Baylor
Kansas St
Kansas State Pounds Baylor, 48-7
7/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 30, 1999
MANHATTAN, Kansas - The New York Yankees aren't the only team around capable of domination.
While Kansas State isn't about to win a World Series, its football team may just claim college football's title this season. At the very least, the Wildcats showed exactly why they deserve to hold the nation's No. 6 ranking in a dominating 48-7 win over Baylor in Manhattan.
K-State controlled every phase of the game the entire way, scoring early and often while snuffing out virtually every BU offensive effort. It was the Wildcats' 20th straight Big 12 win and made them 55-5-1 at home this decade.
Even while employing reserves in a conservative game plan much of the second half, the Wildcats finished the cool day with 402 yards total offense while limiting the Bears to 119. The home team's advantage in first downs, 48-7, and time of possession, 38:49-21:11, further described just how good the men from Manhattan are.
The win kept K-State as the Big 12's only undefeated team at 8-0, 5-0 in conference play while the Bears fell to 1-7, 0-5.
"They're good. They're real good," said Bear coach Kevin Steele. "They're obviously one of the better teams in the country. That's as good defense as you want to face. They are very, very, very good and give you a lot of problems."
Baylor won the coin toss and elected to defend the north goal, forcing Kansas State to drive into a gusty wind blowing 15-20 mph out of the northwest. But the strategy did little to phase K-State's 6-2, 300 lb. tailback, Joe Hall, who led all rushers with 109 yards on 23 carries.
The Wildcats gave Hall the ball 15 times on their opening two drives and the junior college transfer responded with a touchdown and 70 yards on 15 carries.
After taking the opening kickoff, the Wildcats featured Hall on a 71-yard, 15-play scoring drive. Quarterback Jonathan Beasley, who finished with 55 rushing yards, snuck it in from the one to make it 7-0 at the 7:25 mark of the first quarter.
Then Hall upped the margin to 14-0 with an 11-yard option run around the right side with 3:59 to play in the first. That drive covered 49 yards in nine plays.
By the end of the first period, K-State had gained 136 total yards with Hall accounting for 79 of them on 17 carries.
Meanwhile, the Kansas State defense had limited Baylor to nine yards and no first-quarter first downs on two minutes time of possession.
With the wind at their backs, the Wildcats then began to feature the pass on a 13-play, 72-yard march to increase it 21-0. After Beasley hit Aaron Lockett to get it close, tailback David Allen bounced in from the three with 8:21 to play before intermission.
Beasley finished the day with 10 completions on 16 attempts for 118 yards. His favorite target, Quincy Morgan, accounted for 66 receiving yards on five catches.
K-State's next score, a 37-yard Jamie Rheem field goal, came after Bear freshman tailback Chedrick Ricks fumbled at the BU 24. Ricks took a solid hit from linebacker Ben Leber and defensive end Chris Johnson recovered as the score went to 24-0 with 7:26 showing in the half.
A Kyle Atteberry punt of 14 yards set the stage for another 37-yarder field goal from Rheem. While hitting a school-record 13th straight, Rheem made it 27-0 with 4:01 to play in the second quarter.
On its next possession, Baylor gained its initial first down of the game when Darrell Bush, who led the Bears with 70 yards, bounced off left tackle for 23 yards to the BU 43. But defensive back Milton Proctor broke through on a blitz for an 11-yard sack of Alfred to end the threat.
After a hanging 48-yard Atteberry punt into the wind, Allen responded with a 50-yard return to the Bear 28. It took K-State four plays to find the endzone and increase the lead to 31-0 just 21 seconds before the half. Beasley dropped back to pass and slowly rolled right, buying time before finding Allen wide open for a 14-yard reception.
K-State's halftime stats reflected the score: The Wildcats had gained 267 total yards and 17 first downs while holding Baylor to 29 yards and one move of the chains. Possession time favored the home team 23:06 to 6:54.
The Wildcats wasted no time in increasing their lead in the second half. Terrence Newman returned the half's opening kickoff 73 yards to the Bear 26, setting the stage for Allen to score his third touchdown of the day from four yards out.
The drive putting K-State's 41st point on the scoreboard took five plays and used 2:44 off the clock.
The Bears soon gained their second and third first downs of the game, moving it to their own 44. But Wildcat DB Dyshod Carter ended the threat with an interception of Jermaine Alfred at the K-State 38. Alfred finished the day with three completions on 14 attempts for 17 yards.
Adam Helm then took the K-State quarterbacking helm and the Bear defense stiffened, stopping back-to-back drives.
The Bears took over at their own 49 and switched quarterbacks themselves, inserting Odell James. He handed to Bush, who gained six yards, giving Baylor its first trip past midfield with 12:38 to play.
James then scrambled for a 30-yard gain and after Bush carried for eight yards, the Bear tailback bolted up the middle for a four-yard touchdown with 10:14 to go.
Baylor scored the first second-half touchdown allowed by Kansas State this year as the scoreboard read 41-7.
Kansas State covered the Bear score with a nine-play, 63-yard march to get to lead back to 41 at 48-7. With 6:04 to go, reserve running back Chris Claybon shot up the middle and then bounced outside to run untouched 13 yards to the endzone, ending a long day for the Bear defense.
In a much stronger half for the Bear, K-State out-scored Baylor 14-7 in the final two periods. So impressed was Wildcat coach Bill Snyder, he visited the BU locker room to offer his encouragement and support.
"We talked at halftime about becoming fighters and finishing this thing off," Steele said. "I told the guys in the locker room that it would become embarrassing if they didn't fight."
The results showed on the field in the final two periods of play.
"He (Snyder) told them he had been there and knew how it felt," Steele said of the visit. "He told them to keep working to get better every day, that they were laying a foundation. He's a class man."
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