With its 6-1 record heading into this weekend’s matchup with Oklahoma State, Kansas State was ranked ninth in the inaugural College Football Playoff Top 25 rankings announced Tuesday on ESPN by the 12-person committee.

The Wildcats were one of five Big 12 teams to debut in the poll with TCU (7th), Baylor (13th), Oklahoma (18th) and West Virginia (20th) also ranked. Auburn, one of K-State’s non-conference opponents this season, was ranked third.

The selection committee will prepare six more rankings this season, including the final one on Selection Day, Sunday, December 7. The top four teams in the final rankings will play in the semifinals on January 1, 2015, at the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl.

K-State (6-1, 4-0) returns to action on Saturday when the Cowboys (5-3, 3-2) visit Bill Snyder Family Stadium for a 7 p.m., ABC-televised matchup. The game will be K-State’s 18th-straight sellout as standing room only tickets remain available.

— KSU Sports Information —

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State forced UTEP into three-and-outs on its first five possessions, leaving Wildcats coach Bill Snyder pleased when the Miners finally picked up a long-awaited first down.

“It gave me something to complain about at halftime,” Snyder said with a wry smile.

There wasn’t much else to complain about.

Charles Jones ran for three touchdowns, Tyler Lockett returned a punt for another score and Snyder’s 25th-ranked Wildcats romped to a 58-28 victory Saturday.

DeMarcus Robinson and Jake Waters also had touchdown runs, and Waters threw for 209 yards and another score as the Wildcats (3-1) finished non-conference play by taking out their frustrations from a close loss to fifth-ranked Auburn on the hapless Miners.

UTEP (2-2) managed one first down and 23 yards of offense in the first half, when Kansas State raced to a 31-0 lead. Running back Aaron Jones, the nation’s second-leading rusher, was held to 47 yards — all but nine of them after halftime.

“Kansas State’s run defense was one of the best defenses I’ve seen in a long time,” UTEP coach Sean Kugler said. “They were very effective at stopping the run.”

Jameil Showers threw four TD passes for the Miners, all with the game well out of reach.

Kansas State blew a chance to beat Auburn nine days ago in part by missing three field goals, but took control early Saturday mainly on the strength of its special teams.

The Wildcats blocked a punt on the game’s first series to set up a field goal, then had another block wiped out by a referee’s inadvertent whistle. Later in the half, Lockett returned a punt 58 yards for a score, and had a 51-yard return set up another TD just before halftime.

“I’m starting to get comfortable back there,” said Lockett, who has returned four kickoffs for touchdowns but hasn’t returned punts nearly as much.

Things were such a nightmare for the UTEP special teams that the only folks in the stadium having a rougher afternoon may have been referee Alan Eck’s officiating crew.

Not only did they blow an erroneous whistle on the blocked punt, they also couldn’t seem to figure out whether to award UTEP a do-over on it. Eck spent more than 10 minutes on the radio with the replay officials trying to get everything sorted out, and then was booed by the 16th straight sellout at Bill Snyder Family Stadium when he allowed UTEP to punt again.

“Apparently there’s a rule that I’m totally unaware of, and trust me, that’s the first thing I’m going to do when I walk out of here, I’m going to find that rule,” Snyder said. “They did the best they could, it just took them an hour-and-a-half to do it.”

It didn’t matter a whole lot in the end.

Lockett torched the Miners for 84 yards receiving, moving past his uncle Aaron Lockett and former Wildcats star Michael Smith for third on the school’s career list. Lockett has 2,469 yards, trailing only Packers wide receiver Jordy Nelson and his father, Kevin Lockett.

His ability to stretch the defense loosened things up for the Kansas State rushing attack, which was bottled up by Auburn. Charles Jones had 76 yards before leaving with what appeared to be a minor injury in the third quarter, and Kansas State piled up 188 yards on the ground.

“Great game plan,” Jones said with a smile.

Given how quickly the Wildcats’ offense scored, their defense could barely catch its breath.

That made its performance all the more impressive: UTEP didn’t pick up a first down until there was about 5 minutes left before halftime.

“It’s the best defense I’ve faced since I’ve been in college,” said Aaron Jones, a sophomore.

By the time the third quarter ended and Kansas State led 52-7, Snyder had his starters on the bench, resting up for a return to Big 12 play.

The Wildcats already beat Iowa State on the road earlier in the season. They welcome Texas Tech next week before a potentially pivotal showdown at No. 4 Oklahoma on Oct. 18.

“We did some wonderful things and then we fell apart (when) we had twos go on the field that weren’t ready to play, and consequently some bad things happened,” Snyder said. “I thought we played well when we had to play well in the ballgame.”

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Gus Malzahn squeezed into the ramshackle shed used for postgame news conferences at Kansas State, gripped both sides of the makeshift podium and exhaled deeply.

Fifth-ranked Auburn had just squeezed out a 20-14 victory over the No. 20 Wildcats, and its coach was asked whether it was the kind of nip-and-tuck nonconference game that he likes to play.

“After they’re over and you win, yeah,” Malzahn said. “You do.”

Aubun’s vaunted ground game held in check all night, the Tigers finally pulled away when they went to the air. Nick Marshall threw for 231 yards and two touchdowns, and Auburn forced a trio of turnovers while capitalizing on three missed field goals by the Wildcats.

Still, the game wasn’t over until Marshall found D’haquille Williams running wide open on third-and-9 at the Auburn 37. The completion with 2:06 remaining went for 39 yards, a first down that effectively ended the game, and gave the Tigers (3-0) their first nonconference road win over a ranked team since knocking off Florida State in 1984.

“Our guys found a way,” Malzahn said. “I told them after the game, I think this could be a game that really helps us in the future, because we faced some major adversity tonight.”

Not nearly as much as Kansas State.

Jake Waters threw for 245 yards, but he also tossed two picks — one in the Auburn end zone. The Wildcats (2-1) also fumbled the ball away, and Jack Cantele missed those crucial field goals.

Still, the Wildcats tried to rally in the closing minutes, scoring on a run by Charles Jones out of the wildcat formation with 3:49 left. But after holding the Tigers to third down, Marshall took advantage of one more miscue — a bad call on defense — for a first down to seal it.

“There was a ton of mistakes that we made that impacted the outcome,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. “Auburn is a tremendous football team and we just made too many mistakes.”

The result was Kansas State’s lowest point total in more than three years.

“It hurts a lot,” wide receiver Tyler Lockett said. “We left a lot out there on the field. One of the plays I remember, I dropped a touchdown that turned into an interception. Missed field goals, fumbled the ball. We just made a lot of mistakes today.”

Auburn was the highest-ranked team to play in Manhattan since second-ranked Penn State in 1969, and an overflow crowd started tailgating Tuesday. The festivities continued until shortly after kickoff, when the Wildcats started to throw away opportunities to spring an upset.

The first serious miscue was a fumbled handoff deep in Kansas State territory. Auburn hopped on the loose ball and, four plays later, kicked a 34-yard field goal to take a 3-0 lead.

The second turnover was even more costly. The Wildcats had second-and-goal from the Auburn 2, and Waters zipped a pass that bounced off Lockett’s shoulder pads in the end zone. Rather than an easy touchdown, the ball was picked off by the Tigers’ Jonathan Jones.

“Coach always says you get interceptions on tips and overthrows,” Jones said.

The Wildcats kept buckling down on defense, though, stuffing Auburn’s read-option attack. The Tigers had just 55 yards rushing in the first half, the fewest in the Malzahn era.

The nation’s best team in converting third downs also failed on its first five attempts.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Marshall said. “Adversity hit us and we wanted to see how we would respond, and we responded well.”

Kansas State finally scored with 4:56 left in the first half when DeMarcus Robinson scampered in from 3 yards out for his first career touchdown. But the Tigers hurried the other way, capping a 75-yard drive with Marshall’s 40-yard strike to Ricardo Louis for a 10-7 lead.

Cantele pushed a potential tying field-goal attempt wide on the final play of the half, his second miss of the night. He hooked one wide left late in the first quarter.

He made it a frustrating hat-trick midway through the third quarter.

The Wildcats had once again marched downfield, and once again pushed the ball inside the Auburn 5. But after the Tigers stiffened, Cantele was summoned to try a 22-yarder — a mere chip-shot, hardly more than an extra point. He missed it wide right.

The Tigers tacked on a touchdown and a field goal, eventually putting the game out of reach.

“It was a collective team loss,” Kansas State defensive end Ryan Mueller said. “There were some missed opportunities there and that’s all I can really say.”

— Associated Press —

AMES, Iowa (AP) — For about a quarter, it looked as if Kansas State was going to get run out of Ames.

The Wildcats survived a furious upset bid from Iowa State by leaning heavily on quarterback Jake Waters and a defense that shined in the second half.

Waters had an 8-yard touchdown run with 1:30 left to push 20th-ranked Kansas State past host Iowa State 32-28 on Saturday.

Waters threw for 239 yards and ran for a career-high 138 yards for the Wildcats (2-0, 1-0 Big 12). They allowed 28 consecutive points in one stretch of the first half, but Waters rescued the Wildcats with a stellar winning drive.

Waters followed a key 23-yard completion to Tyler Lockett with a 25-yard run with just under two minutes left. Then, Waters capped an 80-yard drive that took just 1:31 with his second touchdown run of the day.

“We’ve got a lot of mistakes to (clean up). The good thing is if you can win when you’re making those mistakes, there are some attitude issues that could serve in your favor,” Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said.

Jarvis West caught and threw touchdown passes and ran a punt back for a third TD for Iowa State (0-2, 0-1), which was held scoreless in the second half.

It was a tough loss for the Cyclones: They nearly knocked off a ranked opponent just a week after losing by 20 to FCS school North Dakota State and two days after starting tackle Jacob Gannon quit the team for personal reasons.

“We did certain things necessary to put us in position to win the football game. We didn’t do certain things at the end to allow us to win the football game,” Iowa State coach Paul Rhoads said.

Still, the Cyclones nearly pulled off a stunner.

Kansas State’s Randall Evans ripped the ball away from West for an interception with 9:15 left. The Wildcats went 54 yards in 74 seconds, making it 28-26 on a 4-yard TD run by Charles Jones.

Waters went for the tie on 2-point conversion run. But Kamari Cotton-Moya — who was ejected from last week’s loss for targeting — sprinted to the hole, turned Waters sideways at the goal line and preserved Iowa State’s lead.

That seemed like it would be the game’s key play. But Lockett’s crucial reception, which held up upon review, helped give Waters one more chance to decide the game with his feet.

Jones added 75 yards rushing for the Wildcats.

“Our line gave me some great holes to run through. I had to take on that running game on a little more than I usually do,” Waters said. “When we needed a play, we made it — and that’s big.”

Iowa State was in need of a decent showing after allowing 506 yards and getting shut out for the final 44 minutes last week.

The Wildcats made it look way too easy way too soon.

Lockett went 57 yards off a short catch just four plays in, and Jones walked in untouched from four yards out for a quick 7-0 lead.

The Wildcats tacked on a pair of field goals before Iowa State finally woke up.

The Cyclones flipped things around by relying on West’s versatility.

West kicked off his career day with a leaping 17-yard TD catch. Then he took a punt 82 yards for a touchdown and a 14-13 lead early in the second quarter.

West ended a brilliant first half with a perfectly thrown 29-yard TD pass to Allen Lazard off a double reverse. That made it 28-13 Iowa State, thrilling a capacity crowd that once seemed resigned to defeat.

West, a senior, is just the fourth player since 1996 with a passing, receiving and punt return touchdown in the same game, according to STATS LCC.

“You expect a fifth-year guy to step up. He played like a leader and like a guy we need him to be all season,” Rhoads said.

But Kansas State pulled to 28-20 just before halftime on a plunge from Waters following a Lockett catch that had Iowa State fans howling, claiming he was out of bounds.

Waters — who grew up in Council Bluffs, Iowa, cheering for the Cyclones — took over in the second half and handed his boyhood team one of its toughest defeats in years.

Rhoads is now 0-6 against the Wildcats.

“I was proud of Jake. In this game, you’d like to think that they compete in every single game exactly the same way. This one has a little different meaning to him because his family is here. He had to beg borrow and steal for tickets,” Snyder said. “He was ready to compete.”

— Associated Press —

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State coach Bill Snyder gripped the podium, stared into a row of television cameras and offered a sobering assessment of his team’s performance.

The offense played well when it wasn’t going three-and-out to start the second half. The defense was stingy, except for the huge chunks of yards it allowed on broken plays. Special teams were generally solid, other than Jack Cantele’s missed field goal.

The No. 20 Wildcats may have whipped Stephen F. Austin 55-16 in their season opener Saturday night, but Snyder made it clear that there was plenty of room for improvement.

“I probably dwell on the things that aren’t so good,” he said dryly.

No doubt there was plenty of good to go with the bad.

Jake Waters threw for 223 yards and two touchdowns while also running for two scores, and Charles Jones had a pair of touchdown runs. The game was so far out of reach by the fourth quarter that Snyder was able to play most of his backups, giving them valuable game experience.

Good thing, too, because the road is about to get a whole lot tougher.

Kansas State visits Iowa State to open Big 12 play next weekend, then welcomes No. 6 Auburn to Bill Snyder Family Stadium for a high-profile Thursday night matchup later in September.

“I think we’re close,” Kansas State linebacker Jonathan Truman said. “I’m glad we had this firs game to kind of knock the rust off.”

Stephen F. Austin’s Joe Minden threw for 107 yards in relief of ineffective quarterback Zach Conque, and Gus Johnson had a 30-yard touchdown run after being suspended for the first half.

The Lumberjacks, routed by Texas Tech a year ago, still have never beaten a team from the Big 12 in eight tries. They’re just 3-11 against the Football Bowl Subdivision.

“We’re certainly disappointed but we’re not discouraged,” said Clint Conque, who took over Stephen F. Austin after 14 seasons at Central Arkansas. “We knew it was going to be a challenge coming in here but we’ll take a lot of positives from it.”

Stunned in last year’s opener by North Dakota State, another team from the Football Championship Subdivision, Kansas State refused to look ahead to bigger games down the road.

The Wildcats forced an opening punt and quickly went to work, grinding away on a march that ended with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Lockett. It was the 19th career TD grab of his career, moving him within seven of his father Kevin Lockett’s career school record.

Lockett barely played the rest of the way, and Snyder refused to say why, other than it was his decision. Lockett does have a history of hamstring injuries.

Asked whether he’ll play next week, Snyder replied: “If I want him to.”

It hardly mattered whether he played Saturday night. Waters capped another long drive by keeping the ball on a read-option for a 5-yard score, and Jones took a carry out of the Wildcat formation virtually untouched for a 15-yard touchdown run and a 21-0 lead.

Conque benched his son after three poor drives, and Minden quickly led the Lumberjacks to a touchdown. But the quarterback was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct — he “shushed the crowd,” referee Reggie Smith said — and resumed sitting on the bench until late in the third quarter.

By that point, Waters had scored on a quarterback sneak and thrown a soft fade pass to Cook in the corner of the end zone, and Jones had scored on a 4-yard run to make it 42-10.

The game getting out of hand, Minden went back in for Stephen F. Austin. He completed a pair of passes before Johnson broke loose down the sideline for his crowd-quieting touchdown run.

As the fourth quarter ticked away, Snyder decided to rest his starters, and one of the worst defenses in the FCS still couldn’t stop the Wildcats. Backup quarterback Joe Hubener threw a 15-yard TD pass to Steven West as fans began to empty the stadium.

“We won, obviously. Now we have to check out the film and see how much we can improve,” Kansas State defensive end Ryan Mueller said. “We know we have a lot of work to do and we’re going to handle those adjustments.”

— Associated Press —