Brown’s future in doubt after loss

Mountaineers won’t go to bowl after seeing record drop to 4-7

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Will Howard threw two touchdown passes and ran for another score, Cincere Mason returned an interception for a TD and No. 19 Kansas State moved closer to a berth in the Big 12 championship game by beating West Virginia 48-31 on Saturday.

Kansas State (8-3, 6-2 Big 12, No. 15 CFP) can clinch a title game spot alongside No. 4 TCU on Dec. 3 with a win in its regular-season finale at home against Kansas.

West Virginia (4-7, 2-6) failed to become bowl eligible for the second time under fourth-year coach Neal Brown and for only the fourth time since 2000.

Both team’s quarterbacks played well in a battle among backups.

Howard, starting in place of the injured Adrian Martinez, completed 19 of 27 passes for 294yards.

West Virginia’s Garrett Greene got the nod ahead of JT Daniels after Greene’s solid play in the second half of a win over Oklahoma a week ago. Greene threw three TD passes to Sam James and finished 15 of 27 for 204 yards. He was intercepted twice. Greene also scored on a 13-yard run.

“Garrett did some good things,” Brown said. “He ran around and made some good decisions, made some bad decisions. That’s going to happen when you’re in your first career start.”

Kansas State led 28-19 after the first quarter. Mason’s 37yard interception return put the Wildcats up 14-0 a little more than 3 minutes into the game. Later in the quarter, West Virginia’s Malachi Ruffin returned an interception 43 yards for a score. But West Virginia couldn’t mount a comeback.

By halftime, Kansas State had 312 total yards and led 41-25.

The offenses slowed down considerably after halftime.

West Virginia ate up nearly nine minutes of clock time on its opening possession of the thirdquarter, but Casey Legg’s 44-yard field goal try fell short, his first missin 14 attempts this season.He also missed two earlier extra-point kicks.

The takeaway

Approximately 37,000 fans showed up in the cold, and it will be up to the school to decide whether it was the final home game for Brown, who is 21-25 with four years remaining on his contract. AD Shane Lyons was fired Monday, and president Gordon Gee said no changes will be considered until a new athletic director is hired.