Important early season game in the Big 12 on Saturday afternoon as No. 20 Oklahoma State visits No. 23 Kansas State.
Both come off a loss in their league opener, so the loser here is in deep trouble in terms of reaching the Big 12 title game. K-State is favored Saturday on the NCAAF odds.
Opening NCAAF Lines Subject to Change: Kansas State -6 (total 54.5) Expert Prediction in Week 5: Kansas State 30, Oklahoma State 27 |
Why Bet on Oklahoma State?
The Cowboys (3-1, 1-1 Big 12) opened Big 12 play with a 22-19 home loss to then-No. 12 Utah on Saturday. The Utes trailed 3-0 in the first quarter, but took a 22-3 lead on three made field goals and two touchdowns from Brant Kuithe as time ticked away in the fourth quarter. Utah held the Cowboys to just 37 yards in the third quarter, but they would go on to rack up 129 in the fourth, cutting the score to 22-19 with 1:47 to go.
.@trey_ruck out of nowhere 😱
— OSU Cowboy Football (@CowboyFB) September 21, 2024
📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/KytGbKp4Nb
Game Review
With less than two minutes to play, Utah’s offense stayed calm and composed, with Bernard going for four yards on a third-and-three to seal the win for the Utes. It was Utah’s 24th win over an AP Top 25 opponent in the Kyle Whittingham era and the first win over a top-15 team on the road since 2018, when the Utes beat Stanford when they were ranked No. 14.
After holding the ball for 42:26 of the game compared to OSU’s 17:34, the Utes racked up 456 yards of total offense (207 pass, 249 rush), limiting the Cowboys to just 285 (237 pass, 48 rush). OSU was averaging 192 yards rushing entering the game, with the Utes holding them to 48 total with just 3.2 yards per carry.
Alan Bowman
Pokes QB, who was 8 of 22 for 89 yards in the first half, finished with 206 yards and two interceptions. He was benched for a bit. Sophomore Garret Rangel played the third quarter and part of the fourth before Bowman returned with 9:26 left and the Cowboys trailing 16-3. Utah held Oklahoma State’s Ollie Gordon II to 42 yards rushing. Gordon won the Doak Walker Award for the nation’s best running back last season.
Coach Mike Gundy
“Offensively, we were awful,” Coach said. “We couldn’t get any quarterback play. “We don’t (pull a quarterback) a lot here, but sometimes you gotta get a guy out and calm him down a little bit. But I don’t have that answer. Things move so fast during the game that it’s hard to get that part of it. But I just felt like that we weren’t getting good play and we needed a relief pitcher, get somebody else in there. And Garret had a tough day, so we switched back. But as I said, we haven’t done that a lot here but sometimes you just gotta get a guy out and clear your mind a little bit.”
Bowman will remain the starter, according to Gundy. The coach added that Bowman struggled to keep from unnecessarily scrambling too much in the pocket. Bowman was sacked just once, a first this season. “Just kind of moving really for not a lot of reasons,” Gundy said.
Turnovers
Oklahoma State forced three turnovers in the first half against Utah, marking the first time OSU forced three turnovers in the first half since Nov. 12, 2022, against Iowa State. The last time Utah allowed three turnovers in the first half was Nov. 11, 2017, against Washington State. The Cowboys’ defense has not allowed a score on the opponent’s game-opening drive through the first four games of the season. This marks the first time since 2020 the Cowboys’ defense has accomplished that feat. OSU’s D gave up just two touchdowns despite being on the field for 42:26 of the 60-minute game.
A lot of the game came down to what happened on fourth down. Oklahoma State held Utah to just 5-for-18 on third down, but the Utes went for it on fourth five times and converted four of those attempts to extend drives. There were two instances where OSU had the ball on the 50-yard line on fourth-and-short and elected to punt.
^Why Bet on Kansas State?
Kansas State (3-1, 0-1 Big 12) was upset at BYU on Saturday, 38-9 in its league opener. With 1:17 left in the first half, the tone of the game completely shifted. BYU linebacker Jack Kelly forced a Kansas State fumble at the Wildcats’ 30-yard line. True freshman safety Tommy Prassas scooped up the ball and ran into the end zone, giving the Cougars their first lead of the game at 10-6. On the night in which BYU honored its 1996 Cotton Bowl Championship team, the Cougars scored a touchdown in each of the three phases of the game for the first time since 1996.
Game Review
The Cougars’ defense forced three wildcat turnovers in the span of 2:19. Each resulted in a touchdown for BYU. Just like that, K-State went from leading 6-3 to trailing 31-6 in the span of 6 minutes, 25 seconds of game action. That Cougars defense forced two interceptions, a fumble, a sack, three tackles for loss and two pass breakups. Harrison Taggart led BYU with 10 total tackles, and Jakob Robison and Crew Wakely each pitched in with seven.
The 21 points BYU scored off KSU turnovers were the most points off turnovers against the Wildcats since Baylor also had 21 points off three turnovers on October 6, 2018. Last year, K-State surrendered only 27 points off 12 turnovers the entire season.
Hunt 'em down @brendan_mott https://t.co/lgczeFs4fl pic.twitter.com/Za3ITsx6DP
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) September 22, 2024
Coach Chris Klieman
“It was kind of stunning to see that,” KSU Coach said. “That’s what we talked about in (the locker room). We’re going to find out what these guys are made of, because we got embarrassed. That has not happened here, with the exception of the COVID year, but we got embarrassed.”
BYU’s 29-point win was the largest margin of victory over a top-15 ranked team in program history. The Cougars held Kansas State without a touchdown for the first time since 2020. With Saturday’s win, alongside an 18-15 win at SMU on Sept. 6, BYU has now held two opponents without a touchdown for the first time since 2012.
Kansas State’s 29-point loss was its largest since a 38-point loss to Texas in the 2020 finale. Last year, K-State did not lose by more than one possession in any of its four defeats. Saturday was the first time the Wildcats did not score a touchdown since a 45-0 loss at Iowa State in 2020, a span of 46 games.
Avery Johnson
“We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” K-State quarterback said. “We have got to score touchdowns, and we have got to take care of the football on the road if we want to win games. We didn’t do that tonight. … We have got to be more fundamentally sound.”
Johnson completed 15-of-28 passes for 130 yards and two interceptions, and added 74 rushing yards on 11 carries. DJ Giddens had 19 carries for 93 yards. Jayce Brown had four catches for 51 yards and Keagan Johnson had four catches for 30 yards. Senior kicker Chris Tennant went 3-of-3 on field goals, connecting on distances of 32, 27 and 28. He now has 33 made field goals in his career, moving into the school’s top-10 list, as he is now ninth.
^Oklahoma State vs Kansas State NCAA Football Info
When: Saturday, noon ET
Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium
TV: ESPN
Stream: ESPN+
Radio: Tunein.com
Oklahoma State vs Kansas State Series History
Oklahoma State leads 43-27 and won last year 29-21 at home. Ollie Gordon ran for 136 yards and a touchdown, and Alex Hale tied a school record with five made field goals. Alan Bowman passed for 235 yards and Cameron Epps returned one of his two interceptions for a touchdown. It improved Mike Gundy’s record against Kansas State to 10-6. KSU’s Will Howard completed just 15 of 34 passes for 152 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. He ran for 104 yards and a score.
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