Kansas State upsets Oklahoma, again: Wildcats beat No. 6 Sooners for third time in four seasons

No. 6 Oklahoma suffered its first loss of the Brent Venables era, 41-34, at home to his alma mater, Kansas State. With a third loss to the Wildcats in the past four seasons, the Sooners are 0-1 in Big 12 play for just the third time since 2012.

The Sooners won their first three games of the season by a combined 127-30, but the Wildcats cleared the 30-point mark midway through the fourth quarter thanks to monster game from quarterback Adrian Martinez. The Nebraska transfer threw for 234 yards, rushed for 148 more and scored all five Wildcats touchdowns in a career-best performance against an inconsistent Sooners defense. 

Martinez’s biggest play came late in the fourth quarter while facing third-and-16. After Oklahoma got pressure, Martinez stepped up and ran 55 yards deep into the red zone. He scored a few plays later to give the Wildcats a two-touchdown lead. 

The Oklahoma defense will get the brunt of the blame by allowing 509 yards and 6.1 yards per play, but the offense had consistency issues of its own. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw touchdowns of 56 and 50 yards in the first half, but 11 of his other 24 completions went for five yards or fewer. Oklahoma’s offense only reached the red zone three times and scored two touchdowns, though one came with only 35 seconds remaining. 

Oklahoma lost its Big 12 opener for the first time since the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020, when it had just one nonconference matchup. Naturally, that loss came to Kansas State. The last time Oklahoma lost a Big 12 opener in a normal year was 2012. The loss? Kansas State. Since 2012, Oklahoma has lost only nine home games, but four of those have been to Kansas State

The Wildcats’ performance was a wild swing from a 17-10 loss to Tulane one week ago. Suddenly, they sit at 3-1 and tied for first place in the Big 12 at 1-0.

CBS Sports will update this story with takeaways from the game.