Kansas Clinches Bowl Eligibility With Dominant 37-16 Win Over Oklahoma State

Lawrence native Devin Neal had a career day in huge win for Jayhawks.

The Kansas Jayhawks are bowl eligible for the first time since 2008. But to go bowling, KU went for a run all over Oklahoma State in a 37-16 win Saturday at The Booth.

Quite a few Jayhawks played well against the Cowboys, but the game ball has to go to the hometown kid Devin Neal. Neal rushed for 224 yards and recorded 334 all-purpose yards while the Jayhawks as a team put up 351 yards on the ground.

Freshman Garret Rangel started at quarterback for Oklahoma State having attempted only two passes in his career. It’s a difficult spot to put him in, and it showed early. Rangel tried forcing a ball on third and five that Cobee Bryant picked off in his first game back from injury. After Neal put KU on the board with a 31-yard rushing touchdown, Rangel threw another quick pick, this time to Mello Dotson.

For a moment, the momentum looked to swing to the Cowboys. OSU stuffed KU at the goal line three times, forcing a field goal, and then found the end zone for the first time on a Rangel touchdown pass. But Jason Bean took care of that on the next drive, calling his own number on a 73-yard touchdown drive.

The Cowboys drove down the field again but fumbled the snap on fourth and one in the red zone and Neal continued carving up the defense before Bean hit Lawrence Arnold in the end zone to extend the lead to 24-7 with less than 30 seconds left in the half.

The second half picked up where the Jayhawks left off. Kansas received the ball to start and went on a 75-yard scoring drive of nearly eight minutes that resulted in a Jared Casey touchdown catch. Ky Thomas made some nice runs to spell Neal and then Neal again made his presence known, taking a shovel pass 53 yards to answer an OSU scoring drive (where KU stopped the two-point conversion) with a field goal.

The bow was a third interception for the Kansas defense, this time being Rich Miller with 3:41 on a tipped ball in Kansas territory.

Bean was incredibly efficient, going 18-23 for 203 yards through the air and two touchdowns while adding 93 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Luke Grimm also had 65 yards on seven big catches, including several third-down conversions.

Kansas will now look to expand on its bowl eligibility next week when they travel to Lubbock to face Texas Tech.