CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 19, 1998
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- If Ricky Williams had a vote, No. 5 Kansas State would move ahead of No. 4 UCLA in the rankings.
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David Allen's 93-yard punt return keyed a 28-point second-quarter blitz and Kansas State held Williams to 43 yards in a 48-7 rout of Texas Saturday.
"They just kept coming and coming," said Williams, who gained 160 yards in a 49-31 loss to UCLA last week. "K-State was much more aggressive and physical than UCLA."
The Wildcats were dominant in almost every phase, especially special teams. James Garcia averaged 60 yards on four punts, including an eye-popping 78-yarder, and David Allen totaled 172 yards on four punt returns. His long zig-zagging punt return helped K-State take a 35-0 halftime lead.
"THE 93-YARD PUNT return broke our backs," said Texas coach Mack Brown. "We tried to run Ricky, and they simply won the battle."
It was just the sort of performance the Wildcats were looking for after getting little respect for lopsided wins over Indiana State and Northern Illinois.
"If we could have put more points on them it would have been better for us, frankly," said wide receiver Darnell McDonald, who caught 11 passes from Michael Bishop for 159 yards and two touchdowns.
But even McDonald pointed to the defensive effort that held Williams to his lowest output since getting 36 yards on 13 carries in a 66-3 loss last year to UCLA.
"What should grab them is our defense," McDonald said. ``They stopped one of the Heisman hopefuls, almost shut him down totally. That should grab them. It should move us up in the rankings."
With 796 yards in punt returns, Allen now holds the Kansas State career record. The sophomore has returned punts for touchdowns three games in a row.
"We joked around about it all week, trying to get another one," he said. "Everybody was saying, `Oh, they ran those two against weak teams. What were they going to do against Texas?' We went out and proved ourselves today."
KANSAS STATE (3-0, 1-0 BIG 12) WON its 11th consecutive game and handed the Longhorns their most lopsided defeat since last year's debacle against UCLA.
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Eric Hickson leaves Texas
defenders behind as he rushes for a 44-yard touchdown during the first
quarter Saturday.
(AP)
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Texas (1-2, 0-1) managed only one sustained drive the entire day and consistently failed to provide running room for Williams.
"I remember a couple of holes, but there were not many," he said.
After a jolting stop by linebacker Jeff Kelly, Williams' fumble deep in Texas territory led directly to the first of Kansas State's four touchdowns in the second period.
Kelly also returned an interception 17 yards for a touchdown and caused a fumble that set up another Kansas State TD.
The Wildcats were leading 7-0 on Eric Hickson's 44-yard run less than three minutes into the game when Mark Simoneau recovered Williams' fumble on the Longhorns 23. After Hickson went wide for 16 yards to the 7, Bishop hit McDonald with a scoring strike that made it 14-0 with 13:34 left in the second period.
Allen fielded a Texas punt on his 7 a few minutes later and quickly broke two tackles. He almost went down while juking another would-be tackler, then set sail down the sideline for the second-longest punt return in school history.
ABOUT FOUR MINUTES later, the 6-foot-0, 250-pound Kelly leaped high to intercept Major Applewhite's pass on the 17, and then lumbered untouched into the end zone. Applewhite, a redshirt freshman, replaced senior Richard Walton, who was injured last week.
The Wildcats went 69 yards in seven plays late in the second quarter. Bishop hit McDonald for 13 and 21 yards on consecutive plays to set up his own 1-yard plunge with 49 seconds left in the half.
Wane McGarrity caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Applewhite less than a minute into the fourth period. Then one play after Kelly caused Ryan Nunez to fumble, Bishop connected with McDonald on a 23-yard TD strike.
Allen's 42-yard punt return helped set up Marlon Charles' 2-yard TD run late in the fourth.