BIG EIGHT ROUNDUP : Oklahoma Finally Starts Rolling

Cale Gundy completed 21 of 28 passes for 333 yards and two touchdowns Saturday as No. 19 Oklahoma overcame a sluggish start to defeat Iowa State, 17-3, in a Big Eight game at Norman, Okla.

Gundy, a junior, was coming off what he called the worst performance of his career in a loss to USC two weeks ago.

Gundy threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Albert Hall midway through the third quarter, then added a 17-yard touchdown pass play to Earnest Williams a few minutes later.

“They gave us a lot of our passing, and in the second half we came out here and decided to throw it on every down,” Gundy said.

Oklahoma, 3-1 and 1-0 in the Big Eight, was limited to 104 yards rushing by Iowa State (2-3, 0-1), which intercepted a pass and recovered three fumbles.

Oklahoma fumbled inside the Iowa State five on its first possession of the second half, but then put together consecutive scoring drives to take control.

Gundy led the Sooners 75 yards in five plays for the go-ahead touchdown. He moved past Jack Mildren into second place on the school’s career passing list with 3,056 yards. The leader is Bobby Warmack with 3,527.

Iowa State had two chances to get back into the game in the fourth quarter. First the Cyclones recovered a fumbled punt at the Sooners’ 26, but the drive stalled and a field-goal attempt failed. Oklahoma fumbled again on its next possession and the Cyclones returned the ball to the 20. But the Sooners intercepted a pass by Bob Utter on fourth and four from the Sooner 14.

Kansas State 19, New Mexico State 0--Andre Coleman set up a touchdown with a 41-yard reception and hooked up with Jason Smargiasso for a 26-yard touchdown pass play to lead the Wildcats at Manhattan, Kan.

Kansas State (3-0) recorded its second shutout since 1975 and its first against an opponent outside the Big Eight.

Jaime Mendez, who tied a Kansas State record with four interceptions last week, intercepted a pass by Charles Puleri of New Mexico State (3-2) in the fourth quarter to tie the school career record of 12.

Missouri 44, Marshall 21--Joe Freeman tied a school record by running for four touchdowns and the Tigers rolled up 641 yards at Columbia, Mo., ending an eight-game losing streak.

Freeman ran for 90 yards in 18 carries and scored on runs of seven, 20, 19 and one yard for Missouri (1-3), equaling a record shared by three others. Marshall (3-1), the top-ranked school in Division I-AA, had allowed 51 points in its first three games.

The total offense was among the highest in school history and barely short of the record of 665 set in 1949 against Kansas.