Postgame: OU 42, K-State 30

Before Saturday's game at Oklahoma, Kansas State coach Bill Snyder joked that he wanted to appeal the NCAA and start this contest in the second quarter.

Had he gone through with the plan and somehow had that idea approved, the Wildcats would have left Norman with an impressive victory.

Instead, they were outscored by 21 points in the first quarter and lost 42-30. The first-quarter onslaught was nothing new for Oklahoma. Coming into the day, the Sooners had outscored their opponents 58-0 in the first quarter.

The Wildcats fell victim to that trend, and, despite putting together a valiant effort in the final three quarters, lost a tough one.

K-State scored more points than any team had all year against Oklahoma, and now enters the meat of its schedule with momentum on its side.

If the Wildcats win their final three games -- at home against Kansas and Missouri, and on the road at Nebraska -- they will win the Big 12 North.

If they continue to play the way they did in Oklahoma, winning out is definitely a possibility.

The Wildcats moved the ball well against the Sooners, amassing 364 yards of offense, and Grant Gregory looked good throwing the ball. Daniel Thomas played through a sore shoulder to lead K-State's offense and Brandon Banks had an outstanding day, going for more than 150 yards receiving and taking a kickoff return back for a touchdown.

K-State's defense looked good in the final three quarters as well.

If not for one bad quarter of play, where Kansas State allowed Oklahoma's Landry Jones to throw for three of his four touchdowns, the game would have been completely different.

-- Joshua Moore left the game with an injury suffered after chasing down a tackle in the first half. He did not play in the second half. Snyder didn't elaborate on his status.

Key stats
9 tackles by Troy Butler
364 K-State total offense
4 Landry Jones touchdowns
30 points scored by K-State, the most allowed by OU all season
5 career kickoff returns for Brandon Banks
4 kickoff returns by Brandon Banks this season
156 yards receiving by Brandon Banks
88 yards rushing by Daniel Thomas
41 yards passing by Daniel Thomas
174 yards passing by Grant Gregory
294 yards passing by Landry Jones
30-21 K-State advantage in the final three quarters
21-0 OU advantage in the first quarter

Quotes of note
"We had some adversity there in the second half," -- Oklahoma's Jeremy Beal.

"That would have been a major stop for us, but we didn't come up and do what we had to do. We had the momentum, but we let them get the first down," -- Darious Thomas on allowing OU to convert a 3rd-and-24 in the fourth quarter.

"I thought that we gave up some third downs and they did a good job of converting. In spurts, I don't think that we tackled the way we are capable of tackling and we didn't contain the quarterback at times on some pressure. I think that they did a good job and they never gave you a steady dose of one thing," -- OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables.

"Offensively, that was the best we've played all season," -- Brandon Banks.

"When we were down to Texas Tech the score was bad in the first half and it was bad in the second half. We had a chance for it to go exactly the same way and we didn't," -- Snyder.

"We're disappointed we had the chance to do something that hadn't been done in a long time. We gave a good effort but we didn't get it done," -- Gregory.

"I hate moral victory type comments. For our young people, for this program, to grow you've got to have tremendous disappointment when you lose a ball game regardless of how you played. That's what I'm looking for first. If that takes place there will be growth for our upcoming ball games," -- Snyder.