Is Kansas State football a serious Big 12 contender after Oklahoma win?

Kansas State football marched into Norman and stole a win from Spencer Rattler and Oklahoma. Are the Wildcats serious Big 12 contenders?

When Arkansas State marched into Manhattan and shocked Kansas State in the Wildcats’ season opener, it seemed like Chris Klieman’s teams was set to take a massive step back.

The Wildcats were 0-1 with a horrid non-conference loss to a Group of Five foe that was beaten by 13 a week earlier against Memphis. At home, no less.

In Week 4, Kansas State traveled to Norman for what looked like a probably cakewalk victory for Oklahoma. The Sooners rolled in the opener and Spencer Rattler looked like a true Heisman contender and playing in Norman is never easy. Kansas State fell behind 21-7 at halftime and then 35-14 near the end of the third quarter.

All seemed to be right with the world.

Skylar Thompson scored a touchdown with 1:46 left in the quarter and it seemed like a “too little, too late” touchdown for the Wildcats, especially with the Sooners’ offense humming.

Less than seven minutes into the fourth quarter, Kansas State tied things up thanks to a couple of touchdown runs by Thompson and Deuce Vaughn. Then, with 4:32 left in the game, the Wildcats kicked a go-ahead field goal and held the Sooners out of scoring range.

Kansas State pulled off an upset of a top-10 Oklahoma team for a second straight season, shocking the college football world.

This year’s win has a different feel. This feels like a Kansas State momentum changer. Something bigger may come of this victory over the Sooners than what happened last year.

Thompson had a great game, passing for 334 yards and a touchdown and rushing for another three scores. He had a higher QBR than Rattler by about 12 points and he didn’t exactly have the former blue-chip recruits at receiver that his counterpart did.

Vaughn stepped up as a star in the backfield, rushing for 45 yards and a touchdown on just eight carries which was a product of trailing the entire game. He did catch four passes for a game-high 129 yards and looked like a Swiss army knife out of the backfield.

So do these two guys help make Kansas State a true contender?

In 2020, I’d say they’ll push for the top half of the conference, but give the Wildcats another year before they’re true Big 12 contenders. No team will want to see the Thompson, Vaughn and the Wildcats come to town, though.

Kansas State will be competitive in every game and it will finish with 6-7 wins in the 10-game slate.