Kansas State football's victory over Kansas brought a sense of satisfaction and much more

MANHTTAN — Kansas State's goal all season was to play for a Big 12 championship.

That the Wildcats put themselves in that position by knocking off rival Kansas on Saturday night in the Sunflower Showdown was just icing on the cake.

"When you come to Kansas State, you don't lose to the Jayhawks, and we weren't going to do that tonight," K-State quarterback Will Howard said after the Wildcats punched their ticket to next Saturday's Big 12 championship game with a 47-27 victory over KU at sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium. "We knew what was on the line and what we've got ahead of us, and I'm excited for it.

"I'm excited to get ready for TCU again."

Next up for the Wildcats, who improved to 9-3 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12, is an 11 a.m. rematch with unbeaten TCU next Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. They lost to the Horned Frogs (12-0, 9-0) the first time, 38-28, on Oct. 22 in Fort Worth.

More:Kansas State tops Kansas in Sunflower Showdown, 47-27: Three takeaways

It will be K-State's first Big 12 championship game appearance since 2003. The victory also likely earned K-State a trip to the Dec. 31 Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, regardless of the outcome next week.

By taking care of business in the regular-season finale, K-State picked up its 14th straight — and arguably most meaningful — victory over Kansas. Not only did it put the Wildcats in the conference championship game for the first time since 2003, but against the most formidable Jayhawk team since the streak began in 2009.

"It was harder, just because they're a good team," Klieman said of KU, which finished the regular season at 6-6 overall, 3-6 in the Big 12, and bowl eligible for the first time since 2008 under second-year head coach Lance Leipold. "I know it's 14 straight years I believe, but the biggest thing was this year, because of where Lance has the program and how much better they are, and everybody can see that.

"That was very satisfying because I knew we beat a good football team. I told the guys we weren't going to get the Texas version of KU; we were going to get KU's best shot."

More:Recap: Kansas State football holds off KU in Sunflower Showdown, 47-27

Kansas was coming off a 55-14 blowout loss at home to Texas, but stubbornly hung with K-State into the fourth quarter. After scoring a touchdown with 13:39 left, the Jayhawks had a two-point conversion opportunity to make it a one-possession game.

Alas, the Wildcats foiled the pass attempt to keep the lead at 10 and then pulled away at the end.

"Big-time credit to Kansas," said K-State running back Deuce Vaughn, who rushed for 147 yards and a touchdown, plus caught two passes for 82 yards. "They came in here and played an unbelievable game.

"It was a challenge."

Thanks to a Texas victory over Baylor on Friday, K-State had to win to make it to the championship game, and Klieman wouldn't have it any other way.

"We didn't want to back in by having Texas lose yesterday," he said. "We needed to earn this, and the guys needed to earn this.

More:Sunflower Showdown a timely distraction for Kansas State football's regular-season finale

"We were smart enough to realize there was a lot of pressure on us as a coaching staff, on us as players, to finish this deal. And it's one more chapter in the regular season and we finished the chapter the right way and earned the opportunity."

K-State finished it in style with contributions across the board through a steady rainfall. The Wildcats racked up 443 yards total offense and limited Kansas to 307, including just 96 in the second half.

On special teams, kicker Ty Zentner had a big night, averaging 62.7 yards on three punts and remaining perfect on placements for the season with a field goal and six extra points. The coverage team set up the game's first touchdown by recovering a muffed punt and Malik Knowles added a 69-yard kickoff return.

K-State's offense truly was a tale of two halves, with Howard completing 11 of 18 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns before intermission and then not adding to that total the rest of the way. The Wildcats only threw the ball three times in the second half without a completion, but ran for 173 to finish with 230 yards on the ground.

"It was pretty crazy, but we didn't need to (pass)," Howard said. "The (offensive) line took over the game, controlled the line of scrimmage, and that was a big emphasis that we wanted to have, especially with the elements.

More:Kansas State football kicker Ty Zentner 'crushing the ball' with newfound confidence

"(The rain) wasn't that bad, honestly, but we wanted to make sure we controlled the line of scrimmage because that's huge, and we knew we wanted to get those big dogs going and that's what we did, and they didn't really have an answer for it."

Defensively, a pep talk from middle linebacker Daniel Green, got the Wildcats back on track after giving up 211 yards and three touchdowns in the first half.

"It was us not tackling well and getting off blocks," linebacker Austin Moore said of the defense's slow start. "We just picked up the intensity (in the second half).

"We had a little talk at halftime and Deuce Green kind of lit that and picked it up."

Safety Drake Cheatum led the defense with 10 tackles and forced a fumble at the KU 38-yard line that set up the only score by either team in the third quarter. Moore and freshman safety VJ Payne each had eight tackles each.

More:As a senior, Kansas State football receiver Malik Knowles is finally living up to the hype

With the Sunflower Showdown and senior night — K-State honored 28 seniors in a pregame ceremony — are out of the way, the Wildcats finally have achieved the goal of playing for a championship. Not that, they're satisfied with that.

"I wouldn't say we made it, like we've arrived," said offensive lineman Hadley Panzer. "We've still got to prepare and go through the week and then ultimately go out and execute.

"So just staying in that mindset that we haven't arrived yet. We've still got another week to prepare and then go out there and execute, so we're looking forward to it."

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.