Takeaways from Kansas State’s low-scoring football victory over Oklahoma State
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Defense forced five turnovers, held Oklahoma State to two field goals.
- Offense managed 284 total yards, one passing TD and struggled crossing midfield.
- Win moved K-State to 5-5, placing the program one victory away from bowl eligibility.
It was appropriate that a sparse crowd showed up for Kansas State’s football game against Oklahoma State on Saturday at Boone Pickens Stadium.
There was little excitement for either side surrounding this game, and both teams played like it was a preseason scrimmage.
K-State won 14-6, but few, if any, in EMAW Nation will be bragging about this result. There is no such thing as a bad win in the Big 12, but the Wildcats are the first team that has struggled against the Cowboys in quite some time.
Oklahoma State (1-9, 0-7 Big 12) has lost nine straight games this season and 16 straight conference games dating back more than a year. After decades of being a consistent winner, OSU has become a rudderless ship with an interim coaching staff.
Most teams have blown the Cowboys out this season. But K-State (5-5, 4-3 Big 12) was unable to pull away for a comfortable victory in a game it was favored to win by nearly three touchdowns. Instead, it had to fight for a full four quarters and win the ugly way.
For that reason, some will view this as a troubling result for the Wildcats, even though they won.
Still, the victory pushed K-State to within one win of bowl eligibility. And it certainly beats the alternative.
Next up: K-State will head to Utah for a challenging road game against the Utes.
Until then, here are takeaways from Saturday’s action:
K-State won this game with defense
There is absolutely no doubt about that.
Sometimes there is plenty of blame or credit to go around after a football game goes final. Not here. The Wildcats survived against the Cowboys almost entirely because they played well on defense.
Joe Klanderman’s unit held Oklahoma State to a pair of field goals and 373 total yards.
More importantly, K-State forced five turnovers. K-State would not have won this game without those big plays.
Zashon Rich made two of them. The K-State cornerback came up with an interception in the first half and later jumped on a loose ball for a fumble recovery.
VJ Payne made an important catch on the final play of the first half when he intercepted a pass in the end zone. And linebacker Rex Van Wyhe also pounced on a fumble that was created by solid pressure from K-State’s defensive line.
Daniel Cobbs also had an interception in the fourth quarter.
Then The Wildcats got a stop on fourth down in the closing moments as the Cowboys pushed for a late touchdown that could have given them an opportunity to force overtime with a two-point conversion. K-State turned them away, just like they did all afternoon.
It was a game to forget for the K-State offense
The Wildcats had two scoring plays.
That’s it.
K-State got on the board when Avery Johnson threw a 34-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown at the 7:07 mark of the second quarter. That gave the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.
Later, Joe Jackson burst through the line of scrimmage and scampered 15 yards into the end zone at the 12:31 mark of the fourth quarter. That gave the Wildcats a 14-6 lead.
Fortunately, that turned out to be all the points that K-State needed to escape with a victory. But it wasn’t a good day for the K-State offense.
The Wildcats gained just 284 yards and often found it difficult to cross midfield.
Avery Johnson completed 15 of 28 passes for 177 yards and a touchdown to go along with an interception. Things weren’t much better on the ground, where the Wildcats averaged 3.6 yards per rush.
The Wildcats won the turnover battle 5-to-1 and held the Cowboys without a touchdown. And yet, they still had to sweat.
This was the worst showing of the season from the K-State offense.
Joe Jackson produced a good stat line
On a day when little went right for the K-State offense, its starting running back had a few highlight moments.
Joe Jackson rushed for 69 yards and a touchdown on 14 carries.
That couldn’t have been easy for him to do with Oklahoma State winning much of the day at the line of scrimmage.
He had a 15-yard touchdown run for a touchdown. He also broke free for a gain of 10 yards. Those were both big plays on a day like this.
Jayce Brown was unable to finish the game with an injury
The Wildcats have dealt with injuries to important players all season, so why would this game be any different?
Jayce Brown, the top wide receiver on the team, suffered an injury while making a catch late in the first half and was unable to return.
When K-State returned to the field for the start of the third quarter, Brown was no longer in uniform. He also wore a sling over his left arm.
That is, obviously, not a good development for K-State. Brown caught three passes for 82 yards and one touchdown in the first half on Saturday. The offense will be limited in future games if he remains out.
Afterward, Klieman said Brown is likely done for the season.
Brown entered the weekend with 38 catches for 630 yards and four touchdowns.
This story was originally published November 15, 2025 at 2:40 PM.