MANHATTAN, Kan. — Kansas State's Felix Anudike-Uzomah matched the Football Bowl Subdivision record with six sacks and forced two fumbles against TCU on Saturday, leading the Wildcats to a 31-12 victory over the floundering Horned Frogs.
Anudike-Uzomah, whose safety last week against Texas Tech jumpstarted the Wildcats’ comeback win, broke the school record of four sacks set by Chris Johnson against Missouri in 2000. Three other players in the NCAA's highest division also have had six, including longtime NFL star Elvis Dumervil with Louisville.
Skylar Thompson threw for 242 yards and a touchdown while also running for a score, and Deuce Vaughn added 109 yards and two touchdowns on the ground, as the Wildcats (5-3, 2-3 Big 12) beat TCU (3-5, 1-4) for the third straight time.
The Horned Frogs' Max Duggan was just 9 of 13 for 73 yards before getting benched in the third quarter. Kendre Miller ran for 102 yards on 14 carries, but most of his total came on a 61-yard scamper early in the game.
Tempers flared midway through the third quarter when the Horned Frogs' Josh Foster delivered a big hit on Thompson as he stepped out of bounds. Players from both teams joined the melee as TCU coaches tried in vain to intervene; two of their players and one from Kansas State were ejected for throwing punches.
The Horned Frogs' frustration probably stemmed from the fact that they actually drove inside the Kansas State 5 on three occasions — two times in the first half and one in the second — and came away with a total of three points.
The first drive reached the Kansas State 3 before Duggan threw a pass that went for a 4-yard loss and TCU had to kick a field goal. The second made the Kansas State 2 but, after three runs gained a single yard, it ended when Duggan threw his fourth-down pass out of the back of the end zone for an incompletion.
The silver lining for the Horned Frogs? They stuffed Vaughn on the next play for a safety.
Otherwise, the first half belonged to the Wildcats, who never punted in five possessions — though Thompson did throw a pick and a safety ended another. The other three ended with Thompson's TD run and Vaughn's two scores.
Vaughn's second came after the Wildcats marched 88 yards in the closing minutes of the first half. The big play was a 37-yard pass to Phillip Brooks that was initially ruled a touchdown, but officials spotted the ball just outside the goal line after a review. The change merely gave Vaughn a chance to somersault over the pile for a highlight-reel score.
The Horned Frogs, who benched Duggan for freshman Chandler Morris, marched deep into Kansas State territory again early in the second half. But an end-around pass on third down was incomplete and Anudike-Uzomah's fourth-down strip-sack of Morris was recovered by the Wildcats' Daniel Green in the end zone for a touchback.
Thompson hit Daniel Imatorbhebhe with a 73-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
SIDELINED STAR
The Horned Frogs played without leading rusher Zach Evans, who sustained a turf toe injury Oct. 9 against Texas Tech. He missed TCU's game against Oklahoma before running for 62 yards in last week's loss to West Virginia, but showed up in Manhattan in a walking boot and watched from the sideline.
THE TAKEAWAY
TCU was simply dominated at the line of scrimmage. Anudike-Uzomah wrecked the Horned Frogs' passing attack with his ability to get to the quarterback, and Kansas State routinely stuffed their running game at the line of scrimmage.
Kansas State held the Red Raiders to 103 yards while keeping them out of the end zone in the second half last week, a sign their defense had stepped up. It took a giant lead with a dominant performance against the Horned Frogs.
UP NEXT
TCU plays No. 16 Baylor next Saturday in its second home game in more than a month.
Kansas State heads down Interstate 70 next Saturday to face rival Kansas.
