 17-14 halftime deficit as the Big Eight’s Jayhawks (3-1) recorded their second straight victory over a Division I-AA school from the Gateway Conference. Kansas beat Indiana State, 20-6, the previous week. Southern Illinois is 3-3.