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 two-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 of the drive, 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 two 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 Vaughn 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
