K-State Rallies For Rate Bowl Victory

The Kansas State Wildcats came back from seventeen points down in the third quarter for a thrilling 44-41 win over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights in the Rate Bowl in Phoenix, Arizona on Thursday night.

Dylan Edwards’ 36-yard touchdown run with 4:15 to play completed the comeback and sent K-State to their ninth win of the season, marking the first time K-State has won nine games in three straight seasons since the 1990s. The Wildcats join a group that includes Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, and Oregon as teams that have won nine or more games for three straight years and have won a conference championship in that stretch.

K-State trailed 34-17 in the third quarter before their comeback began. A 65-yard TD run by Edwards, and a 13-yard TD pass from Avery Johnson to Garrett Oakley following a Daniel Cobbs interception, closed the gap to 34-29 with 3:39 left in the third. After an early fourth quarter score by Rutgers moved their lead to 41-29, K-State held the Scarlet Knights off the board for the rest of the game and scored on their next two drives to take the lead for good.

Edwards, getting the start with DJ Giddens having declared for the NFL Draft, rushed for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 18 carries and also caught a TD pass from Johnson, who threw for three scores and 195 yards.