LAWRENCE, Kan. – Alex Barnes collected a season-high 128 rushing yards and two touchdowns, while Matthew McCrane hit all three of his field goal attempts to help Kansas State stave off in-state rival Kansas for a 30-20 win at Memorial Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Barnes’ performance, which included a career-high 23 carries, was his second-straight 100-yard rushing game. The sophomore running back is the first Wildcat to break the century mark in consecutive games since he did so last season against Baylor (129) and Kansas (103).
McCrane converted from 31, 36 and 41 yards in the win, which ended a three-game losing skid from the Wildcats (4-4, 2-3) and extended their winning streak in the Sunflower Showdown to nine games. The senior’s last field goal against the Jayhawks essentially iced the game, as it pushed K-State’s lead to 30-20 with 1:21 to play.
The Wildcats accumulated 340 yards of offense, highlighted by 202 on the ground. It marked their fifth game this season with at least 200 rushing yards.
K-State held a 10-6 lead at halftime, fueled mostly by D.J. Reed’s 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Reed’s return, which followed a 28-yard made field goal from the Jayhawks for the game’s first points, marked the junior’s first kickoff return touchdown of his career. It also extended K-State’s streak of seasons with at least one kickoff return score to 13, the longest active streak in the nation.
On the first play out of halftime, K-State senior linebacker Jayd Kirby forced and recovered a fumble while sacking Kansas quarterback Carter Stanley. The turnover placed K-State’s offense at the Jayhawks’ 18-yard line. Three plays later, Barnes barreled into the end zone from three yards out to extend K-State’s lead to 17-6.
K-State took advantage of another short field in the fourth quarter, when Byron Pringle returned a punt 10 yards to Kansas’ 26-yard line. The Wildcats needed just three plays, all runs from Barnes, to find the end zone and push their back to two scores, at 27-13 with 7:36 to play.
Kansas’ offense came up with two fourth-quarter scoring drives, including a 60-yard touchdown pass from Stanley to Steven Sims to cut K-State’s lead back to seven points with 6:51 left on the clock. Sims finished with 233 yards receiving on nine catches.
While allowing 482 yards of offense, K-State came up with a much-needed defensive stop in the fourth quarter. After punting it back to the Jayhawks with under five minutes to play, K-State forced a three-and-out to regain possession.
Wildcat freshman quarterback Skylar Thompson, who stepped in for injured starter Alex Delton in the second half, then helped engineer K-State’s final scoring drive. Thompson connected with Dalton Schoen on third-and-six for a 12-yard completion to move the Wildcats into field goal range. For the game, Thompson completed 4-of-6 passes for 40 yards and ran for another 39 yards.
In the first half with Delton under center, K-State’s offense compiled 197 yards of total offense in the first half but had trouble finishing drive. The Wildcats’ first drive ended with a lost fumble on Kansas’ 17-yard line. On their next drive, the Wildcats came up short on a fourth-and-one run play inside the Jayhawks’ 10-yard line.
Delton finished 4-of-7 through the air for 98 yards while also tallying 36 rushing yards.
Kansas collected 126 yards of total offense in its first two drives of the game, but the Wildcats managed to limit the damage to field goals each time. After Kansas’ second field goal, the Wildcats kept their in-state rival off the scoreboard for nearly 22 minutes of game clock before the Jayhawks broke through early in the fourth quarter.
Junior defensive back Duke Shelley and sophomore safety Denzel Goolsby each led the team with seven total tackles. Kirby finished with five tackles, including a career-high four tackles for loss, the most by a Wildcat since Charmeachealle Moore notched four against West Virginia in 2015. He also forced three fumbles, becoming the first Wildcat to cause at least two since Jordan Willis forced two against Iowa State in 2015.
Pringle reeled in three passes for 92 yards, putting the junior receiver over 1,000 receiving yards for his career. He is K-State’s seventh community college transfer to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in program history and the first since Brandon Banks did so in 2008-09.
OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Sophomore Alex Barnes was a yard short of matching a career-high with 128 yards and scored two touchdowns to lead the Wildcats rushing attack. K-State rushed for 202 yards as a team, with quarterbacks Skylar Thompson (39) and Alex Delton (36) providing the other yardage.
DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Senior linebacker Jayd Kirby filled up the stat sheet with five tackles, including 4.0 for loss and a sack, three forced fumbles and a pass broken up. His sack came on the first play from scrimmage in the second half and resulted in both a forced fumble and recovery. K-State scored a touchdown on the ensuing drive.
SPECIAL TEAMS STARS OF THE GAME
Place-kicker Matthew McCrane surpassed 50 career field goals with three more successful tries Saturday. McCrane’s makes from 31, 36 and 41 yards gave him 15 field goals on the year, which ranks 10th most in school history.
D.J. Reed tallied up 189 total return yards (152 kick return / 37 punt return), including a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to answer KU’s opening salvo. Reed’s first career kickoff-return touchdown made it 13 straight seasons that the Wildcats have returned a kick for a score, the longest active streak in the nation. It was also K-State’s 110th non-offensive touchdown since 1999, also the most in the nation.
STAT OF THE GAME
22 – Career wins by Bill Snyder over Kansas, the most by an active coach over any one opponent. K-State is 22-4 all-time against KU under Snyder, including a 10-3 mark in Lawrence.
SEASON RECORD UPDATE
K-State 4-4 (2-3 Big 12)
Kansas 1-7 (0-5 Big 12)
WHAT’S NEXT
K-State travels to Lubbock next weekend for a Big 12 tilt with Texas Tech, a game that will be shown nationally on FS1. The Wildcats and Red Raiders are set to kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
Kansas State University, the nation’s first operational land-grant institution and a Carnegie Foundation Tier One university, is recognized as one of the nation’s best colleges with world-class research and academic excellence located in America’s No. 1 College Town (Manhattan, KS).
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TOM GILBERT
Associate Director for Athletics Communications | K-State Athletics