By DAVE SKRETTA
AP Sports Writer

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Gus Malzahn squeezed into his postgame news conference, gripping both sides of the podium and exhaling deeply.

Fifth-ranked Auburn had just eked out a 20-14 victory over No. 20 Kansas State, and Malzahn was asked whether it was the kind of nip-and-tuck nonconference game that he likes to play.

“After they’re over and you win, yeah,” the Tigers’ coach said. “You do.”

Auburn’s vaunted ground game held in check all night, the Tigers finally pulled away when they went to the air. Nick Marshall threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns, and Auburn forced a trio of turnovers while capitalizing on three missed field goals by the Wildcats.

Still, the game wasn’t over until Marshall found D’haquille Williams running wide open on third-and-9 at the Auburn 37. The completion with 2:06 remaining went for 39 yards, a first down that effectively ended the game, and gave the Tigers (3-0) their first nonconference road win over a ranked team since knocking off Florida State in 1984.

“Our guys found a way,” Malzahn said. “I told them after the game, I think this could be a game that really helps us in the future, because we faced some major adversity tonight.”

Not nearly as much as Kansas State.

Jake Waters threw for 245 yards, but he also tossed two picks — one in the Auburn end zone. The Wildcats (2-1) also fumbled the ball away, and Jack Cantele missed those crucial field goals.

Still, the Wildcats tried to rally in the closing minutes, scoring on a run by Charles Jones out of the wildcat formation with 3:49 left. But after holding the Tigers to third down, Marshall took advantage of one more miscue — a bad call on defense — for a first down to seal it.

“There was a ton of mistakes that we made that impacted the outcome,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “Auburn is a tremendous football team and we just made too many mistakes.”

The result was Kansas State’s lowest point total in more than three years.

“It hurts a lot,” wide receiver Tyler Lockett said. “We left a lot out there on the field. One of the plays I remember, I dropped a touchdown that turned into an interception. Missed field goals, fumbled the ball. We just made a lot of mistakes today.”

Auburn was the highest-ranked team to play in Manhattan since second-ranked Penn State in 1969, and an overflow crowd started tailgating Tuesday. The festivities continued until shortly after kickoff, when the Wildcats started to throw away opportunities to spring an upset.

The first serious miscue was a fumbled handoff deep in Kansas State territory. Auburn hopped on the loose ball and, four plays later, kicked a 34-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

The second turnover was even more costly. The Wildcats had second-and-goal from the Auburn 2, and Waters zipped a pass that bounced off Lockett’s shoulder pads in the end zone. Rather than an easy touchdown, the ball was picked off by the Tigers’ Jonathan Jones.

“Coach always says you get interceptions on tips and overthrows,” Jones said.

The Wildcats kept buckling down on defense, though, stuffing Auburn’s read-option attack. The Tigers had just 55 yards rushing in the first half, the fewest in the Malzahn era.

The nation’s best team in converting third downs also failed on its first five attempts.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Marshall said. “Adversity hit us and we wanted to see how we would respond, and we responded well.”

Kansas State finally scored with 4:56 left in the first half when DeMarcus Robinson scampered in from 3 yards out for his first career touchdown. But the Tigers hurried the other way, capping a 75-yard drive with Marshall’s 40-yard strike to Ricardo Louis for a 10-7 lead.

Cantele pushed a potential tying field-goal attempt wide on the final play of the half, his second miss of the night. He hooked one wide left late in the first quarter.

He made it a frustrating hat-trick midway through the third quarter.

The Wildcats had once again marched downfield, and once again pushed the ball inside the Auburn 5. But after the Tigers stiffened, Cantele was summoned to try a 22-yarder — a mere chip-shot, hardly more than an extra point. He missed it wide right.

The Tigers tacked on a touchdown and a field goal, eventually putting the game out of reach.

“It was a collective team loss,” Kansas State defensive end Ryan Mueller said. “There were some missed opportunities there and that’s all I can really say.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – The past two weeks, when the Kansas City Chiefs have struggled to score touchdowns in the red zone, Andy Reid has insisted that he needs to put his players in better position to succeed.

What happens when he puts the Chiefs in a bad position, though? Well, the Chiefs are paying quarterback Alex Smith a bunch of cash to get them out of it.

Smith said Wednesday that while his coach often takes responsibility for the shortcomings of the offense, the burden lies on the players to execute on the field. That means executing plays, making smart decisions with the ball and — at least for Smith — checking out of bad calls.

“He calls a play and it’s our job to go make it work regardless,” Smith said. “And it’s my job that not every call is going to be perfect — he’s not clairvoyant — and when he does get the right call, it’s my job to make the play.”

Through two weeks and two losses, that hasn’t happened enough.

Smith has thrown one touchdown pass against three interceptions, and his quarterback rating of 63.6 is last among 35 quarterbacks in the league. In fact, the guy ranked 34th just happens to be Vikings quarterback Matt Cassel, the very same guy who was released by the Chiefs when they acquired Smith in a trade from San Francisco prior to last season.

The sample size is small, of course. And the fact remains that Smith is coming off the finest year of his career, one that helped land him a four-year, $68 million contract extension.

But through two games, Smith is still trying to live up to his new deal.

He threw a pair of interceptions while the Chiefs were nearing the goal line in a season-opening loss to Tennessee, and the only touchdown that Kansas City scored came when the game was already out of reach. Then last week in Denver, the Chiefs had first-and-goal in the final minutes but were unable to punch into the end zone for a tying touchdown in a 24-17 defeat.

“It’s not where you hoped to be two weeks ago,” Smith acknowledged. “It’s a long season though. … The mentality is let’s win this week, put some things together and you never know.”

Reid and Smith have both come under fire for the way the Chiefs executed in Denver.

They had first-and-goal in the third quarter and wound up going backward. Smith misfired on five straight passes, one of which was bailed out by a Denver penalty. But after a sack and a hold on the Chiefs, Cairo Santos was forced to attempt a 37-yard field goal that he missed.

Then the debacle in the fourth quarter, one that cost the Chiefs a chance at overtime.

On first down at the 9-yard line, Knile Davis was stuffed for a 2-yard gain. On second down, Smith completed a 3-yard pass to Donnie Avery. After a penalty gave the Chiefs a second chance on third down, Davis was stuffed for no gain going up the middle from the Denver 2.

It wasn’t until fourth down that Smith threw to the end zone. The pass never got there, harmlessly batted down at the line of scrimmage.

Reid quickly took ownership of the play-calling on both failed series, but Smith came to his coach’s defense on Wednesday. The veteran quarterback insisted that he has the latitude to check out of plays that he thinks may not work; otherwise, it’s on him to execute them.

“He does a good job of that. I think you see that on the field,” Reid said. “Coaches aren’t on the field, so you need someone who has a grasp of everything. That’s one of his real strengths. He gets people lined up if they have a little bit of a slip and he fixes issues.”

Will he be able to fix the Chiefs’ red-zone blues?

The next opportunity comes Sunday in Miami.

“Coach does put it upon himself, takes a lot of accountability, and I think as players we see that and really respect that,” Smith said. “But at the same time, we have to make plays.”

Notes: RB Jamaal Charles (high ankle sprain) and S Eric Berry (ankle sprain) were not on the practice field Wednesday. … WR/RB De’Anthony Thomas (hamstring) expects to make his debut. The rookie has missed the first two games.