K-State crushes KU 38-10 in another one-sided Sunflower Showdown

The first Sunflower Showdown to feature Chris Klieman and Les Miles as football coaches didn’t look much different from what fans have grown accustomed to in this rivalry.

After a week of buildup and hype, the most anticipated football game between Kansas and Kansas State in at least a decade resulted in yet another convincing victory for the Wildcats.

K-State flexed its muscles against KU during a 38-10 win on Saturday at Memorial Stadium, extending its winning streak over the Jayhawks to 11.

It was a dominant showing from Klieman’s team. The No. 22 Wildcats (6-2, 3-2 Big 12) pulled ahead early with two strong touchdown drives and never looked back in front of 47,233 fans, the first sellout crowd to attend a game in Lawrence since 2009.

K-State was the better team in all phases. Not only did it run the ball at will on offense, it completely stymied KU (3-6, 1-5) on defense.

“It was our best performance,” Klieman said. “We tackled really well. We surrounded Pooka (Williams), because he is a phenomenal football player. We just didn’t give him a whole lot of daylight in the lines. I thought we were confusing to the offence and our defensive line got to the quarterback.”

The Jayhawks had all kinds of success in their first two games under new offensive coordinator Brent Dearmon, averaging more than 42 points against Texas and Texas Tech, but that production came to an end against defensive linemen like Wyatt Hubert and Trey Dishon.

With K-State’s defense winning the line of scrimmage, KU quarterback Carter Stanley reverted to his early-season form and K-State defenders DaQuan Patton and Jahron McPherson both came up with interceptions against him.

K-State didn’t even need its top two running backs to pull away in this game. The Wildcats rushed for more than 300 yards with starter James Gilbert out and backup Jordon Brown limited. Harry Trotter got the first start of his college career and rumbled for 92 yards and a touchdown, while Tyler Burns and Joe Ervin looked good in complementary rolls.

“They kept the ball on the ground the whole day,” Miles said. “If they threw a couple passes, it’s so you had to tackle, and I think that was certainly the tough piece of the way they ran offense.”

But the MVP of this game might have been K-State’s offensive line. The Wildcats blew the Jayhawks off the ball and created big running lanes for just about everyone that touched the ball. Skylar Thompson once again showed off his legs and finished with 127 yards and three touchdowns. He also completed nine of 16 passes for 129 yards.

“I tell everyone all the time, I love the kid,” Klieman said. “He’s a winner. Whatever he’s asked to do he’ll do. In this game he was asked to run the ball a little bit more. We ran a lot of options and we thought we had some advantages running the option game and he made a couple of big plays with his feet.”

That was more than enough on a day K-State held KU’s offense in check.

Things were so bad for KU on offense that the Wildcats finished the first half with more penalty yards (78) than the Jayhawks had total yards (74).

The Wildcats got things started in impressive fashion, forcing the Jayhawks to punt after three plays and then marching 88 yards for a touchdown on their opening drive. The drive lasted 10 plays, and Klieman couldn’t have drawn it up much better.

K-State ran the ball eight times and completed a pass to a tight end on that drive. Thompson finished off the drive with a one-yard scoring run that gave K-State a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Kansas answered with a field goal, but K-State added to its lead early in the second quarter when Trotter capped a 78-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown run on an option pitch from Thompson, making the score 14-3.

Blake Lynch finished off the first half scoring with a field goal at the buzzer for a 17-3 lead.

KU fans were still clinging to hope at that point, but Thompson had them heading for the exits with a roll out run to his right for a 12-yard touchdown early in the third quarter.

The Wildcats added on two more touchdowns from there to finish off the blowout.

“It’s definitely nice to win like that, but it honestly didn’t always feel great during the game,” K-State receiver Dalton Schoen said. “We didn’t feel like we played a great or consistent game. We hurt ourselves with a lot of penalties, so I would have liked to see better execution. But to go out there and win and not play your best feels good.”

Many wondered if the Jayhawks were beginning to close the gap on their purple rivals, but the difference between these teams seemed as wide as ever late in the fourth quarter when only K-State fans populated the stadium.

KU will try to bounce back in two weeks after a bye at Oklahoma State.

K-State will look to keep its winning streak going next week at Texas in a contest that could have implications on the Big 12 championship game.

This story was originally published November 2, 2019 at 5:51 PM with the headline "K-State crushes KU 38-10 in another one-sided Sunflower Showdown."