MANHATTAN (AP) — Jake Waters threw two touchdown passes, Charles Jones ran for a pair of scores and No. 11 Kansas State shut down Oklahoma State's slumping offense in a 48-14 rout Saturday night.
Curry Sexton had nine catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, and Tyler Lockett had six receptions for 94 yards and a score, helping the Wildcats (7-1, 5-0, No. 9 CFP) remain the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12 heading into next week's showdown at 10th-ranked TCU.
After marching for a touchdown on the game's opening drive, Oklahoma State (5-4, 3-3) never threatened on offense again. The Cowboys managed only a pick-six by Ramon Richards in the fourth quarter in losing their third straight game for the first time since the 2005 season.
Tyreek Hill had 102 yards rushing and a touchdown in place of leading rusher Desmond Roland, who missed the trip following a death in his family. Daxx Garman threw for 148 yards and was picked off twice, one of them when the Cowboys were deep in Kansas State territory.
Oklahoma State had only 48 yards of offense in the second half.
The Wildcats have won five straight since a narrow loss to fourth-ranked Auburn, but the schedule is about to get a lot tougher. After visiting the Horned Frogs, Kansas State must also visit No. 20 West Virginia, with a game at No. 12 Baylor looming at the end of the season.
In other words, the road to college football's inaugural playoff is a bumpy one.
Their game against Oklahoma State got off to a bumpy start, too. Hill had 70 yards of offense on the opening drive, capping it with a short touchdown run for 7-0 lead.
The second-largest crowd in Kansas State history, an overflow gathering of 53,746 fans, was dumbstruck for all of 12 seconds — the amount of time it took Morgan Burns to return the ensuing kickoff for a matching touchdown. Burns bobbled the kickoff at first, but quickly picked it up and found a clean lane, running almost untouched 86 yards for the score.
After that, things unraveled in a hurry for Oklahoma state.
Garman was picked off on the next series, and Kansas State marched 73 yards as Jones scored the first of his touchdowns. Waters connected with Sexton for a 17-yard score early in the second quarter, and then hit Lockett from 20 yards out in the third quarter.
On that drive, Lockett passed current Packers star Jordy Nelson for second in school history in yards receiving, and tied Quincy Morgan in career touchdown catches. Lockett has 2,877 yards and 23 TD grabs, trailing only father Kevin Lockett (3,032 yards, 26 TDs) in both categories.
The game truly got out of hand when the Cowboys fumbled on their next possession, and Kansas State needed three plays to go 37 yards for a score. Backup quarterback Joe Hubener added a sneak with 9 1/2 minutes to go make it 45-7, and Matt McCrane's career-long 53-yard field goal in the final minutes gave the few fans left one last reason to cheer.