For forty-five minutes, the Kansas State Wildcats looked like they might not even be the best football team in Kansas. With twelve fourth-quarter points, Isaiah Zuber saved K-State from disaster.
Zuber broke free for an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown with 12 minutes to go, and followed that five minutes later with a brilliant catch at the back of the end zone of a pass by Skylar Thompson — evoking memories of the end of the last football game in Manhattan. After a disastrous failure to run out the clock, K-State managed to keep South Dakota from scoring and escaped with a 27-24 victory when Mason Lorber’s 51-yard field goal attempt plinked off the crossbar and bounced back instead of forward.