Nebraska Is Ruined by Kansas State

On a cold and snowy night, the Kansas State Wildcats got everything they were wishing for.

The Wildcats not only edged a Nebraska team they had lost to 31 times in the last 32 years, but also put themselves in a strong position for a second shot at No. 1 Oklahoma.

Kansas State may have done Oklahoma a big favor as well.

Overcoming sleet and snow and a late Nebraska charge, the No. 16 Wildcats defeated the No. 4 Huskers, 29-28, on a frightful Saturday night at Manhattan, Kan., ruining the Nebraska’s national title hopes and giving themselves a clear path to the Big 12 North title.

A Nebraska victory would have wrapped up the North Division title for the Huskers, 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Big 12 Conference, and given them a rematch in the conference championship game Dec. 2 with Oklahoma, which defeated them, 31-14, and replaced them as No. 1.

By beating woeful Missouri next week in its regular-season finale, Kansas State (9-2, 5-2) will be the North champ and quite likely draw Oklahoma, which whipped the then-No. 2 Wildcats, 41-31, on Oct. 14 and ended their national title hopes.

“If there’s one team we want to face, it’s Oklahoma,” said defensive end Monty Beisel.

Nebraska took the loss of its national title hopes hard.

“This is very difficult for a team to take,” Coach Frank Solich said. “They worked tremendously hard to put themselves into position . . . but they’re not going to reach all their goals.”

Quincy Morgan caught seven passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns, including the game-winner with 2:52 to play when he took Jonathan Beasley’s pass over the middle and turned it into a 12-yard touchdown.

Then with 50 seconds left and a heavy snow falling, Eric Crouch’s pass bounced off the hands of Matt Davison on fourth and five and Kansas State went to 2-18 against Top 10 teams in the Bill Snyder era. Snyder is 2-11 against Nebraska.

No. 19 Texas 51, Kansas 19--Freshman receiver Roy Williams caught two touchdown passes and ran for another on an end around as the Longhorns (8-2, 6-1) came back from an early 14-0 deficit to defeat the Jayhawks (4-6, 2-5) at Lawrence, Kan.

Hodges Mitchell, a week after running for a career-high 229 yards against Texas Tech, set a new mark Saturday with 264 yards and three touchdowns for Texas.

Iowa State 35, Colorado 27--Sage Rosenfels ran for 140 yards and two touchdowns and threw a 44-yard touchdown pass in the snow to lead the Cyclones (7-3, 4-3) over the Buffaloes (3-7, 3-4) at Boulder, Colo.

J.J. Moses had five catches for 105 yards for Iowa State, which ended a 16-game losing streak to Colorado and reached seven wins for the first time since 1978.

Texas Tech 58, Oklahoma State 0--Kliff Kingsbury threw three touchdown passes and ran for another as the Red Raiders (7-4, 3-4) defeated the Cowboys (2-7, 0-6) at Lubbock, Texas, for their third shutout of the season.

Missouri 47, Baylor 22--Darius Outlaw threw two touchdown passes to Justin Gage and ran for another score as the Tigers (3-7, 2-5) ended a four-game losing streak with a victory over the Bears (2-8, 0-7) at Waco, Texas.