COLLEGE FOOTBALL : BIG EIGHT ROUNDUP : Kansas State Embarrasses Sooners

No. 9 Kansas State didn’t merely beat No. 25 Oklahoma for the third time in a row on Saturday at Manhattan, Kan. The Wildcats handed the Sooners their worst loss in half a century, 49-10.

First-year Oklahoma Coach Howard Schnellenberger called it “one of the most embarrassing things I’ve ever been associated with. And I’m sure the entire football team feels the same way.”

It was the most one-sided loss for any Oklahoma team since 1945, when the Sooners lost to Oklahoma State, 47-0.

Kansas State, 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the Big Eight, hadn’t beaten Oklahoma (5-3-1, 2-3) three times in a row in almost 70 years. The tone was set early when Kansas State’s Clyde Johnson blocked Oklahoma’s first punt and Gordon Brown, after taking the ball away from punter Tim Daughtry, ran it in for a touchdown.

The Wildcats bettered by one the 38-point margin in their 59-21 victory of 1969, which had stood as Kansas State’s biggest over Oklahoma.

“This is the first I ever heard of [the 1969 game],” said Kansas State’s Matt Miller, who ran for two touchdowns and passed for three while breaking the school record for touchdown passes. “But to beat Oklahoma three straight years now shows a lot about where our program is at.”

Miller, a senior who transferred from Texas A&M; and will play only this year, broke Chad May’s school record with his 19th touchdown pass, a 16-yarder to tight end Brian Lojka. That made it 42-10 in the fourth quarter. Miller wound up 20 for 25 for 273 yards.

No. 10 Colorado 45, Oklahoma State 32--John Hessler tied his school record by throwing five touchdown passes and the Buffaloes scored three times in the fourth quarter to win at Stillwater, Okla.

Hessler had touchdown passes on plays of 52, six, five, 77 and seven yards, and tied the record he set earlier this season against Oklahoma. His longest touchdown pass play, to Rae Carruth, came midway through the fourth quarter and finally gave the Buffaloes (7-2, 3-2) some breathing room.

Oklahoma State (2-7, 1-4) matched Colorado score for score until the fourth quarter. The Cowboys’ David Thompson ran for 159 yards to go over the 1,000-yard mark.

No. 11 Kansas 42, Missouri 23--Chris Jones returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown and Isaac Byrd scored on a 49-yard pass play as the Jayhawks rallied from a 17-14 halftime deficit to win at Lawrence, Kan.

Kansas (8-1, 4-1) led, 28-17, after Mark Williams’ bomb to Byrd with about two minutes left in the third quarter. Kansas finished off the Tigers (2-6, 0-5) by going 88 yards in eight plays with nine minutes left.