Wildcats bounce back with win over Baylor

Manhattan, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Two weeks removed from an embarrassing loss at Vanderbilt, the Kansas State Wildcats returned home to begin a new slate of games. Standing in their way was winless Baylor. After getting out to a good start, the Bears would give the Wildcats a scare in the second half. In the end, it was the defense that came up with a late Kendall Adams interception to give Kansas State the 33-20 victory in their conference opener.

It didn’t take long for K-State to get on the scoreboard. A four-play, 75-yard drive in less than two minutes saw Jesse Ertz connect with Isaiah Zuber on a 16-yard fade pattern to put the Cats up 7-0 with 13:17 left in the first quarter, following the Matthew McCrane PAT. Baylor would respond with a long drive, aided by a targeting penalty that saw Cre Moore get ejected from the game. Connor Martin booted a 38-yard field goal with 6:01 left in the first quarter to make the score 7-3 K-State. The Bears burned up 7:11 on a 13-play drive.

In the first minute of the second quarter, Matthew McCrane knocked in a 37-yard field goal to extend the lead to 10-3. K-State was not done scoring in the half. With 6:35 left before halftime, Winston Dimel scored his 20th career rushing touchdown from a yard out to push the lead to 17-3. And right before halftime McCrane added a 21-yard field goal to give the Wildcats a 20-3 halftime lead.

Kansas State held Baylor to just 80 first half yards, but the Bears would fight back with 10 second half points. Their opening drive took 7:15, but ended with a 27-yard Connor Martin field goal with 7:45 remaining in the third quarter. After a K-State three-and-out, Baylor would strike back with a big play. Jon Lovett would score on a 74-yard run with 3:31 left in the third quarter to pull them to within 20-13.

The Wildcats answered back on the first play of the fourth quarter after a bad snap by the Bear offense. Jesse Ertz would score from 15 yards out with 14:52 left to push the lead back up to 27-13 K-State. Baylor would cut their deficit in half on the ensuing drive. Zach Smith would hit Denzel Mims on a 70-yard pass play with 13:07 to pull the Bears to within 27-20. That would be the closest they would get the rest of the way. Kansas State responded with a nearly five-minute drive, capped off by a 49-yard field goal by Matthew McCrane into the wind with 8:06 left to give the Cats a 30-20 lead. McCrane would extend the lead to 33-20 with 4:57 left on a 23-yard field goal.

Baylor would have one more shot. After converting a fourth down, Kendall Adams intercepted the Bears at the K-State 18 yard line. The Wildcats would get a couple first downs and run out the clock and pick up their first win over Baylor in Manhattan since 2011, and their second straight in the series.

Jesse Ertz was 7-17 passing for 119 yards with one touchdown pass. He would also lead K-State with 95 yards rushing on 12 carries and one touchdown. Alex Barnes added 80 yards on 13 carries, as the Wildcats rushed for 225 yards, which is the third straight game that they’ve been over the 200-yard rushing mark. Isaiah Zuber had 79 yards receiving on four catches with one score. Kansas State finished with 344 yards of offense.

Zach Smith led Baylor by going 26-44 passing for 291 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. Denzel Mims led the Bears with 127 yards on seven catches and a touchdown, while Pooh Stricklin added 102 yards on nine catches. John Lovett had 95 yards rushing on seven carries and a touchdown. Baylor finished with 378 yards of offense.

Baylor is now 0-5 overall, 0-2 in Big 12 play, and will have a week off before playing at Oklahoma State on October 14. Kansas State is 3-1 on the year, and 1-0 in conference play, and will play at Texas on Saturday at 6 pm.

Head Coach Bill Snyder