K-State makes it 14 wins in a row over Kansas football with 47-27 victory in Manhattan

By Matt Tait     Nov 26, 2022

Kansas wide receiver Lawrence Arnold (2) is stopped by Kansas State safety VJ Payne (19) linebacker Daniel Green (22) and safety Drake Cheatum (21) after catching a pass for a first down during the first quarter of an NCAA college football game on Saturday, Nov. 26, 2022, in Manhattan, Kan. (AP Photo/Colin E. Braley)

No. 12 Kansas State defeated in-state rival Kansas for the 14th consecutive time on Saturday night in Manhattan, winning 47-27 to earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game next week in Arlington, Texas.

On a rainy night in front of a sellout crowd at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, the Wildcats never trailed and used a combination of big plays and ball control on offense to hold off the Jayhawks in the final game of the regular season for both teams.

K-State running back Deuce Vaughn rolled to 229 yards and a touchdown on 27 touches and the Wildcats, as a team, out-gained KU 443-307 in total offense.

“I was proud of the way we competed,” KU coach Lance Leipold said in his postgame press conference. “I thought we had some opportunities; credit Kansas State for making some big plays, especially in the special teams area that kind of swung the momentum. … I thought it was one of our better all-around performances in the last few weeks.”

K-State will head to the Lone Star state to take on No. 4 TCU in a game that will have a huge impact on the College Football Playoff field. Unbeaten TCU remains on the right side of the line and will essentially guarantee itself a chance to play for a national title with a win over K-State.

The Jayhawks, meanwhile, will sit tight and await their bowl fate, which will be announced on Dec. 4 on ESPN. With six wins for the first time since the 2008 season, the Jayhawks will be bowl-bound this postseason.

“As I told the team, I’m proud of them,” Leipold said. “But we’ve got a gap yet that we’ve got to continue to close. But I like the progress of this team and I believe in them and we’re going to get ready and close this thing out with a win.”

KU’s lead in the all-time Sunflower Showdown football series now sits at 65-50-5, with Kansas State now sitting at .500 (28-28-3) in games played in Manhattan.

As has happened so often in this series, the Jayhawks (6-6 overall, 3-6 Big 12) found themselves in an early hole and spent the rest of the game playing catchup.

After a three-and-out by the KU defense to open the game, the Jayhawks gave the ball right back to the Wildcats on the punt, when O.J. Burroughs muffed the kick and K-State recovered at the KU 5-yard line.

On the next play, the Wildcats cruised in for the touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.

After the teams traded touchdowns from there, KU gifted the Wildcats (9-3, 7-2) with two more points, when offensive lineman Bryce Cabledue was called for holding in the end zone. That gave the Wildcats a 16-7 lead and K-State pushed its advantage to 23-7 with a touchdown on the ensuing drive.

The Jayhawks scored twice in the second quarter to pull within nine at halftime — 30-21 — but those nine K-State points that KU facilitated continued to loom large throughout the night.

The Kansas defense stopped K-State on its first two drives of the third quarter, but the KU offense could not capitalize. After a fumble by Torry Locklin midway through the quarter, the Wildcats extended their lead to 37-21 on a 1-yard touchdown run by Deuce Vaughn on fourth-and-goal with 6:59 to play in the third quarter.

That all but ended it for Kansas, which was simply too far behind to mount a comeback.

The Jayhawks cut the KSU lead to 10 early in the fourth quarter after a 17-play drive that was capped off by a short touchdown run by Daniels. But Mason Fairchild dropped the 2-point conversion attempt and K-State’s Malik Knowles followed it up with a huge kickoff return into KU territory that set up a 27-yard K-State field goal that put the Wildcats ahead 40-27 with 11 minutes to play.

Knowles’ return was merely the latest special teams play made by the Wildcats in a game that was fairly evenly played on offense and defense but dominated by K-State in the third phase of the game.

“We got beat in every area of special teams,” Leipold said.

Asked if he thought KU was making progress in its pursuit of being consistently competitive with its in-state rival, Leipold said: “I’ll let some of you that have watched it over the years tell me if it’s closing. The score doesn’t show that a gap’s been narrowed, so I can’t comment on it until we prove it. But I like the direction of our program.”

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.