Texas Shut Out By K-State

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MANHATTAN, Kan. — There’s a reason Kansas State’s football stadium is named after Bill Snyder. He took the nation’s worst college football program and turned it into one of the nation’s best.

Snyder’s 11th-ranked Wildcats shut out Texas 23-0 to improve to 6-1 on the season and 4-0 in the Big 12 for the 500th win in program history.

“When I first came here, it was the only program that had accumulated 500 losses,” said Snyder, who turned 75 this month. “So we caught up with that, sort of. But it doesn’t really mean much.”

How bad was it before Snyder arrived? In 1986, three years before his first season, K-State won its 299th in program history. Standing at 482 losses, certainly the Wildcats would get win number 300 before suffering loss number 500, right? It didn’t happen. When Snyder took over to start the 1989 season, the Wildcats were 299-510-40.

But all that is in the past as the Wildcats maintained sole possession of first place in the Big 12 with the program’s first league shutout in 11 years.

“It was awesome,” defensive end Ryan Mueller said. “We take a lot of pride in getting the shutout. It was definitely a goal coming in, and I’m glad we could check the box off.”

The game was played in unseasonably warm conditions in

front of 52,879, the 10th largest crowd in Bill Snyder Family Stadium history and the 18th straight sellout. The game-time temperature was 54 degrees, but climbed into the 80s by the end of the game.

Kansas State controlled the clock, holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes, but managed only 4.8 yards per play.

Quarterback Jake Waters completed 19 of 30 passes for 224 yards, while running back DeMarcus Robinson led the K-State rushing attack with 50 yards, but the Wildcats averaged only 2.9 yards per rush.

Waters came into the game with a balky shoulder, injured last week in the win at Oklahoma. With the Longhorns leading the conference in sacks, the offensive line knew it had its hands full.

“That’s something we always have to do, we have to protect Jake,” center B.J. Finney said. “It doesn’t matter if he’s 100 percent or not. It’s our job to protect him no matter what.

“They’re a good pass-rush unit, very physical, very tough. We just executed well enough and took advantage of some opportunities.”

While the Wildcats only had spurts of offense, Texas (3-5, 2-3) didn’t even have the spurts. The Longhorns had only 196 yards of total offense.

“We needed to be as good as we were,” Snyder said. “We played awfully well. I thought we set the tone when the first three possessions were all three-and-out.”

Quarterback Tyrone Swoopes, who totaled 800 total yards in his previous two games, completed 13 of 25 passes for 106 yards for Texas, and added 31 yards on eight carries.

“You do not ever want to be shut out,” Texas coach Charlie Strong said. “We thought we had a game plan.

“I like the way our guys went out and competed, but we gave them too many opportunities. We drove down in the first half and got sacked out of field-goal range. We had our chances. We just did not take advantage of them.”

The shutout was the Wildcats’ first in conference play since a 45-0 win at Iowa State on Nov. 8, 2003, and the first ever against Texas.

Texas’ best threat occurred early in the fourth quarter.

Down 16-0, the Longhorns went for it on fourth and less than a yard from the K-State 14 with 13:17 left. But running back Jonathan Gray was stopped for no gain by linebacker Jonathan Truman and defensive back Dante Barnett.

“That was quite a play,” Snyder said. “It’s not the easiest thing in the world (to stop Swoopes). He’s big enough to just put the ball across the line. He’s physical enough that he can run it forward. He’s got the speed to run the option, so you have to defend all of those.

“We didn’t out-scheme them on that play; we just beat them.”

The Wildcats responded with a 10-play, 86-yard drive.

Kansas State controlled the first quarter, outgaining Texas, 87-40, with six first downs to two for the Longhorns. But all the Wildcats had to show for it were two field goals by Matthew McCrane and a 6-0 lead.

Neither offense could get untracked until late in the first half. Kansas State finally went 85 yards in 12 plays, covering 5:52 to give the Wildcats a 13-0 lead with 2:18 left in the half.

The third quarter was more of the same, with the Wildcats getting the only points of the quarter on a 38-yard field goal by McCrane.

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