K-State rallies from 21-point deficit to beat Iowa State

MANHATTAN — Kansas State’s defense had been gouged for 35 points and 304 total yards in the first half, and the directive from coach Bill Snyder was simple and direct.

“We talked at halftime that we’d have to get some turnovers,” Snyder said.

That hasn’t been the Wildcats’ strong suit with only eight takeaways the first nine games (five fumble recoveries, three interceptions).

Over the final six minutes, Iowa State fumbled three times in four possessions and K-State converted two into a touchdown and a field goal to complete a stunning comeback for a 38-35 victory Saturday at Snyder Family Stadium.

After a fumble by ISU running back Mike Warren, Charles Jones scored on a 5-yard run with 42 seconds remaining to pull K-State into a 35-35 tie. Cyclone quarterback Joel Lanning then fumbled to give the Wildcats possession at the ISU 22 with 10 seconds left, and Jack Cantele delivered the victory with a 42-yard field goal.

“We were just trying to go get the ball instead of playing safe,” K-State cornerback Duke Shelley said. “Sometimes you have to take risks, and we were able to do that the second half, stripping the ball.”

K-State trailed by 21 points at halftime but outscored the Cyclones 24-0 in the second half.

“I was awfully proud of our guys for all the obvious reasons: Hanging in there, not giving up, keep rowing the boat,” Snyder said. “I can’t remember coming back as significantly as we did today.”

The 21-point comeback was the second-largest in K-State history.

“We finally got some balls rolling our way,” said fullback Glenn Gronkowski. “It’s been a year of disappointments so to finally get a win, it’s going to be a great one for us moving forward.”

It was certainly a game of two halves for the Wildcats on both offense and defense.

“It’s a combination of field position created by special teams and offense and the offense being able to move the football,” Snyder said. “They (Cyclones) don’t have their hands on it quite as much. We didn’t give up the big plays like we did in the first half.

“We played inspired and created the turnovers.”

K-State trailed 35-14 at halftime with its touchdowns coming on a trick play — a 4-yard pass from Gronkowski to fullback Winston Dimel — and Morgan Burns’ 100-yard kickoff return.

“We’ve been working on that one for a while, so to finally get it out there, it worked perfectly,” Gronkowski said of the fullback-to-fullback jump pass. “It was wide open and couldn’t have been any easier. Every single week we’ve practiced it.”

Burns’ kickoff return — his second in as many games and third of the season — came after he was beaten for a 30-yard touchdown reception by Allen Lazard.

Burns’ return pulled the Wildcats within 21-14, but two snaps later Warren broke a 76-yard touchdown run and Lazard had a 16-yard scoring catch with 29 seconds left to cap ISU’s 28-point second quarter.

Warren, the nation’s leading freshman rusher, had 147 yards the first half to match K-State’s total offensive output.

K-State’s offense opened the second half with two long touchdown drives, going 67 yards in 12 plays for Jones’ 8-yard run and 70 yards in 12 plays for a 7-yard pass from Joe Hubener to Kody Cook.

“After the first score in the second half, I thought we could win,” Gronkowski said. “We moved the ball on them and we got it going.”

That outlook soon changed. Down seven points, the Wildcats had three possessions with a chance to pull even but punted once and turned it over on downs twice.

“To be honest, I thought we were going to lose,” Gronkowski said after Hubener’s fourth-and-18 incomplete pass with 1:31 remaining. “I thought they were going to kneel the ball. I didn’t see any reason they needed to run it. “

The Cyclones did run, and Will Geary stripped the ball from Warren, and Elijah Lee recovered.

“The decision was based on being able to run out the clock and never having to punt the football,” ISU coach Paul Rhoads said. “You take a knee, and they are going to call a timeout. We operate off of a chart in a situation like that. By running a play and taking off enough extra seconds, then you never have to punt the ball on fourth down.”

Hubener hit Andre Davis with a 42-yard pass on first down, and three plays later Jones was in the end zone for the tying touchdown.

Then Lanning fumbled and Cantele kicked the game-winning 42-yard field goal into the wind.

“The biggest thing going through my head,” Cantele said, “was the fact it was tied and I really didn’t have that much pressure, apart from winning it there as opposed to winning in overtime.”

The Wildcats snapped a six-game losing streak and kept alive their bowl hopes, needing wins in the remaining two games to play a postseason game.

“They enjoyed the daylights out of it,” Snyder said of a jubilant postgame celebration. “I’ve been here for a couple of hundred years and I have never seen our locker room (like that).

“We always say act like you’ve been there before. We didn’t act like we’ve been there before, but they needed that so it was good.”

Iowa State (3-8, 2-6) 7 28 0 0 — 35

Kansas State (4-6, 1-6) 7 7 7 17 — 38

FIRST QUARTER

ISU — Ryen 21 pass from Lanning (Netten kick), 9:36. Drive: 3 plays, 40 yards, 1:21 time of possession.

KSU — Dimel 4 pass from Gronkowski (Cantele kick), 4:50. Drive: 9-65, 4:46.

SECOND QUARTER

ISU — Lanning 1 run (Netten kick), 12:21. Drive: 4-3, 1:47.

ISU — Lazard 30 pass from Lanning (Netten kick), 8:11. Drive: 5-71, 2:26.

KSU — Burns 100 kickoff return (Cantele kick), 7:59.

ISU — Warren 76 run (Netten kick), 7:34. Drive: 2-76, 0:20.

ISU — Lazard 16 pass from Lanning (Netten kick), 0:29. Drive: 7-67, 2:12.

THIRD QUARTER

KSU — Jones 8 run (Cantele kick), 8:49. Drive: 12-67, 6:06.

FOURTH QUARTER

KSU — Cook 7 pass from Hubener (Cantele kick), 13:13. Drive: 12-70, 5:39.

KSU — Jones 5 run (Cantele kick), 0:42. Drive: 4-55, 0:40.

KSU — Cantele 42 field goal, 0:07. Drive: 2-(minus-3), 0:07.

Attendance — 53,297.

GAME IN FIGURES

ISU KSU

First downs 21 22

Rushes-yards 44-238 41-165

Passing 210 220

Comp-Att-Int 15-20-0 19-33-0

Return yards 50 0

Punts-Avg. 3-35.0 3-38.7

Fumbles-lost 8-4 1-1

Penalties-yards 2-15 5-35

Time of possession 28:24 31:36

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING — Iowa State: Warren 22-195, Lanning 21-43, Jo.Thomas 1-0. Kansas State: Hubener 20-90, Jones 15-65, Gronkowski 1-5, Silmon 3-5, Cook 1-3, Team 1-(minus 3).

PASSING — Iowa State: Lanning 15-20-0-210. Kansas State: Hubener 18-31-0-216, Gronkowski 1-2-0-4.

RECEIVING — Iowa State: Al.Lazard 5-87, Wesley 4-30, Ryen 3-36, Bundrage 2-32, Epps 1-10, Jo.Thomas 0-15. Kansas State: Cook 5-68, D.Heath 5-31, Jones 4-28, Burton 2-31, A.Davis 1-42, Gronkowski 1-16, Dimel 1-4.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTIC

PUNTING — Iowa State: Downing 2-35.0, Kramer 1-35.0. K-State: Walsh 3-38.7.

LEADING TACKLERS — Iowa State: Mills 8 unassisted, 0 assists, 8 total; Northrup 7-0-7; Floyd 6-0-6. K-State: Adams 11-2-12; Moore 10-0-10; Geary 4-1-5.

SACKS — Iowa State: Peters 1, Peavy 1, Knott 1. K-State: Willis 2, Adams 1, Moore 1, Bryant 1.