Isaiah Marshall ran for 164 yards and a touchdown Saturday while adding another 152 yards passing as visiting Kansas opened up a 23-point halftime lead on its way to a 37-14 rout of West Virginia in Big 12 play at Morgantown, W.Va.
Marshall completed 15 of 18 passes for the Jayhawks (4-6, 2-5 Big 12), who kept their bowl hopes alive by rolling up 448 total yards and 20 first downs. They gained 296 yards on the ground and controlled the ball for 36:44.
Even more impressively, Kansas’ defense stopped the Mountaineers’ running game, which entered the day ranked sixth nationally at 263.2 yards per game. Cam Cook, who came into the game with 1,072 yards, managed only 12 on nine attempts.
Quarterback Michael Hawkins finished with 36 yards on 25 carries, which counts four sacks he absorbed. He completed 19 of 34 passes for 227 yards with a touchdown and an interception as West Virginia fell to 5-5 overall and 2-5 in the conference.
The Jayhawks entered as 1 ½-point underdogs but quickly identified themselves as the better team. They scored on five of their first six drives, sticking primarily with the running game while mixing in occasional passes.
Martin Connington initiated scoring with a 24-yard field goal with 10:05 left in the first quarter, followed by a 5-yard touchdown run just over a minute later by Khijohnn Cummings-Coleman. That came two plays after Hawkins tossed an interception.
Hawkins got the Mountaineers within 10-7 on a 2-yard scoring jaunt with 4:35 left. However, Kansas scored the next 27 points to turn the game into a blowout.
Cummings-Coleman ripped off a 26-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7 after a quarter. Chase Belcher’s 2-yard plunge with 6:17 left in the second quarter upped the margin to 23-7 and Marshall added his own 2-yard scoring run 45 seconds before the half for a 30-7 cushion.
Belcher powered in from the 8 on the first play of the fourth quarter for his second score of the day. Hawkins closed the scoring on a 17-yard touchdown pass to John Neider with 5:01 left in the game.
–Field Level Media
