Baylor pulls away from K-State

Manhattan, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Coming off their first loss of the year, Kansas State returned home to face the Baylor Bears in their home opener. Trying to gain some confidence heading into a bye week, the Wildcats struggled scoring for a second straight game, as they fell to the unbeaten Bears 31-12 in front of 50,448 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Fort Riley Day.

K-State would score the first points of the day on a 31-yard field goal by Blake Lynch with 2:11 left in the first quarter to give them the early 3-0 lead, as score that would go in to the second quarter.

Baylor would march back down and start a string of 17 unanswered points. They would tie the game at three on a John Mayers 36-yard field goal in the first minute of the second quarter. The Bears would take the lead on a 29-yard pass from Charlie Brewer to Tyquan Thornton with 6:29 left in the half to go up 10-3. Baylor went on a 98-yard drive in six plays to take the lead, which held up for the rest of the first half.

After the Wildcats were three-and-out to begin the second half, Baylor used their second 90-plus yard drive to build their lead. A John Lovett 13-yard run gave the Bears a 17-3 lead with 11:27 left in the third quarter. Kansas State would put together another good drive, but settled for a field goal by Blake Lynch from 29 yards out to make it 17-6 Baylor with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

The game would open up in the fourth quarter, as the Bears scored on a four-yard run by backup quarterback Gerry Bohanon with 10:34 left to go up 24-12. K-State bounced back with a five-yard pass from Skylar Thompson to Dalton Schoen on fourth and goal to pull to within 24-12 with 6:24 left. They missed the two-point conversion. Following a Baylor recovery on an onside kick, the Bears put the game on ice with a John Lovett 46-yard run with 5:37 left to put them up 31-12.

Charlie Brewer was 14-23 passing for 230 yards with an touchdown. JaMycal Hasty led the Bears with 87 yards on the ground, and Tyquan thornton led Baylor with 92 yards on four receptions and a touchdown. The Bears had 426 yards of offense, with 268 through the air and 158 on the ground.

Skylar Thompson went 22-34 passing for 218 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. Phillip Brooks and Dalton Schoen each had 69 receiving yards, and Schoen had a touchdown catch. James Gilbert led the ground attack with 94 yards rushing. The Wildcats had 341 yards of offense, with 218 coming through the air.

It was the second straight loss in the series for K-State, as they still lead the series 9-8.

Kansas State is now 3-2 overall, and 0-2 in conference play, as they will have a bye before hosting TCU on Saturday, October 19. Baylor improves to 5-0 overall, 2-0 in conference play, and will host Texas Tech on Saturday.

Head Coach Chris Kleiman