MANHATTAN, Kan., Sporting Alert – Freshman Jarrett Stidham passed for 419 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, and No. 2 Baylor beat Kansas State 31-24 to improve to 8-0 this season.
Stidham, who started in place of the injured Seth Russell at quarterback, was 23 of 33 on passes, while rushing for a score in the win for the Bears, who are No. 6 in the College Football Playoff rankings.
“I feel good. Coming out here, first start, tough environment and we got a team win. That is what we came down here to do,” Baylor head coach Art Briles said.
The 419 yards thrown by Stidham in Thursday’s win, are the most by a Baylor quarterback this season and Briles had no doubt in his college rookie’s ability.
“Just how we knew he would. Just like I told him. Let us show the nation what we know,” he said.
“We know so let us let everybody else see what we know. The guy is unbelievable. He is good. He is different.”
Corey Coleman caught a pair of touchdown passes for 216 yards and KD Cannon took four catches for 108 yards and a touchdown in the win for Baylor, which battle to survive a 4th quarter comeback from the Wildcats.
Shock Linwood rushed for 72 yards in the for the men from Waco, Texas.
Joe Hubener completed 12 of 21 passes for 151 yards and a touchdown and ran for another 153 yards and two scores for Kansas State (3-5), which outscored the Bears 14-3 in the fourth quarter, but committed a series of errors, including a late interception, to hand the game to the visitors.
Charles Jones carried the ball 16 times for 76 yards, while Deante Burton caught a pass for a touchdown for the Wildcats, who were suffering their fifth successive defeat.
“I have seen improvement and I did not say anything that resembles rocket science. I was repetitive of things I have said prior to this,” Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder said.
“In order to execute/eliminate the mistakes that cost you ball games, you have to practice better and we have made some headway in terms of practice.”
Next up for the Baylor Bears is a key Big 12 matchup with No. 14 Oklahoma on Nov. 14, before traveling for back-to-back games at No. 12 Oklahoma State and No. 5 TCU.
Kansas State which has now played all the big boys in the Big 12, will travel next time to Texas Tech.
College Football Top 25 Scores
Thursday, November 5
NO. 24 MISSISSIPPI STATE 31, MISSOURI 13
NO. 2 BAYLOR 31, KANSAS STATE 24
