MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State coach Bill Snyder had watched Oklahoma State slice so effortless through his defense on the game’s opening drive that he wondered whether the tone had been set.

Morgan Burns didn’t give him a chance to think anything more of it.

The speedy cornerback returned the ensuing kickoff 86 yards for a touchdown, and that set the No. 11 Wildcats off and running. Jake Waters threw two TD passes, Charles Jones ran for two more scores and Kansas State routed the Cowboys 48-14 on Saturday night.

”You’ve got a lot of guys, sometimes when that happens, they’re standing around looking at each other like, ‘Wow, what’s going on?’ Snyder said about the opening drive, in which Oklahoma State went 86 yards in just eight plays. ”And it didn’t happen. There wasn’t time for it to happen.”

The rest of the game belonged to the Wildcats.

Curry Sexton had nine catches for 159 yards and a touchdown, and Tyler Lockett had six receptions for 94 yards and a score, helping Kansas State (7-1, 5-0, No. 9 CFP) remain the lone unbeaten team in the Big 12 heading into next week’s showdown at 10th-ranked TCU.

”I know it’s going to be a heck of a matchup, a tough place to play,” Sexton said. ”We’re happy with where we’re at, we’re happy with how we’re playing, but we’re not satisfied.”

After its opening touchdown drive Oklahoma State (5-4, 3-3) never threatened on offense again. The Cowboys managed only a pick-six by Ramon Richards in the fourth quarter in losing their third straight game for the first time since the 2005 season.

Tyreek Hill had 102 yards rushing and a touchdown in place of leading rusher Desmond Roland, who missed the trip following a death in his family. Daxx Garman threw for 148 yards and was picked off twice, one of them when the Cowboys were deep in Kansas State territory.

Oklahoma State had only 48 yards of offense in the second half.

”We worked our butt off the first 5 minutes to get a 7-0 lead on the road and quiet the stadium,” Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said. ”We turn around and in 10 seconds we give up a return for a touchdown. That’s the way it has gone for us this year.”

The Wildcats have won five straight since a narrow loss to fourth-ranked Auburn, but the schedule is about to get a lot tougher. After visiting the Horned Frogs, Kansas State must travel to No. 20 West Virginia, with a game at No. 12 Baylor looming at the end of the season.

In other words, the road to college football’s inaugural playoff is a bumpy one.

”This next week, that’s all we have in mind right now,” Snyder said.

After the Cowboys and Wildcats traded touchdowns in the opening minutes of the game, Kansas State put things away with 38 unanswered points spanning halftime.

Jones started the onslaught with his first touchdown run, and Waters connected with Sexton for a 17-yard score early in the second quarter. Waters then hit Lockett from 20 yards out in the third quarter, giving Kansas State a 28-7 advantage.

On that drive, Lockett passed current Packers star Jordy Nelson for second in school history in yards receiving, and tied Quincy Morgan in career touchdown catches. Lockett has 2,877 yards and 23 TD grabs, trailing only father Kevin Lockett (3,032 yards, 26 TDs) in both categories.

”It means a lot,” Lockett said, ”but I’m just going to keep playing.”

The game truly got out of hand when the Cowboys fumbled on their next possession, and Kansas State needed three plays to go 37 yards for a score. Backup quarterback Joe Hubener added a sneak with 9 1/2 minutes to go make it 45-7, and Matt McCrane’s career-long 53-yard field goal in the final minutes gave the few fans left one last reason to cheer.

Now, the attention turns to the Horned Frogs and a pivotal game in the Big 12 race – not to mention the race for one of the four spots in the playoffs.

”I thought we showed signs of clicking on all cylinders,” said Waters, who hasn’t committed a turnover in his last five games, ”but we still have work to do.”

Kansas Athletics

WACO, Texas – Ball security proved to be the difference maker Saturday afternoon at McLane Stadium, as the Kansas football team dropped its fifth-straight game, falling victim to the No. 12-ranked Baylor Bears, 60-14.

The Jayhawks (2-6, 0-5 Big 12) fumbled the ball five times and turned it over three times in the first half, helping Baylor (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) eclipse the 60-point mark for the fourth time this season.

Junior quarterback Michael Cummings connected on 21-of-30 pass attempts for 288 yards to tie his career-high in passing yards set three weeks ago against Oklahoma State (Oct. 11). Freshman running back Corey Avery caught four of those for a career-high 92 yards, while senior wide receiver Nick Harwell hauled in five receptions for 79 yards and two touchdowns.

That was the second multi-touchdown performance of the season for Harwell, as he snagged two touchdown passes in the season opener against Southeast Missouri State. Those two scores also marked the first time that a Kansas receiver had two or more multi-touchdown games in a season since Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier accomplished the same feat in 2009.

BU quarterback Bryce petty threw for 277 yards and three touchdowns, while wide receiver Corey Coleman finished the game with three receptions for 167 yards and two of those touchdowns.

Defensively for Kansas, senior linebacker Ben Heeney paced the Jayhawk defense with his 17th-career game with 10 or more tackles, finishing the game with 10 stops. Sophomore safety Fish Smithson wasn’t far behind with a career-high nine stops against the Bears.

The Kansas defense kept the high potent Bears’ offensive attack at bay on their opening possession, holding Baylor to just its second three-and-out on its first drive of the 2014 season. However, it only took BU one play and 11 seconds on its second possession to advance 72 yards for the game’s first score when Petty connected with Coleman for the 7-0 lead.

Baylor tacked on another quick six points, after a botched exchange from freshman center Joe Gibson to Cummings set up another scoring drive from the KU 18-yard line. It only took four plays, capped off by a one-yard touchdown run by BU running back Devin Chafin, to extend the Bears’ lead, 13-0, which would stand after a missed extra point by kicker Chris Callahan.

A 13-0 deficit didn’t faze Kansas midway through the first quarter as newly appointed Co-Offensive Coordinator Eric Kiesau huddled the troops on the Baylor 23-yard line to lay out the offensive approach for the Jayhawks’ next possession. The calming presence worked with KU driving 77 yards to cut into the BU lead, 13-7.

Cummings hit Avery on a blitz read for a 36-yard reception to advance Kansas across mid-field for the first time on the day. The aerial attack continued on the drive with a 28-yard touchdown pass to Harwell to give Kansas its first points on the day. That was the first catch and score by the wide out since his two-touchdown showing against Southeast Missouri State in the season opener.

After Harwell’s touchdown, Baylor received the ensuing kickoff and never looked back, scoring 26-unanswered points to close out the first half and dig a 32-point deficit for the Jayhawks, 39-7. The Kansas defense, trying to make up for the lackluster of an offensive presence in the first half, did its best to keep the Bears off the scoreboard, allowing just four touchdowns on eight BU scoring drives, including holding Baylor to three field goals on six trips inside the red zone.

The Bears kept the momentum until late in the third quarter, when KU broke a 34:40 scoring drought from the first quarter with its second touchdown on the day.

Faced with a second and long situation, Cummings hit Avery on another blitz read for career-best 49 yards to the Baylor three yard line. On the next play, Cummings handed the ball back to Avery for a quick two yards, before hitting Harwell in the corner of the endzone for his second score of the game and his second multi-touchdown performance of the season.

However, the hole Baylor dug the Jayhawks into was far too great, as KU dropped its sixth game of the season and its fifth-straight to the Bears, 60-14.

Kansas returns home to Memorial Stadium, Saturday, Nov. 8, as the Jayhawks play host to Iowa State for their second-to-last home game of the season. KU will make its fourth appearance on FSN in 2014, with kickoff slated for 2:30 p.m.

Get ready for Sunday’s game with the New York Jets. The “Voice of the Chiefs” Mitch Holthus has the latest information on the Holthus Hotline which airs Saturday at 8:30am on your home for Chiefs football KFIX (96.9-FM).

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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Chiefs safety Eric Berry is expected to play for the first time since spraining his ankle in a Week 2 loss to Denver when Kansas City plays the New York Jets on Sunday.

Berry was limited in practice but listed as probable on the final injury report Friday, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid said he is planning on Berry playing against the Jets.

Reid did not say whether Berry would start.

Berry hurt his ankle early against Denver on Sept. 14. He has practiced off and on the past few weeks but has not been active on game day.

The Chiefs refused to make Berry available to reporters Friday.

Kansas Athetics

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Shooting guard Conner Frankamp will not begin his sophomore season with the Kansas men’s basketball team. Friday morning, head coach Bill Self announced Frankamp’s decision to leave the University of Kansas.

“I met with Conner and his father (Martin Frankamp) Wednesday to discuss his situation and opportunity this season at Kansas,” Self said. “On Thursday he informed me he was going to transfer at the end of this fall semester. From this point forward he is no longer part of this team and will not participate this semester so he can transfer after Christmas and have two-and-a-half years remaining when he becomes eligible after sitting out one full academic year.”

The all-time scoring leader in the Wichita City League from Wichita North High School, Frankamp came in and played in 27 games as a freshman in 2013-14. He was a key factor in the Jayhawks’ 2014 NCAA Tournament as he averaged 11.0 points per game and went 7-for-14 from three-point range. By the end of his rookie season, Frankamp was averaging 8.3 minutes a game and shooting over 31 percent from behind the arc.

 

“I’ve been thinking about this for a while now,” Frankamp said. “I love KU and I love the Jayhawks. I feel like I’ve improved quite a bit since I’ve been here. I love my teammates but I just don’t feel like it’s the right fit for me. We have many good guards and so many big-time players. I want to be at a place where I could play a bigger role.”

 

Frankamp progressed through the year, recording his best game of his career in the last game of the 2013-14 season when he scored a career-high 12 points on 4-of-7 threes vs. Stanford (3/23). In KU’s first game of the NCAA Tournament, he tallied 10 points against Eastern Kentucky (3/21). In conference play, Frankamp’s best outing was a 2-for-3 effort from three-point range at Kansas State (2/10).

 

“This was disappointing news to us. Conner is a fine young man, a very good basketball player and certainly part of what we had envisioned not only our future but also as an impact guy for this upcoming season,” Self said. “We still have six other very good perimeter players. We’re looking forward to all six of those guys contributing in a big way and meaningful minutes throughout the course of the year. Conner will finish this semester academically and will continue to get academic support from us. We wish him the best in his decision making of his new school and in his future basketball endeavors.”

 

“Coach Self has been a great coach to me, I’ve learned so much under him,” Frankamp said. “He’s not only a great coach but has been a great mentor for me. I can talk to him about almost anything.

 

“The Kansas fans are amazing, probably the best in the country,” Frankamp added. “I want to wish my teammates good luck. They are like family to me and I want to see them succeed. I’ll still be rooting for them to win and everything.”

 

No. 5 Kansas, picked to win its 11^th-straight Big 12 Conference regular season title, will unofficially open the season when the Jayhawks welcome Washburn to Allen Fieldhouse for an exhibition contest on Monday, Nov. 3. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.