Wagner Field - Manhattan, KS
The Missouri football team knew it had to play its best game of the season in order to beat the No. 22 Kansas State Wildcats, but the Tigers fell desperately short.
"This was definitely our worst," said senior tailback Brock Olivo. "By far." Missouri Coach Larry Smith echoed Olivo's sentiments.
"Kansas State basically whipped us in every fashion-offense - defense and kicking," he said.
The Tigers fell to Kansas State for the fifth straight year. Thanks to Wildcat quarterback Michael Bishop, the Wildcat offense controlled the turnover-free game, racking up five scoring drives of 55 yards or longer.
Bishop broke the school single-game rushing record for quarterbacks in the first half, and finished the day with 196 yards rushing - best ever by a Big 12 signal caller (topping 193 yards by MU's Corby Jones vs. Oklahoma State in '96).
Despite Bishop's record-breaking performance, Smith blamed much of the Wildcats success on poor play by the Tigers' offensive line.
"It starts up front," MU Coach Larry Smith said. "When you get stuffed up front, that takes away everything but the quarterback. We were miserable up front."
MU quarterback Corby Jones led Missouri with 84 yards on 23 carries and was 7-of-16 for 106 yards passing. Jones scored the Tigers only touchdown on a 22-yard run in the fourth quarter, a play in which he ran out of a shoe and shredded the Wildcat defense.
The Wildcats throttled Missouri, the nation's sixth-best rushing team, limiting the offense to 138 yards on the ground, 150 below its average. The Tigers produced only 244 yards total offense, and reached K-State territory just twice.
"They gave us a good old-fashioned butt-kicking. That really sums it up," said Smith.
| MISSOURI | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | - | 11 |
| KANSAS STATE | 7 | 17 | 14 | 3 | - | 41 |
| KS - Hickson 2 run (Gramatica kick) |
| M - FG Knickman 19 |
| KS - Bishop 7 run (Gramatica kick) |
| KS - Lawrence 1 run (Gramatica kick) |
| KS - FG Gramatica 39 |
| KS - Bishop 3 run (Gramatica kick) |
| KS - McDonald 44 pass from Bishop (Gramatica kick) |
| KS - FG Gramatica 32 |
| M - Jones 22 run (Layman pass from Jones) |
| Team Statistics | ||
| KSU | MU | |
| First Downs | 21 | 16 |
| Rushes-Yards | 51-339 | 44-138 |
| Passing | 9-3-0 | 16-7-0 |
| Passing Yards | 82 | 106 |
| Total Offense | 421 | 244 |
| Return Yards | 80 | 30 |
| Punts-Avg. | 2-61.5 | 8-39.4 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 5-39 | 9-80 |
| Third Down Conversions | 7-12 | 4-15 |
| Time of Possession | 28:15 | 31:45 |
| Individual Leaders |
| RUSHING - KSU: Bishop 14-196, Lawrence 18-91, Hickson 18-51, Gangwish 1-1. MU: Jones 23- |
| 84, West 11-26, Olivo 6-20, Blackwell 3-6. |
| PASSING - KSU: Bishop 3-9-0-82. MU: Jones 7-16-0-106. |
| RECEIVING - KSU: McDonald 1-44, Swift 1-27, Burnett 1-11. MU: Ross 3-41 Murchison 2-37, |
| West 1-14, Layman 1-14. |