COLORADO 44, KANSAS ST. 36
Kansas St. 14 0 8 14 — 36
Colorado 9 14 14 7 — 44
First Quarter
KSt — Klein 1 run (Cherry kick), 13:16.
Col — FG Goodman 48, 8:42.
KSt — Klein 1 run (Cherry kick), 3:47.
Col — Stewart 1 run (kick blocked), :11.
Second Quarter
Col — Clemons 23 pass from Stewart (Goodman kick), 10:27.
Col — McKnight 37 pass from C.Hawkins (Goodman kick), 1:10.
Third Quarter
Col — McKnight 13 pass from C.Hawkins (Goodman kick), 8:04.
KSt — Coffman 6 run (McDonald pass from Dan.Thomas), 4:18.
Col — Stewart 51 run (Goodman kick), 2:46.
Fourth Quarter
KSt — Quarles 16 pass from Coffman (Cherry kick), 13:18.
Col — Richardson 3 pass from C.Hawkins (Goodman kick), 9:08.
KSt — Harper 23 pass from Coffman (Cherry kick), 6:47.
A — 41,147.
TEAM STATISTICS
KSt Col
First downs 18 22
Rushes-yards 38-101 44-251
Passing 310 225
Comp-Att-Int 17-26-015-26-0
Return Yards 41 0
Punts-Avg. 5-46.6 4-38.8
Fumbles-Lost 1-1 3-0
Penalties-Yards 7-57 2-5
Time of Possession 29:09 30:51
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Kansas St., Dan.Thomas 14-58, Klein 12-36, Quarles 1-18, Coffman 11-(minus 11). Colorado, Stewart 34-195, Jefferson 5-73, C.Hawkins 1-9, Team 4-(minus 26).
PASSING — Kansas St., Coffman 16-23-0-270, Klein 1-3-0-40. Colorado, C.Hawkins 14-25-0-202, Stewart 1-1-0-23.
RECEIVING — Kansas St., Quarles 5-114, Harper 4-74, Hilburn 3-28, Tannahill 2-64, McDonald 2-24, Dan.Thomas 1-6. Colorado, McKnight 4-74, Clemons 3-56, Richardson 3-19, Stewart 2-49, Deehan 2-19, Cefalo 1-8.
BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Tailback Rodney Stewart’s multitude of talents have the rejuvenated Colorado Buffaloes on the verge of bowl eligibility. Now, all they have to do is beat Nebraska next week in their Big 12 farewell.
Stewart ran for two touchdowns and gained a career-high 195 yards on 34 carries, caught two passes for 49 yards and completed a 23-yard halfback pass for a TD in leading Colorado past Kansas State 44-36 Saturday.
Since interim coach Brian Cabral took over two weeks ago following Colorado’s epic meltdown at Kansas, Stewart has had 76 touches and 419 all-purpose yards, leading the Buffaloes to the cusp of bowl eligibility.
With a strong, elusive, quick back like Stewart, why not?
Cody Hawkins threw for three TDs and 202 yards, pulling within 129 yards of Joel Klatt’s career school record of 7,044, and the Buffaloes won their second straight under Cabral, who took over two weeks ago when Dan Hawkins was fired.
Kansas State (6-5, 3-5) lost starting quarterback Collin Klein late in the second quarter and couldn’t quite keep up with Stewart. Klein suffered an unspecified injury when he was sacked by defensive end Josh Hartigan. He was replaced by Carson Coffman, who threw for 270 yards and two touchdowns.
The 80 combined points marked the most in the 66-game history of the series that will fade away now.
Dan Hawkins was on the field with other family members for pregame senior day celebrations that included his quarterback son. Linebacker B.J. Beatty, a native of Hawaii whose mother made leis for all 16 seniors, ran over to Hawkins and put his lei around his neck.
The festivities had barely finished when the Wildcats quickly took a double-digit lead.
Ty Zimmerman returned the short punt 41 yards to the Colorado 1, and Klein ran it in from there on the first snap. Klein scored on another 1-yard keeper to make it 14-3 the second time the Wildcats had the ball. But Will Jefferson returned the kickoff to midfield and Stewart leaped in from a yard out to start Colorado’s comeback.
Daniel Thomas (58 yards on 14 carries) coughed up the ball and Colorado cornerback Jimmy Smith returned it 22 yards to the Kansas State 24, and Stewart took the pitch and hit Toney Clemons in the back of the end zone from 23 yards out with his first collegiate pass to put the Buffaloes ahead for good at 16-14.
McKnight, a senior, scored on a 37-yard catch and run, giving the Buffs a 23-14 halftime lead. It was his school record 21st TD. He caught another from 13 yards out to make it 30-14 after a roughing penalty negated Kansas State defensive back Thomas Ferguson’s interception at the Colorado 20.
From then on, the teams traded scores.
Coffman scored on a 6-yard keeper and Thomas’ jump-pass to Andre McDonald pulled Kansas State to 30-22. Stewart responded with a 51-yard touchdown run, but Kansas State stayed in it as Coffman connected with Aubrey Quarles from 16 yards out on fourth-and-goal to make it 37-29.
After Colorado scored on Cody Hawkins’ 3-yard touchdown toss to Paul Richardson, the Wildcats got into the end zone on fourth down again, this time with Coffman hitting Chris Harper from 23 yards out to make it 44-36.
Punter Zach Grossnickle pinned the Wildcats at their 5 with three minutes remaining. And finally, the Buffs stopped Kansas State on fourth down when Hartigan, finally close to full strength after suffering a high ankle sprain last month, recorded his third sack of the day, dropping Coffman on fourth down with a minute left.
