Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Kansas State rallies for win over West Virginia
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Wide receiver Cody Cook led Kansas State to a pair of touchdowns as the emergency quarterback, Morgan Burns returned a kickoff 97 yards for the go-ahead score and the Wildcats beat West Virginia 24-23 on Saturday night to become bowl-eligible.
Taking over for the injured Joe Hubener, Cook ran for a touchdown and hit Deante Burton with a 77-yard scoring strike to help the Wildcats (6-6, 3-5) win their third straight game.
Most importantly, it gave Kansas State six wins and its sixth straight bowl berth.
Wendell Smallwood ran for 141 yards and a touchdown for West Virginia (7-5, 4-6), but he didn’t have the ball in his hands with the game on the line. Instead, quarterback Skyler Howard was stopped by Charmeachealle Moore on fourth-and-2 at their own 46 with 2:33 left to turn over the ball.
The Wildcats picked up enough first downs to essentially run out the clock.
Howard had 281 yards and a touchdown through the air, but it was his inability to pick up the key fourth down on the ground that dropped West Virginia to 0-4 against Kansas State in Big 12 play.
The Wildcats would likely have earned a bowl invite even with a defeat because there are not enough six-win teams to fill all the slots, and a few will be allocated based on Academic Progress Rate. But players said all week that they wanted to reach six wins and truly earn.
It looked like that would be a struggle during a first half dominated by the West Virginia defense, which forced Kansas State to punt on its first three possessions and only surrendered Matt McCrane’s 40-yard field goal early in the second quarter.
Josh Lambert hit a pair of first-half field goals for the Mountaineers — though he also pushed an attempt wide right. But the biggest play in the half came when Howard floated a pass to Jovon Durante in the back of the end zone, the 24yard strike helping West Virginia to a 13-3 lead at the break.
It was early in the second half that Hubener was crunched by a pair of defenders.
Cook, who has played a handful of games as the emergency QB, entered the fray. He hit Kyle Klein with his first pass attempt before later sneaking in from a yard out for a touchdown.
Kansas State’s defense forced a three-and-out to get the ball back, and Cook winged a pass downfield that Burton caught in stride. He outran the rest of the defense for a 17-13 lead.
This time, West Virginia answered with a touchdown drive. Smallwood did most of the work, then finished off the march with a 14-yard scamper.
When Lambert hit his third field goal, the Mountaineers led 23-17 with 13:07 left in the game.
That’s when West Virginia elected once more to kick to Burns, who broke a 67-yard return earlier in the game. The senior started up field, darted to his left and hit the sideline, utilizing a couple of blocks to reach the end zone for a Big 12 record-tying fourth time this season.
The extra point energized a sellout crowd and gave the Wildcats a 24-23 lead.
Their defense made that single point stand up.