Kansas St.-Texas Tech Preview

Kansas State has shown plenty of resilience during its best start in 11 years. It might have to rely on that fortitude again when it visits a team it's often had trouble stopping.

The unbeaten and 17th-ranked Wildcats will try to withstand Texas Tech's high-powered offense and snap a five-game losing streak to the Red Raiders in Saturday night's Big 12 matchup in Lubbock.

Kansas State's 24-17 victory over Missouri was its fourth this season by seven points or fewer. After coming from behind in the fourth quarter in its previous two games, the Wildcats (5-0, 2-0) had to fend off a late rally by the Tigers last Saturday after going up 24-3.

The win kept them tied atop the conference with No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 Oklahoma State. Another would help them match their 6-0 start from 2000.

"I think we have something special. We just cannot get complacent," wide receiver Chris Harper said. "We are getting more and more attention with each win, but we cannot just start settling and become happy where we are at."

A matchup with the Red Raiders (4-1, 1-1) might keep the Wildcats from getting too comfortable.

Texas Tech is in the top 10 nationally in points per game (45.8), passing yards (354.6) and overall yards per game (524.6). Quarterback Seth Doege is tied for second in FBS with 17 touchdowns, throwing at least three in each game, and is sixth with 341.2 yards per game.

"Every week is a challenge, and this is certainly one," Wildcats coach Bill Snyder said. "He is a very talented quarterback."

Snyder's teams know what it's like to have trouble defending Texas Tech's pass-heavy offense. Doege threw a late touchdown pass - the Red Raiders' eighth of the day - during the previous matchup with Kansas State, a 66-14 rout in Lubbock on Oct. 10, 2009.

The Wildcats have dropped five in a row in the series and have been outscored 183-62 in the last three games.

However, they enter this matchup after holding Missouri to 326 yards - nearly 200 below its average. After finishing 106th in total defense last season by allowing 445.7 yards per game, Kansas State is 17th in 2011 (298.8 ypg).

"We have a lot of work to do and a lot of coverages to fix, but the key thing is to stay focused. Texas Tech is a great team. They have a great offense, and we will just have to stop them," linebacker Tre Walker said.

The Red Raiders, though, will have to replace leading rusher Eric Stephens, who is out for the season after dislocating his left knee in the third quarter of last week's 45-40 loss to Texas A&M. The senior had 102 yards on 22 carries before exiting, and was 15th in FBS with 114.0 per game.

That should give Kansas State a vast edge on the ground as it tries to win in Lubbock for the first time since 1997. The Wildcats are 26th nationally with 208.6 rushing yards per game, while the Red Raiders are 115th out of 120 FBS teams in rushing defense (224.2 ypg).

They gave up 205 yards on the ground during last week's loss, which was the third straight game they've allowed at least 34 points.

"We ain't stopped (the run) all year," coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We've got to play better on defense. This will be a game where we've got to get our offense back on the field."

Leading Kansas State rusher John Hubert has 349 of his 469 yards over the past three games. The Texas native had a career-best 166 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown during the Wildcats' only other road game, a 28-24 victory at Miami on Sept. 24.

Quarterback Collin Klein, who has one yard fewer than Hubert, ran for a career-high three touchdowns in the win over Missouri and has seven rushing scores this season.

Texas Tech has won eight of the 11 all-time matchups between the schools.

© 2012 STATS LLC

No. 17 Kansas St comes back to beat Tex Tech 41-34

LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) -- Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is working on another Miracle in Manhattan, one small stroke at a time.

"Our coach says all the time you've just got to keep sawing wood and eventually you're going to get somewhere," said Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein, who ran for three touchdowns and threw for another as the surprising 17th-ranked Wildcats came from behind to beat Texas Tech 41-34 on Saturday night. "It makes it exciting because we're hanging together. That's the most important thing."

Klein ran for 110 yards on 23 carries, scoring on three short runs and hitting Chris Harper for a 3-yard TD pass on the Wildcats (6-0, 3-0) first drive of the third quarter.

Tyler Lockett returned a kickoff 100 yards early in the second quarter for the Wildcats, who are undefeated after six games for the first time since 2000.

Snyder turned once-lowly Kansas State into a national title contender in the 1990s and came out of retirement three years ago to rebuild the Wildcats again.

He said he saw the turnaround in his team's gumption after halftime.

"They play with determination, they play with mental toughness, they play with discipline that falters some times," he said. "But they are diligently trying.

Texas Tech (4-2, 1-2) was held to two field goals in the second half.

Red Raiders coach Tommy Tubereville said the Wildcats were true to form.

"They don't do anything special," he said. "They took advantage of their opportunities and we didn't take advantage of ours. We had too many missed opportunities."

Seth Doege had 461 yards and a touchdown on 43-of-63 passing, but had three of his four turnovers in consecutive possessions in the fourth quarter. He also ran for a score. He had just one interception coming into the game.

"I want them all back," Doege said. "All of them were pretty stupid on my part. As a quarterback one of our jobs is to protect the ball and I did a poor job of that tonight."

After Texas Tech's field goal late in the game to pull within 41-34, the Red Raiders recovered an onside kick when Tremain Swindall fell on the ball at their own 47. But Doege and the offense seemed to rush and failed to get a first down after running four plays.

The Wildcats, who appeared flat in the first half, came out with more energy after halftime. On Kansas State's first possession Klein put together the Wildcats' longest drive of the game, capping it with a fade to the corner of the end zone to Harper to lead 28-27. The TD pass was set up after Klein scrambled out of the pocket for a 25-yard gain to the 3.

Kansas State held the ball for 33:33, while Tech's high-powered offense had it for 26:27.

Kansas State stayed close in the first half but only because of its defense and special teams. The offense mustered just 94 yards, less than half of those on the ground. Texas Tech's defense was tough against the Wildcats run, allowing Kansas State's 26th-ranked rushing offense just 45 yards on 18 carries in the first half.

The plan was to chew up the clock and not let Texas Tech's offense on the field. The Red Raiders, instead, had the ball 2 minutes longer in the first half.

Doege was hot in the first half. He completed 25 of 34 passes for 296 yards, his best first-half of the season.

After Lockett's kick return TD in the second quarter, Anthony Cantele missed the extra point to cut the deficit to 14-13. Lockett took the ball straight up the middle and into a pile of Red Raiders at about the 50. Suddenly, though, he was out front of the pile and outraced them all to the corner of the end zone.

The Wildcats blocked two field goals, setting up a touchdown with the second. Raphael Guidry blocked the kick and Nigel Malone picked it up and returned it 30 yards to the Texas Tech 46. Klein put Kansas State up 20-14 when he scored from a yard out.

The Wildcats State jumped to a 7-0 lead when Nigel Malone got his fourth interception of the season, picking off Doege's second pass of the game and ran it 24 yards for the score. He stepped in front of Bradley Marquis as if he'd read Doege's mind and scampered untouched into the end zone.

Doege quickly redeemed himself, finding Cornelius Douglas over the middle for a 40-yard touchdown pass to make it 7-7 midway through the first quarter.

© 2012 STATS LLC