MORGANTOWN-Two teams vying for a conference title entered Saturday night's Big 12 showdown between No. 4 Kansas State and No. 13 West Virginia at Milan Puskar Stadium, but it was the Wildcats from KSU that came away from Mountaineer Field a winner as the visitors parlayed a near-perfect offensive attack and a dominating defense to hand the host Mountaineers a 55-14 thumping.
The 38-point setback was the most lopsided margin since the Hurricanes from Miami (Fla.) dealt the old gold and blue a 45-3 defeat in Rich Rodriguez' first season as head coach in 2001.
Senior quarterback Collin Klein, who came into the contest as the No. 4 rusher in the Big 12 (98-510, 10 TDs) and No. 6 in passing (79-118-2, 1,074 yards, 7 TDs), carved up WVU's young defense, finishing 19-of-21 for a career high 323 yards and three touchdowns while adding four more scores on 12 carries.
WVU's Geno Smith, who came into the contest as the frontrunner among many Heisman Trophy voters, had his second off-night of the season, completing 21-of-32 attempts for 143 yards and one touchdown, but also threw his first two interceptions of the season-both coming in the second half when WVU was forced to go to the air on nearly every down.
West Virginia, now 5-2 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, takes the week off while Kansas State (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) entertains No. 17 Texas Tech, a 56-53 3OT winner over TCU, next Saturday in Manhattan.
Kansas State came to Milan Puskar Stadium and played like the No. 4 team in the country as Klein completed all but two of his 16 first half passes for 226 yards and a touchdown and rushed for 47 yards and three scores on nine carries as the Wildcats took a 31-7 lead at intermission.
Fact Box
Kansas State 55, West Virginia 14
KSU (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) 10 21 21 3-55
WVU (5-2, 2-2 Big 12) 0 7 0 7-14
KSU: Anthony Cantele 33 field goal 11:25 1st
KSU: Tyler Lockett 10 pass from Collin Klein (Cantele kick) 3:33 1st
KSU: Klein 1 run (Cantele kick) 11:23 2nd
KSU: Klein 8 run (Cantele kick) 4:27 2nd
WVU: Tavon Austin 100 kickoff return (Tyler Bitancurt kick) 4:13 2nd
KSU: Klein 1 run (Cantele kick) 0:17 2nd
KSU: Chris Harper 21 pass from Klein (Cantele kick) 13:55 3rd
KSU: Klein 1 run (Cantele kick) 9:00 3rd
KSU: Tyler Lockett 20 pass from Klein (Cantele kick) 2:25 3rd
WVU: Austin 5 pass from Geno Smith (Bitancurt kick) 7:31 4th
KSU: Cantele 42 field goal 3:48 4th
Game stats
KSU: First downs: 24. Rushes-yards: 39-146. Passing yards: 333. Total yards: 479. Passing: 20-23-0. Fumbles-lost: 0-0. Punts-average: 1-47.0. Penalties-yards: 6-55.
WVU: First downs: 18. Rushes-yards: 27-88. Passing yards: 155. Total yards: 243. Passing: 23-35-2. Fumbles-lost: 1-0. Punts-average: 4-39.3. Penalties-yards: 4-29.
Individual stats
KSU: Rushing: John Hubert 16-52, Angelo Pease 7-46, Collin Klein 12-41. Passing: Collin Klein 19-21-0, 323 yards, 3 TD. Receiving: Tyler Lockett 9-194, 2 TDs; Chris Harper 6-96, 1 TD.
WVU: Rushing: Dustin Garrison 9-54, Andrew Buie 11-49. Passing: Geno Smith 21-32-2, 143 yards, 1 TD. Receiving: Tavon Austin 6-34, 1 TD; Stedman Bailey 4-34; Dustin Garrison 4-30.
Marshall 59,
Southern Mississippi 24
Marshall 10 21 14 14 - 59
So. Miss. 3 14 0 7 - 24
Mar: Justin Haig 44 field goal 7:37 1st.
USM: Corey Acosta 51 field goal 4:29 1st.
Mar: Remi Watson 3 run (Haig kick) 0:32 1st.
Mar: Antavious Wilson 14 pass from Rakeem Cato (Haig kick) 12:29 2nd.
USM: Kalan Reed 19 interception return (Acosta kick) 9:43 2nd.
Mar: Kevin Grooms 64 run (Haig kick) 9:04 2nd.
USM: Desmond Johnson 22 run (Acosta kick) 5:58 2nd.
Mar: Tommy Shuler 25 pass from Cato (Haig kick) 4:19 2nd.
Mar: Shuler 1 pass from Cato (Haig kick) 11:03 3rd.
Mar: Grooms 11 run (Haig kick) 6:04 3rd.
Mar: Steward Butler 54 run (Haig kick) 10:27 4th.
Mar: Essray Taliaferro 1 run (Haig kick) 5:41 4th.
USM: Arsenio Favor 12 run (Acosta kick) 2:49 4th.
Team statistics
Marshall: First downs: 36; Rushes-yards: 42-273; Passing yards: 356; Total yards: 629; Passing: 32-43-1; Punts-average: 3-41,7; Fumbles-lost: 0-0; Penalties: 9-102
Southern Misssissippi: First downs: 23; Rushes-yards: 44-216; Passing yards: 115: Total yards: 331; Passing: 17-33-1; Punts-average: 7-48.1; Fumbles-lost: 2-2; Penalties: 5-50
Individual leaders
Marshall: Rushing: Groom 12-119; Butler 7-71; Watson 10-54; Taliaferro 6-26; Passing: Cato 31-42, 342 yards, 3 TDs; Receiving: Shuler 11-113, 2 TDs; Wilson 6-96, TD; Aaron Dobson 5-63
Southern Mississippi: Rushing: Kendrick Hardy 8-50; Desmond Johnson 4-39; Passing: Anthony Alford 9-21, 65 yards; Receiving: Pierce 2-39; Francisco Llanos 5-25
Next game: UCF at Marshall at 8 p.m. next Saturday
No. 7 OHIO ST. 29, PURDUE 22, OT
Purdue130720 -22
Ohio St.70787 -29
First Quarter
Pur-Shavers 83 pass from TerBush (kick blocked), 14:43.
OSU-B.Miller 8 run (Basil kick), 5:29.
Pur-Hunt 100 kickoff return (Griggs kick), 5:17.
Third Quarter
OSU-Hyde 2 run (Basil kick), 7:41.
Pur-Bush 31 pass from TerBush (Griggs kick), 3:49.
Fourth Quarter
Pur-Safety, 10:11.
OSU-Fields 2 pass from Guiton (Heuerman pass from Guiton), :03.
Overtime
OSU-Hyde 1 run (Basil kick).
A-105,290.
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PurOSU
First downs1615
Rushes-yards39-11736-152
Passing230190
Comp-Att-Int19-30-115-32-2
Return Yards620
Punts-Avg.7-44.15-41.6
Fumbles-Lost2-02-2
Penalties-Yards3-294-29
Time of Possession34:4925:11
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INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING-Purdue, Bolden 9-35, Shavers 7-30, Cottom 5-15, Hunt 5-15,
TerBush 8-14, Webster 1-4, Henry 2-3, Edison 2-1. Ohio St., Hyde 19-91,
B.Miller 12-47, Corey (Philly).Brown 1-9, R.Smith 2-3, Guiton 2-2.
PASSING-Purdue, TerBush 19-30-1-230. Ohio St., B.Miller 9-20-1-113,
Guiton 6-11-1-77, Team 0-1-0-0.
RECEIVING-Purdue, Macarthy 6-48, Shavers 3-93, Bush 2-39,
Hunt 2-21, Wright 2-13, Edison 2-10, Holmes 2-6. Ohio St.,
Corey (Philly).Brown 3-44, Fields 3-44, D.Smith 2-48, Spencer 2-15,
Hyde 2-6, Stoneburner 1-17, M.Thomas 1-11, Heuerman 1-5.
Wilmington College 13,
Marietta College 12
WC (1-6) 0 7 3 3 - 13
MC (0-7) 3 3 6 0 - 12
MC: Durina 21 field goal 10:55, 1st
MC: Durina 23 field goal 1:37, 2nd
WC: Antonio Turner 5 pass from Brandon Arehart (Max Gabbard kick) 0:11, 2nd
MC: Tannon Roberts 12 pass from Tom Fulton (kick failed) 7:28, 3rd
WC: Gabbard 32 field goal 0:00, 3rd
WC: Gabbard 35 field goal 0:31, 4th
Team stats
Wilmington: First downs: 13; Rushes-yards: 33-105; Passing yards: 112; Total yards: 217; Passing: 14-24-1; Punts-average: 8-33.5; Fumbles-lost: 1-0; Penalties-yards: 8-80
Marietta: First downs: 21; Rushes-yards: 31-25; Passing yards: 244; Total yards: 269; Passing: 23-49-1; Punts-average: 4-36.5; Fumbles-lost: 3-1; Penalties-yards: 6-70
Individual stats
Wilmington: Rushing: Alex Koyfis 10-39, T. Richardson 10-51; Passing: Brandon Arehart 14-24-1, 112 yards; Receiving: Antonio Turner 4-61, Jeremy Duncan 5-45
Marietta: Rushing: Tevin Dones 20-39; Passing: Tom Fulton 23-48-1, 244 yards; Receiving: Sean Munfield 7-106, Tannon Roberts 5-68, Kirby Harris 4-20, Dones 3-6, Linard Williams 4-44
Once again WVU won the opening toss, but elected to defer until the second half, thus putting its defense-the worst in the Big 12-on the field to begin the game. KSU's Tramaine Thompson made second year head coach Dana Holgorsen pay for that decision as he took Corey Smith's kick at his own 2 and returned it 41 yards to put the Wildcats in business at the own 43.
Seven plays later, senior placekicker Anthony Cantele put the guests on the scoreboard first with a 33-yard field goal.
Now, it was time for Heisman favorite Geno Smith and his offense to show that last week's 49-14 loss at Texas Tech was not going to happen again. But, five plays later the Mountaineers were forced to punt the ball away when sophomore Andrew Buie was thrown for a 2-yard loss on a third-and-1 from the WVU 45.
Again it was time for the defense to make a stand, but this time Klein and Company drove 92 yards in only nine plays with the KSU senior hitting Tyler Lockett for the final 16 yards and the first touchdown of the game.
Things continued to go badly for Smith and the Mountaineer offense as four plays, and 13 yards later, they were forced to again turn the ball over to the ball-control Wildcats. Tyler Bitancurt's second punt of the game traveled 37 yards to the KSU 36 with 33 seconds left in the opening 15 minutes of action.
This time the KSU offense again needed only nine plays to travel the 64 yards to paydirt with Klein bullying this way over from the one with 11:23 left until the intermission.
Trailing now by 17, Smith drove the Mountaineers from their own 14 to midfield, but a third-and-10 pass to Dustin Garrison netted only six yards and Bitancurt was forced to punt again. This one, however, traveled only 25 yards, giving the Wildcats a first-and-10 at their own 25 with 7:55 showing on the clock.
Seven plays later the Wildcats were in the end zone for the third straight time as Klein broke around right end for the final eight yards and a 23-0 KSU lead. Cantele added the PAT and WVU found itself in a deep hole for the second week in a row, 24-0.
West Virginia fans finally had something to cheer for on the ensuing kickoff as senior Tavon Austin took the kick in his end zone and then busted loose for a 100-yard kickoff return to put the old gold and blue on the scoreboard. It was his fourth career kickoff return for a score.
The Mountaineers' offense finally got on the scoreboard when Smith hit Austin with a 5-yard scoring pass with 7:31 left in the game. But, it was too little, too late as WVU suffered its second loss of the season.
