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Texas Tech beats Kansas St. 59-44 to become bowl eligible
LUBBOCK, Texas (AP) Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury knows the value of extra practices, so getting bowl eligible with a win Saturday was a welcome change from last season.
''As a program, those practices are huge,'' he said. ''We have a bunch of young talent on this team that needs to be developed and those extra practices ... it's incredible to get those guys going and get them ready for the offseason and get them ready for spring football.''
The Red Raiders failed to go to a bowl last year, finishing 4-8 in Kingsbury's second season.
Patrick Mahomes threw for 384 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Justin Stockton, and DeAndre Washington rushed for three more as Texas Tech beat Kansas State 59-44.
The win snapped a three-game skid.
The loss extended the Wildcats winless streak to six, a first since 1989.
Mahomes completed 33 of 42 passes and rushed for a touchdown for Texas Tech (6-5, 3-5 Big 12).
Stockton's touchdowns were for 17 and 20 yards. He also rushed for a 7-yard score. Mahomes' other touchdown pass was a 19-yarder to Devin Lauderdale.
Washington scored from 80 yards - a career-long - 5 yards and 12 yards to finish with a career-high 248 yards.
''Everybody on the team looks up at that guy,'' Kingsbury said. ''As a coaching staff we go to him to talk to the team, we ask him his opinion on things, because he has that sort of trust and that sort of character.''
Kansas State (3-6, 0-6) quarterback Joe Hubener rushed for three 1-yard touchdowns and threw for two more. Morgan Burns added a TD on a 93-yard kickoff return.
Hubener threw both his touchdown passes in the fourth quarter as the Wildcats tried for a second comeback. He found Dominique Heath for a 6-yard score and threw a 33-yard touchdown to Kyle Klein. An onside kick kept the Wildcats in it, but trailing 52-41 they needed a touchdown. They settled for a 43-yard field goal to whittle the deficit to 52-44.
In order for Kansas State to go to a bowl this year the Wildcats need to win their remaining games against Iowa State, Kansas and West Virginia.
''They were all-around solid,'' Hubener said of Texas Tech's defense. ''I mean, I don't think it was anything that caught us off guard in this situation. I think most of the stuff they threw at us was stuff that we anticipated. I think we had success against them for the most part. We put up 44 points.''
Washington's rushing yardage was the first time since 1999 that Texas Tech has had a 200-plus-yard game when Shaud Williams had 230 against Colorado.
Texas Tech let a 21-point lead dwindle to 7 points early in the third quarter after Hubener scored his third touchdown. The 1-yard score came after Washington fumbled deep in Texas Tech territory.
A turnover by the Wildcats turned into a touchdown for the Red Raiders in the first quarter. Zach Reuter fumbled after catching a 10-yard pass from Hubener and JahShawn Johnson recovered. Four plays later Stockton scooted around end for a 7-yard touchdown to make it 28-7 late in the first quarter.
Both teams had big plays in the first half. Kansas State's Burns got his third career kickoff return for a touchdown on a 93-yarder and his second this season. The first play of the season Burns returned a kickoff 100 yards.
Washington's 80-yard scamper for score was a career long for him and was the team's longest run of the season.
The Red Raiders scored on five of their first seven possessions and the Wildcats, who got touchdowns on three of their first seven possessions, struggled to keep pace.
