Kansas State hosted Kansas for the Sunflower Showdown, and started off fast on way to their 12th straight victory in the matchup. Special teams was the highlight of the day as sophmore Phillip Brooks set a K State record with 189 punt return yards, taking two of his four returns back for scores in the first half
It was Brooks first return of the game that got the Cats started, following a three and out, Brooks almost did not get an opportunity to return the ball, as Kansas would punt it out of bounds, but a penalty forced Kansas to kick again, and Brooks would take advantage fielding the ball at midfield
In his freshman season Brooks had 120 punt return yards and one touchdown, but against Kansas he would surpass that by halftime. Following a touchdown pass from freshman Will Howard to Samuel Wheeler, Brooks would end the first half taking a punt back 52 yards for a score, to put the Wildcats up 34-7 at half.
This was the Jayhawks first game since running back Pooka Williams Jr. announced that he was opting out for the remainder of the season, and running backs Velton Gardner and Jalon Daniels split the load for them, with Gardner carrying the ball 16 times and Daniels with 17 carries, both Kansas touchdowns coming from Daniels
In the win over Kansas, Kansas State scored 21 points on defense and special teams, boosting their nation leading amount of non offensive touchdowns up to 122 over the last decade
Kansas State is currently ranked #16 in the nation, moving their record overall to 4-1, their only loss being a non conference loss to Arkansas State at the start of the season, the Wildcats are 4-0 in the Big 12, sitting atop conference
Meanwhile Kansas with the loss falls to 0-5, 0-4 in the Big 12, losing their ninth game in a row dating back to last year, their last win coming in Big 12 play against Texas Tech in 2019.
Kansas State will hit the road this weekend and will head to Morgantown for a matchup with West Virginia, while the Jayhawks will return back to Lawrence to look for their first win against another ranked opponent as they host Iowa State