Hubbard leads No. 25 Oklahoma St. past Kansas, 31-13
STILLWATER, Okla. — Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy broke away from his usual approach to postseason awards and lobbied for Chuba Hubbard to be a Heisman Trophy finalist.
Hubbard, the nation’s rushing leader, ran for 122 yards and two touchdowns, and No. 25 Oklahoma State rolled past Kansas 31-13 on Saturday.
Hubbard has rushed for 1,726 yards this season in 10 games. Gundy believes if Hubbard leads Power Five backs in rushing, he should get an invitation to New York for the Heisman ceremony.
“He deserves to be there,” Gundy said. “And I can honestly say that for him because he’s a very humble, hardworking young man. And you know me — I don’t step out there much.”
Hubbard’s yardage total is the fifth-best in school history for a season, trailing 1988 Heisman winner Barry Sanders, 1977 Heisman runner-up Terry Miller, Ernest Anderson and Thurman Thomas. He has two regular-season games remaining, and on his current pace, he would pass all but Sanders.
“We’re proud of what he’s done,” Gundy said. “But at some point, you have to look and say, ‘OK, is this a quarterback award?’ Or do running backs or other positions potentially get involved.”
Dillon Stoner caught five passes for a career-high 150 yards and two touchdowns and Spencer Sanders passed for 168 yards and a touchdown for the Cowboys (7-3, 4-3 Big 12, No. 22 CFP), who won their third straight.
Oklahoma State gained 481 total yards, including 243 rushing.
Kolby Harvell-Peel led Oklahoma State’s defense with two interceptions.
Carter Stanley passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns for Kansas (3-7, 1-6).
It was the first meeting between Kansas coach Les Miles and Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. Gundy was Miles’ offensive coordinator at Oklahoma State from 2001-2004 before Miles left to become head coach at LSU and Gundy took over as head coach for the Cowboys.
Hubbard scored his first touchdown just over three minutes into the game. He ran for 100 yards and two touchdowns in the first half to help Oklahoma State take a 24-0 lead.
In the third quarter, backup quarterback Dru Brown threw a perfect strike for a 43-yard touchdown to Stoner to push the lead to 31-0.
West Virginia 24, Kansas State 20
MANHATTAN, Kan. — West Virginia cornerback Hakeem Bailey intercepted Kansas State quarterback Skylar Thompson’s floating pass toward the end zone in the closing seconds Saturday night, allowing the Mountaineers to escape with a 24-20 upset of the Wildcats.
Jarret Doege, starting in place of Austin Kendall, threw for 234 yards and three touchdowns in the first start for the Bowling Green transfer in more than a year. His biggest throw came on thirdand-22 in the fourth quarter, a 50-yard touchdown heave that gave West Virginia (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) the lead.
The Wildcats (6-4, 3-4) had plenty of chances to answer, but they turned the ball over on downs and then punted before their final drive. Thompson led them briskly downfield, but his second-down throw floated in the wind whipping out of the south and Bailey outjumped the intended target.
That allowed West Virginia to snap a five-game skid, its longest losing streak since 1986.
The Wildcats, who almost never altered their look under Hall of Fame coach Bill Snyder, donned a throwback uniform to the 1988 with white helmets and script “Cats” across them.
Perhaps they should have chosen a season in which they didn’t go 0-11.
Thompson was 24 of 39 for 299 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, and Kansas State had trouble moving the ball all night against a team that allowed 38 points to Texas Tech last week.
The Wildcats ran 32 times but averaged just 3.2 yards per attempt.
The Mountaineers’ season-long growing pains appeared to continue right from the start, though, when they went three-and-out on offense and gave up a 68-yard TD pass on their first play on defense
It was hardly a harbinger of the first half.
West Virginia answered with a 75-yard drive, finished off by Doege’s thirddown touchdown pass to Campbell. And when the Wildcats answered with a field goal, the Mountaineers reached the end zone again — though not without a bit of help from the officials.
West Virginia was held to a field goal that Casey Legg missed. But the crew ruled the Wildcats’ Trey Dishon somehow jumped the gun on the rush, giving the Mountaineers a fresh set of downs. They went nowhere on the first two before Campbell hauled in another third-down touchdown pass.
Legg missed another field goal heading into the locker room.
The momentum appeared to have swung the Wildcats’ direction, too. They opened the half with a long, time-consuming touchdown drive to take a 20-14 lead midway through the third quarter.
They were never able to shake loose, though.
Kansas State was forced to punt on each of its next two possessions. Legg drilled a 51-yard field goal to repay coach Neal Brown’s confidence in him, and a few minutes later Doege took advantage of a major coverage lapse on third-and-22 to throw a 50-yard touchdown pass to Bryce Wheaton.
That turned out to be all the points the Mountaineers needed.