Bishop Bails Out Kansas St.

Fourth quarter, up by two, undefeated season hanging in the balance.

Michael Bishop time.

“I didn’t give him the ball and say, ‘Win the game,’ ” Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder said. “I said, ‘Do what you do.’ ”

The Wildcats’ national championship hopes are still alive, thanks to Bishop. The senior quarterback took control on a key fourth-quarter drive, setting up a clinching touchdown that gave the No. 2 Wildcats a 31-25 victory over No. 19 Missouri on Saturday at Columbia, Mo.

Bishop passed for one touchdown and ran for another as Kansas State, 11-0 overall and 8-0 in the Big 12, completed the first undefeated regular season in school history before a sellout crowd of 68,174.

“He carried their team and that’s about what he’s done all year,” Missouri linebacker Barry Odom said. “Why change now, when something is going good?”

Holding a 24-22 lead, Kansas State pinned Missouri (7-4, 5-3) at its three with a punt and then took over at the Tigers’ 38 with 12:05 to play. Bishop ran for all but two of the yards in four carries before handing the ball at the one to Frank Murphy, who fumbled into the end zone and then scrambled to make the recovery with 8:28 remaining.

Bishop ran for 104 yards in 23 carries and completed 13 of 26 passes for 157 yards.

The Wildcats will carry a 19-game winning streak into the Big 12 championship game against Texas A&M; on Dec. 5 at St. Louis.

Snyder has won 77 games in 10 seasons, equaling the school total for the 30 years prior to his arrival. But the Wildcats, who outscored their first 10 opponents by an average of 51-10, were far from dominating against Missouri.

Snyder didn’t think the close score had anything to do with Kansas State suffering a letdown after ending a 29-game losing streak to Nebraska last week.

“I’ve always said I don’t think it was an issue,” Snyder said. “Now, you never know. You’d have to ask 65 of them in [the locker room] what they felt about it.”

Missouri has lost 35 consecutive games to top 10 opponents the last 17 years and six in a row to Kansas State, but still had a chance to win at the end. The Tigers were at the Kansas State 42 when Corby Jones overthrew John Dausman at the 10 on a fourth-down pass with 1:19 to play.

“We were determined to shock the world,” said Dausman, who caught six passes for 169 yards and a touchdown. “Almost did it.”

The Tigers led at halftime against all four top 10 opponents they played this season, including a 13-10 lead against Kansas State. They also faltered after the break against then-No. 1 Ohio State, Nebraska and Texas A&M.;

“Our players know we’re that close,” Missouri Coach Larry Smith said. “But we’ve got to get over the hump.”

Jones completed 14 of 30 passes for a career-best 249 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 54 yards.

Jones scrambled for a five-yard touchdown and hit Kareem Wise for a 20-yard score with 1:10 to play in the half as Missouri took a halftime lead for the 17th consecutive game.

Iowa State 23, Kansas 20--Darren Davis rushed for 184 yards and Jamie Kohl’s third field goal broke a tie in the third quarter at Ames, Iowa, as the Cyclones (3-8, 1-7) ended a seven-game losing streak.

Kohl connected from 47 yards after Kansas (4-7, 1-7) gambled and failed on fourth and one at its 36. A wall of Iowa State tacklers met quarterback Jay Alexander and pushed him back.

Oklahoma 20, Texas Tech 17--The Sooners gave Coach John Blake some hope of keep his job, turning three Texas Tech mistakes into 17 points and causing a fumble in the closing minutes at Norman, Okla.

Blake’s future is the subject of a special meeting today by the university’s regents. The Sooners (5-6, 3-5) are 12-22 in three seasons under Blake.

Texas Tech (7-4, 4-4) lost three fumbles and had a field-goal attempt blocked.

Oklahoma State 24, Baylor 10--Reggie White scored two touchdowns in the final 4 1/2 minutes to lift the Cowboys (5-6, 3-5) over the penalty-prone Bears (2-9, 1-7) at Stillwater, Okla.