AMES, Iowa — Kansas coach Mark Mangino pulled his Jayhawks together at halftime and gave it to them straight. He figured they were bound to start playing better, because they couldn’t play any worse.
” ‘We’ve played very poorly,’ ” Mangino said he told his team, which trailed by 20-points at the break. ” ‘But we can win this game, and we will win this game, if you keep your poise, you stay calm.’ ”
The Jayhawks did just that, answering an awful first half with one of the biggest comebacks in school history.
Todd Reesing threw for 319 yards and three touchdowns and No. 16 Kansas stormed back before hanging on to beat Iowa State 35-33 on Saturday.
Kerry Meier caught seven passes for 125 yards and two TDs for the Jayhawks (4-1, 1-0 Big 12), who tied the third-biggest comeback in school history by outscoring the Cyclones 35-13 in the second half.
The Cyclones followed a late touchdown by recovering an onside kick with 1:13 left and took over at their own 41. But the Jayhawks defense clamped down, forcing Iowa State’s Austen Arnaud to throw four straight incompletions.
Arnaud set career highs with 268 yards passing and three touchdowns, and Iowa State blew a golden opportunity for its first win over a ranked team since 2005.
“Everybody talks about playing for 60 minutes and we haven’t done that yet,” Iowa State second-year coach Gene Chizik said. “That’s really disappointing to me.”
No. 1 Oklahoma 49,
Baylor 17
WACO, Texas — Sam Bradford threw for 379 yards with two touchdowns, DeMarco Murray ran for two scores and four other Sooners got into the end zone as Oklahoma built a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter.
The Sooners have never lost to Baylor (2-3), winning all 18 games in the series. The last five in Waco have been decided by an average margin of 36 points.
No. 7 Texas Tech 58,
Kansas State 28
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Graham Harrell threw six touchdown passes and shattered the Texas Tech record for career passing yardage and the Red Raiders (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) with their highest ranking in 32 years, scored on seven straight possessions and did not attempt a punt until Stefan Loucks replaced Harrell late in the fourth quarter.
The six TD passes tied the career-best for Harrell, who spread his passes around to 10 receivers. The three-year starter ran his career total to 12,709 yards, erasing the record of 12,429 yards by Kliff Kingsbury from 1999-02.
No. 21 Oklahoma St. 56, Texas A&M 28
STILLWATER, Okla. — Dez Bryant caught three passes for touchdowns and scored another on a punt return, and Oklahoma State took advantage of five first-half turnovers.
The Cowboys set a school record by surpassing 50 points for the fourth straight game, with some big help from their defense and special teams. Ugo Chinasa and Patrick Lavine each scored on interception returns as Oklahoma State (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) snapped a four-game losing streak to the Aggies (2-3, 0-1).
Chatfield alumnus Zac Robinson went 13-for-18 for 186 yards with the three passing TDs to Bryant and two rushing touchdowns.
