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Collin Klein scored on a quarterback sneak in the fourth overtime Saturday night, his sixth touchdown of the game, giving No. 17 Kansas State a dramatic 53-50 victory over Texas A&M.
Klein threw for a career-high 281 yards and added 103 yards on the ground for the Wildcats (8-2, 5-2 Big 12), who rallied from a 10-point deficit in the final 6 minutes of regulation to hand the Aggies (5-5, 3-4) their third consecutive loss.
The Aggies had the ball first in the fourth overtime and moved down to the Kansas State 3 before their drive stalled. Facing fourth-and-1, Texas A&M coach Mike Sherman played it safe and choose to kick a field goal, and that gave Kansas State the opening it needed.
Klein pounded forward for three yards on third-and-3 at the 18 for a first down, and a pass interference call on the Aggies' Toney Hurd Jr. in the end zone gave Kansas State the ball at the 2.
Klein went straight up the middle twice, getting across the goal line on his second try as the crowd erupted. The Wildcats poured off the sideline to celebrate the victory, piling up at the goal line before heading over to the student section on the east side of the stadium.
Cyrus Gray ran for 218 yards and two touchdowns, and Ryan Tannehill threw for 210 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Aggies, who lost in overtime to Missouri two weeks ago and fell to Oklahoma last week. They'll need to beat Kansas or Texas in their remaining two games to become bowl eligible.
It looked like they'd take care of that in regulation Saturday night.
The game was tied at 21 early in the fourth quarter when Kansas State's John Hubert fumbled at his own 29. The Aggies' Terrence Frederick recovered the ball, and Gray scored the go-ahead touchdown when he went virtually untouched right up the middle from 7 yards out.
Gray sprang free for a 63-yard run moments later, setting up a 17-yard field goal by Texas A&M's Randy Bullock that made it 31-21 with 6:38 remaining.
Accustomed to late-game pressure, Kansas State never buckled.
Klein hit Chris Harper in stride for a 53-yard touchdown pass that pulled the Wildcats within a field goal with 5:49 left. The defense forced Texas A&M into three-and-out, and Kansas State took over at its own 32 with 4:40 left. Two 15-yard penalties on the defense helped the Wildcats move down field, and Anthony Cantele's 44-yard field goal into the wind tied the game.
That's how it remained at the end of regulation.
The Wildcats had the ball first in overtime and took just three plays to score. Klein slithered up the middle from 9 yards out and fumbled just shy of the goal line, but wide receiver Tramaine Thompson was there to recover it for a touchdown.
The Aggies answered when Tannehill hit Jeff Fuller on a 9-yard slant route for a score.
The teams traded field goals in the second overtime, and Klein wasted no time in the third extra session. Dropping back to pass, he noticed the left side of the field clear out and took off in a dead sprint for the pylon, going untouched 25 yards for the touchdown.
The Wildcats failed to convert the 2-point try, and Texas A&M nearly made them pay.
Faced with fourth-and-goal at the 8-yard line, Tannehill deftly sidestepped a defender in the backfield and found Uzoma Nwachukwu in the corner of the end zone for the tying score. But his throw to Fuller on the Aggies' 2-point try bounced incomplete, sending the game to a fourth overtime.
That's all that Kansas State would need.
