Deuce Vaughn had 229 total yards and a touchdown as No. 12 Kansas State defeated Kansas 47-27 to secure a bid in the Big 12 Championship Game on Dec. 3 against TCU.
The Wildcats will play in their first conference championship game since 2003.
The Wildcats (9-3, 7-2 Big 12) defeated Kansas for the 14th straight season.
Kansas (6-6, 3-6) lost for the sixth time in the last seven games.
K-State took advantage of a KU turnover to open a 37-21 lead midway through the third quarter. Vaughn went around the left side on fourth-and-1 for the score.
Kansas responded with a 16-play drive wrapped around the quarter exchange. Jalon Daniels ran it in from the 1. The 2-point conversion failed, making it 37-27.
Ty Zentner extended the K-State lead to 40-27 with a 27-yard field goal with 11:00 left in the game. Following a three-and-out, K-State went 85 yards in eight plays for the clincher. DJ Giddens punched it in from the 5.
K-State went three-and-out on its first possession, but O.J. Burroughs fumbled the punt and Ekow Boye-Doe recovered it on the Kansas 5-yard line. On the first play, receiver Malik Knowles scored on a sweep for a 7-0 lead.
Kansas answered with a nine-play, 75-yard drive to tie it on a 12-yard Torry Locklin run. The drive was aided by a face-mask penalty.
K-State then went up 14-7 when Will Howard found Sammy Wheeler for a 42-yard touchdown.
The Wildcats got 2 more points when Bryce Cabeldue was called for holding in the end zone on Kansas’ next possession. Knowles then walked in for another score from the 4-yard line to put the Wildcats up 23-7 in the first quarter.
Kansas got back on the board on an 11-yard touchdown run by Devin Neal.
The Jayhawks looked to have the Wildcats in trouble with a third-and-12 on their own 6, but Howard found Vaughn on a screen and he raced 80 yards. Two plays later, Howard found Phillip Brooks for a 14-yard score.
Neal then scored his second touchdown of the half, a 3-yard scamper to trim it to 30-21.
–Field Level Media
