Kansas State didn’t need to get fancy against Kansas. It needed a run game that could take control when the game tightened up, and Joe Jackson delivered exactly that.
The Wildcats leaned on Jackson hard in the second half of their 35-24 win, and once they had a 25-24 edge, Collin Klein kept feeding him. Jackson carried the ball on 11 straight plays in that stretch and turned those snaps into 97 yards. By the end of the day, he had piled up 159 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries, helping K-State finish with a season-high 359 rushing yards.
Klein had no interest in going away from the hot hand.
“Joe is a workhorse,” Klein said. “If he ever gets tired, he doesn’t admit it. I respect the heck out of that.”
That late surge did more than pad Jackson’s stat line. It helped set up Avery Johnson’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Jaron Tibbs at the 8:33 mark of the fourth quarter, and it drained clock as K-State pulled away down the stretch.
Jackson was clearly soaking it all in afterward. He has had big nights before, including a 293-yard performance against Utah last season, but he said this one meant the most in his K-State career.
“This is what I worked for my whole life,” Jackson said. “I have to thank the man upstairs, the guys on the sideline, the team and the coaches. For them to trust in me to be able to do that, it just means everything to me.”
Johnson saw the same thing from his spot at quarterback. One play in particular stood out: a fourth-quarter handoff that sent Jackson bursting up the right side for a 64-yard gain.
“Everything just opened up for Joe,” Johnson said. “It was like poetry in motion, seeing the whole offensive line flow.”
Jackson hasn’t started a game for K-State this season, but he’s still very much a centerpiece when the Wildcats need him. He said he could sense in practice leading up to the KU game that more carries might be coming, and K-State’s plan was clear: win at the line of scrimmage and establish the run.
They did that, and when Jackson was rolling, Klein even put the offense in a slower pace and huddled between every snap. It was a look the Wildcats hadn’t shown before, but one that may stick after the way it worked.
“He cares so much,” Klein said of Jackson. “He’s one of the best leaders on our football team, hands down.
His mentality is right. His perspective is right.
His priorities are right, and it shows in how he plays. I love him to death.”
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Logan Bartley has been one of the more encouraging defensive developments for Kansas State this fall, and his impact was on full display in the Sunflower Showdown. The safety came up with a key second-half interception against Kansas that helped tilt the rivalry game in the Wildcats favor, a timely play from a player who has steadily earned more trust in the secondary.
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