Manhattan — Iowa State's freshman quarterback stole the show from Kansas State's senior All-American on Saturday and kept the Cyclones in control of the Big 12 North.
Iowa State trailed the Wildcats by two touchdowns early in the fourth quarter, but Bret Meyer ran for one score and threw for another in a 28-0 run that gave the Cyclones a 37-23 victory.
"When you are down, you can only dream about things like this," Meyer said. "You just keep believing, keep playing together, and good things will happen."
Iowa State, which scored three times in the final 3 1/2 minutes, broke a 10-year losing streak against Kansas State and spoiled Darren Sproles' 167-yard effort in his last game for the Wildcats.
"I'm not really mad. I'm just hurt," said Sproles, who entered the season on the Heisman short list but has only broken 100 yards five times this season. "We had that team, but we lost. We just couldn't finish."
The Cyclones (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) became bowl-eligible for the fourth time in five years and will win their first division title if they can beat Missouri next week in their regular-season finale. Their four-game conference winning streak is their first since 1978.
"Might as well take it all the way," said Stevie Hicks, who ran for a career-high 156 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown with just over two minutes to go.
Kansas State (4-7, 2-6), last year's Big 12 champion, finished with its worst record and first losing season since the 1992 team also went 4-7.
"We went on the field determined," coach Bill Snyder said. "I'm just not so sure we ended up that way."
Sproles had a 41-yard touchdown run for Kansas State, extending his school record to 48 TDs. Quarterback Allen Webb ran for two scores for the Wildcats, but also committed two costly turnovers late in the fourth quarter.
Webb's second TD, a 1-yarder, put Kansas State up 23-9 on the third play of the fourth quarter. But Nik Moser blocked Joe Rheem's extra point, and the momentum from then on belonged to the Cyclones.
"It didn't look real good at that point, but the kids just found a way to make plays and come back and win it," Iowa State coach Dan McCarney said. "It was just an outstanding team victory for us."
No. 2 Oklahoma 35, Baylor 0
Waco, Texas -- No regrets for Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops this week, just the lopsided win the Sooners needed to pad their BCS numbers.
Adrian Peterson ran for 240 yards, including three second-half touchdowns, and Jason White threw two TD passes. Neither played the final 11 minutes.
Oklahoma was caught by Auburn in this week's AP Top 25. The Sooners remained second behind top-rated Southern California in the Bowl Championship Series standings, but their margin over Auburn was cut in half.
"We just know all we can do is go out and win games," said White, who was 19-of-32 for 194 yards. "The rest, we can't do anything about. We know if we stay undefeated, that's all we can do."
After a slow start Saturday, the Sooners (11-0, 8-0) scored on four straight possessions. White threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Travis Wilson just before halftime to make it 14-0, and Peterson had short TD runs on the first three drives of the second half.
Oklahoma never has lost in 14 games against Baylor (3-8, 1-7).
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.