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BOX SCORE
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) -- His players didn't come out for postgame
interviews, but Ball State coach Bill Lynch did -- and he had a few
words for Kansas State coach Bill Snyder.
|  | | Kansas State defensive end Monty Beisel forced a fumble during the Wildcats' 76-0 rout of Ball State. |
They weren't the words you might expect from a man whose team
had just been blown out by 11 touchdowns for its 20th straight
loss, the longest losing streak in the nation.
Lynch called Snyder's visit to the Cardinals' locker room
Saturday night, after the No. 7 Wildcats' 76-0 win, "the classiest
thing I've ever seen in the coaching profession.
"He told our players about a time he went to Colorado and the
score was similar," Lynch said. "He told them to keep believing
and keep on going. I hope they took it to heart."
Losses like that 64-3 defeat by Colorado in 1990, when Kansas
State was in the early stages of its transformation from patsy to
powerhouse, make it easy to sympathize with teams like Ball State,
Snyder said.
"It's hard for those youngsters in that other locker room,"
said Snyder, who has been criticized in recent years for his team's
soft nonconference schedule. "All they're looking for is just a
little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, and it's hard for
them to see it.
"Those coaches over there work just as hard as anyone else, and
sometimes it must be easy for them to say, 'Where's this all
going?' "
Kansas State's 76 points broke a 90-year-old school record, set
in 1910 in a 75-0 victory over Drury. It fell with 11:21 remaining,
on Rashad Washington's 1-yard run and Kyle Altvater's conversion.
The Wildcats' 11 touchdowns also set a record, breaking the mark
of nine accomplished on three occasions, most recently in a 66-0
victory over Missouri last Nov. 20.
Jonathan Beasley threw two long touchdown passes to Quincy
Morgan and ran for another score in the first quarter. Morgan
caught a third touchdown pass from Beasley's backup, freshman Ell
Roberson, tying a school record for TD catches in a game.
"We work extremely hard in practice," Morgan said. "It
doesn't make any difference if we're going against a strong team or
a weak team. I'm not going to practice hard for nothing -- I'm going
to go out and run my routes hard."
Josh Scobey and Roderick Cartwright added two touchdown runs
each for Kansas State.
The Wildcats (3-0) led 34-0 after one quarter, scoring five
touchdowns before Ball State (0-3) managed a first down. Kansas
State's defense, led by tackle Mario Fatafehi's three sacks, had
more interceptions (two) than Ball State had completions (one, for
5 yards.)
The Wildcats' defensive domination over Ball State, which gained
only 52 total yards, was such that on one play in the third
quarter, running back Anthony Jones was stuffed for a 2-yard loss
by a defense that had only nine players on the field.
"If you put up those kinds of numbers, that means something,"
Kansas State defensive coordinator Phil Bennett said. "They gave
Florida 230 yards and 19 points (in the Gators' 40-19 win over Ball
State on Sept. 2), and we kept them to zero. That means something
to me."
Beasley's first TD pass to Morgan, a 55-yarder, came with less
than two minutes gone in the game. Then, on Ball State's first
play, Monty Beisel sacked Brian Conn and stripped him of the ball.
Turelle Williams recovered at the Cardinals' 8, setting up
Beasley's TD run on the ensuing play. Four plays after that, Aaron
Lockett returned a punt 83 yards for a 20-0 lead.
It was the second punt return for a touchdown in as many games
for Lockett, who is subbing for David Allen as Allen -- who needs
one more TD return for the NCAA record -- recovers from an ankle
injury sustained in the Wildcats' opener against Iowa.
Kansas State's next drive consisted of three passes, all
completed. The third went to Morgan, 5 yards behind the Ball State
secondary, for a 66-yard touchdown and a 27-0 advantage. Scobey's
4-yard run closed out the quarter's scoring for the Wildcats, who
led 48-0 at the half after Roberson's 8-yard pass to Morgan and
Rashad Jackson's 4-yard run.
Snyder declined to pad the record in the closing seconds,
instructing fourth-string quarterback Zac Burton to take a knee on
fourth-and-5 at the Cardinals' 11 with a second remaining.
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ALSO SEE
College Football Scoreboard
Ball State Clubhouse
Kansas State Clubhouse
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