By D. Scott Fritchen
NORMAN, Okla. – Kansas State players said that they were hungry after ending their non-conference slate with a loss. The Wildcats opened their Big 12 Conference season by taking a bite out of a familiar foe in record-setting style.
Adrian Martinez threw for 234 yards and one touchdown and added 21 carries for 148 yards and four touchdowns, while Deuce Vaughn added 25 carries for 116 yards, as K-State vaulted past No. 6 Oklahoma, 41-34, in front of a sellout crowd at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma on Saturday.
It marked the most points K-State has ever scored in Norman in a series that began in 1908.
It also marked the third time in four meetings that K-State, 3-1 and 1-0, beat Oklahoma, 3-1 and 0-1. That includes the second straight time in Norman, where the Sooners are usually infallible, yet saw their mystique crack at the hands of Martinez & Co., who spoiled the first Big 12 game for Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables in his first game against his alma mater.
"What a great effort for four quarters," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "We didn't have a letdown. We knew there were going to be some ups and downs, but we talked about putting the foot on the gas, and believing we were a better football team, and believing in each other, and we were going to go against 84,000-plus against the 70 that we brought, and it was good enough if our kids continued to believe and make plays.
"And they did."
Since 1999, Oklahoma has won two more Big 12 (14) championships than it has lost home games (12) — and four of those losses have been to K-State, which opened the league season on the road for the 22nd time in 27 years, yet looked plenty at home in dropping the Sooners to 54-9 in regular season Big 12 play since the start of the 2015 season.
"We will not be defined by this loss moving forward," Venables said. "We will, however, be defined by how we respond moving forward, and I believe with everything I've got in this team and what still sitts in front of us."
K-State came off a disheartening 17-10 home loss to Tulane, and like so many times before, the Wildcats were written off against Oklahoma long before kickoff. K-State coaches and players were undaunted in preparing for the nationally televised showdown.
"We went all-in into practices every day and really just balled out, and made sure we made no mistakes and played the way we did today," K-State wide receiver Malik Knowles said. "You can't ask for anything better."
Martinez, who threw for nearly 300 yards against Oklahoma last season when he played at Nebraska, was amazing in his first Big 12 game as a Wildcat, engineering five touchdown drives, including two in the fourth quarter when the Sooners tried to keep up on the scoreboard.