WACO, Texas – The No. 19 Kansas State Wildcats (7-3, 5-2) soundly beat the Baylor Bears (6-4, 4-3) by a score of 31-3 on Saturday night in front of a sold-out crowd at McLane Stadium.
Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Baylor drops to 4-3 in Big 12 play after the loss to No. 19 Kansas State.
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Blake Shapen struggled on the evening, finishing the game 22-of-38 passing for 203 yards and two interceptions. Richard Reese was the Bears leading rusher, with only 54 yards on nine carries.
In tonight’s loss, Kansas State was better than Baylor in every facet of the game. KSU outgained Baylor 375 yards to 306 and dominated time of possession, 32:40 to 22:23. The loss puts Baylor at 6-4 overall and 4-3 in Big 12 play heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.
On the first drive of the game, Baylor’s defense came up with a huge fourth-down sack on their own 39-yard line. The Bears' offense responded by driving down to the Kansas State 17-yard line before a Shapen pass was deflected into the arms of Wildcat safety Kobe Savage.
With 2:10 remaining in the first quarter, Kansas State’s starting quarterback Adrian Martinez was injured in a short-yardage situation and was replaced by junior Will Howard.
Howard elevated the Wildcat offense and drove the length of the field in his first drive, putting KSU up 7-0 with 14:20 remaining in the second quarter. Howard continued to shine and led the Kansas State offense to scores on its next two possessions.
Chris Jones-USA TODAY Sports
Duece Vaughn finished with 154 all-purpose yards on 30 touches.
Baylor’s offense remained lethargic for the majority of the first half, putting up only 123 total yards in comparison to KSU’s 256.
56 of those first-half yards came on the final drive, which was capped off by a John Mayers 37-yard field goal to cut the Wildcat lead to 17-3 going into halftime.
In the second half, Baylor’s offense continued to struggle and failed to convert on three fourth-down attempts. Meanwhile, Kansas State put the game out of reach, adding 14 more points to extend the lead to 31-3.
Howard ended the game completing 18-of-26 passes for 186 yards and three touchdowns. Star running back Deuce Vaughn finished with 154 all-purpose yards and a touchdown of his own.
