Kansas State Rallies to Win

With little more than 15 minutes to play Wednesday night, Washington appeared headed for perhaps its biggest victory in nearly eight years and long-awaited respect for the Pacific 10 Conference.

Ninety-two yards later, the Huskies found out why they, and the rest of the Pac-10, aren’t ready for Big 12-caliber football.

Kansas State took the ball at its eight-yard line and wore down the Washington defense, holding the ball for most of the fourth quarter before scoring what proved to be the winning touchdown in a 24-20 Holiday Bowl victory before 57,118 at Qualcomm Stadium.

The game was close throughout, with neither team leading by more than four points. There were five lead changes. But when it came time to take control, it was Kansas State that was up to the challenge.

The seventh-ranked Wildcats trailed, 20-17, with 52 seconds to play in the third quarter when Lamar Chapman intercepted a pass at the goal line and returned it to the Kansas State eight.

The Wildcats (11-1) picked up seven first downs and converted on third down four times during a 20-play drive that took nearly 10 minutes off the clock. It was the Wildcats’ longest drive of the season in terms of plays, yards and time of possession.

“I thought it was a pretty special drive,” said Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder, whose team has won 11 games in each of the last three seasons, a record matched by only Florida State among Division I-A schools. “Jonathan [Beasley, the Wildcats’ quarterback] did a nice job putting it together. I was impressed.”

Beasley capped the drive by scoring on a one-yard run for his third touchdown. He was the offensive player of the game, passing for 216 yards and rushing for 48.

He made the big plays throughout the winning drive, passing for four first downs and running for two.

But Washington (7-5) did its part to keep the drive alive too.

“We had them third and 15 and they made a first down when the defender fell down,” Washington Coach Rick Neuheisel said. “We had them third and four where we were called for offsides. We had our chances to stop them. We’ve got to stop them.”

The Huskies got the ball back with 5:58 to play. They moved 30 yards in five plays after taking over at their 20. But on fourth and five, Neuheisel opted to go for a first down rather than give the ball up with 3:42 remaining.

“More than eight minutes went off the clock in the last drive,” Neuheisel said. “I just decided to go for it. I have no regrets.”

Neither do the Wildcats. Washington quarterback Marques Tuiasosopo, who rushed for 30 yards in 11 carries, ran right on an option play and was hit low by defensive end Monty Beisel and high by end Darren Howard, the defensive player of the game. Tuiasosopo never got a chance to pitch the ball and was thrown for a four-yard loss.

Washington got one last chance at its 22 with 3:03 left, but again the Kansas State defense didn’t give much ground. After gaining 15 yards on two plays, the Huskies lost two on the next three before Tuiasosopo’s deep pass to Chris Juergens fell incomplete on fourth and 12.

“When we got the ball back they put a lot of pressure on us and we couldn’t sustain anything,” Tuiasosopo said. “We didn’t make enough plays down the stretch to win. That’s something we can take into next year.”

The Huskies can also take plenty of other positive things from this game into next year.

Kansas State, which averaged 184.7 yards rushing, ran for 138. And the Wildcat defense, which limited opponents to 235 yards a game, gave up 272 against the Huskies.

Kansas State, though, gained 354 yards.

“We played with them hard,” Tuiasosopo said. “Now we know for next season what we’ve got to do to beat those kind of teams.”

Unfortunately for the Huskies, that’s next season. And unfortunately for the Pac-10, 0-3 in bowl games and hurting for respect after a disappointing season, it needs somebody to do it this season.

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