Oklahoma football: Five best games with Kansas State in Big 12 era
By Chip Rouse
# 1 — December 2, 2000 –Big 12 Championship, Oklahoma 27, Kansas State 24
The two teams had met earlier in the season, with No. 8 Oklahoma upsetting No. 2 Kansas State 41-31 in Manhattan. That snapped a string of three straight road losses by OU at Kansas State and moved the Sooners up to No. 3 for a week before they took over the top spot in the national polls.
On Dec. 2 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, the same two teams were paired again, this time for the Big 12 championship. Oklahoma was undefeated, at 12-0, and No. 1 in the country. Kansas State, winners of the Big 12 North Division, entered the game with a 10-2 season record and ranked eighth in the Associated Press Poll.
Oklahoma drew first blood in the game on a 33-yard field goal by Tim Duncan. The Sooners led 3-0 after one quarter. Kansas State scored 10 unanswered points in the second quarter before OU tied the game at 10-all after blocking a K-State punt right before the end of the half that set the Sooners up at the Wildcat 17-yard line.
The game remained deadlocked until midway through the third quarter, when Oklahoma quarterback Josh Heupel engineered a 69-yard touchdown drive to put the Sooners on top 17-10. About three minutes later, Kansas State’s Aaron Lockett fielded an OU punt and returned it 59 yards for a game-tying touchdown.
Heupel connected with wide receiver Andre Woolfolk on a 17-yard scoring strike in the fourth quarter to put the Sooners back out in front, and Duncan added a field goal later in the quarter to finish out the as Oklahoma held on for a 27-24 victory and its first Big 12 football crown.
The Sooners defeated Florida State 13-2 in the national championship game to win their third national title in just Bob Stoops’ second season as a head coach.