No. 2 Oklahoma Defeats Kansas State 31-21

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Posted 4:18PM on Saturday, October 16, 2004

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- Jason White threw for four touchdowns, two each to Travis Wilson and Mark Clayton, and No. 2 Oklahoma overcame its own mistakes to beat Kansas State 31-21 Saturday. Freshman star Adrian Peterson added 130 yards rushing - all but 26 of those after the half - and helped the Sooners (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) control the tempo in the fourth quarter. He is the only Oklahoma freshman to go over 100 yards in each of his first six games. Kansas State, which beat Oklahoma 35-7 for the Big 12 title a year ago, led three times Saturday but dropped to 2-4 overall and 0-3 in conference play for the first time since 2001. White finished the game 20-for-31 for 256 yards with one interception. The Wildcats went up 21-17 with just under 10 minutes left in the third quarter, courtesy of White's only blunder of the day. On first down from his own 27, White threw into the left flat - straight to linebacker Brandon Archer, who returned it 27 yards for a touchdown. But White redeemed himself on Oklahoma's next possession, throwing a 15-yard scoring pass to Clayton for a 24-21 lead. Clayton's 8-yard TD catch made it 31-21 midway through the fourth quarter, capping a drive on which Peterson carried seven times for 46 yards. Oklahoma held the ball for more than five minutes on that decisive 12-play, 78-yard possession. Darren Sproles, Kansas State's All-America running back, was held largely in check both by Oklahoma's defense and Kansas State's pass-first game plan. Sproles, who ran for 235 yards in the Big 12 title game, had 34 yards on only 13 carries. One of those carries was a botched halfback pass attempt in the first quarter, one snap before a turnover that slowed the Wildcats' early momentum. He tied former quarterback Ell Roberson's school record for career touchdowns with a 1-yard burst for a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. The Wildcats had a chance to go up by double figures later in the first, but linebacker Rufus Alexander sacked and stripped Dylan Meier in Oklahoma territory and then recovered the fumble at his 46. That set up White's 17-yard pass to Wilson, tying the score at 7. The Sooners, who went three-and-out on their first two possessions and had six penalties for 60 yards a minute in the first 16 minutes, fell behind 14-7 on Meier's 38-yard pass to Yamon Figures early in the second quarter. But on Oklahoma's next possession, White and Wilson hooked up twice for 55 yards, the last time on a 14-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-all. Oklahoma took its first lead, 17-14, on Trey DiCarlo's 26-yard field goal with just more than three minutes left in the half. Scott Edmonds blocked DiCarlo's 40-yard attempt on Oklahoma's first possession of the third quarter, but the Wildcats lost field position when Jesse Tetuan tried to return the ball and was tackled at his own 9. Meier finished with 242 yards on 20-for-38 passing but left the game late in the fourth quarter after being knocked down hard by defensive ends Larry Birdine and Jonathan Jackson.