Freeman totals 5 TDs to lead K-State's rout of North Texas

 

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Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	12	26
Total Yards	205	471
Passing	100	306
Rushing	105	165
Penalties	6-29	4-30
3rd Down Conversions	2-13	9-15
4th Down Conversions	0-0	1-1
Turnovers	0	2
Possession	26:11	33:49

Air/Ground Leaders
North Texas Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Vizza 16/29 100 1 0	Kansas State Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Freeman 18/24 232 3 0 Coffman 9/18 74 0 1
North Texas Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Montgomery 8 62 0 18 Mosely 10 56 0 18	Kansas State Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Valentine 13 65 1 12 Dold 9 53 0 19
North Texas Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Dibrell 5 35 0 12 Fitzgerald 6 31 0 7	Kansas State Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Banks 3 88 2 43 Quarles 6 57 0 14

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				UNT	KSU
	TD	13:03	Keithen Valentine 4 Yd Run (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 1 plays, 0 yds, :05	0	7
	TD	02:11	Josh Freeman 1 Yd Run (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 13 plays, 80 yds, 6:07	0	14
SECOND QUARTER				UNT	KSU
	TD	09:38	Brandon Banks 30 Yd Pass From Josh Freeman (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 7 plays, 71 yds, 2:54	0	21
	TD	02:03	Lamark Brown 6 Yd Pass From Josh Freeman (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 11 plays, 73 yds, 5:42	0	28
THIRD QUARTER				UNT	KSU
	TD	14:01	Brandon Banks 43 Yd Pass From Josh Freeman (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 3 plays, 43 yds, :59	0	35
	TD	09:17	Josh Freeman 8 Yd Run (Brooks Rossman Kick) Drive: 10 plays, 68 yds, 3:55	0	42
	TD	00:05	Alex Lott 9 Yd Pass From Giovanni Vizza (Pat Blocked) Drive: 3 plays, 15 yds, :53	6	42
FOURTH QUARTER				UNT	KSU
	FG	00:06	Brooks Rossman 28 Yd Drive: 12 plays, 58 yds, 5:04	6	45

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- Josh Freeman threw two of his three touchdown passes to Brandon Banks and ran for two more scores, helping Kansas State beat North Texas 45-6 Saturday night in another easy home opener for the Wildcats.

Kansas State overpowered North Texas on both sides of the ball, scoring on six of its first seven possessions to take a 42-0 lead, holding the Mean Green to 205 total yards -- 81 in the first half.

Freeman was quietly efficient to open his third season as Kansas State's starter, connecting with Banks on a 30-yard touchdown in the second quarter, then on a 43-yarder to put the Wildcats up 35-0 less than a minute into the second half.

Freeman also hit Lamark Brown on 6-yard touchdown pass late in the second quarter, finishing 18-for-24 for 232 yards to pass Chad May and Carl Straw for second on Kansas State's all-time passing list (5,365). He scored on a 1-yard run in the first quarter and on an 8-yarder midway through the third.

It wasn't much of a surprise; the Wildcats have a habit of routing teams from smaller conferences, especially in home openers.

Kansas State is 50-3 at home in non-conference since 1990, just four of those games against schools from BCS conferences. The Wildcats also have won 14 straight home openers, none against BCS teams.

North Texas found itself in familiar territory as well, opening the season with a lopsided loss to a Big 12 school for the fourth time in five seasons. The Mean Green lost 79-10 to Oklahoma last year, 56-7 to Texas the year before and 65-0 to the Longhorns in 2004.

North Texas at least figured to give the Wildcats some trouble defensively.

Running the spread in Todd Dodge's first season as coach, the Mean Green had the nation's 18th-best passing offense at 289.7 yards per game a year ago, with quarterback Giovanni Vizza throwing for 2,388 yards and 17 touchdowns in 10 games.

Kansas State manhandled North Texas from the start in this one, all but eliminating its running game, confining Vizza to throws underneath.

The Mean Green had poor field position most of the game, thanks to three muffed kickoff returns, and didn't score until Vizza hit Alex Lott on a 9-yard touchdown pass with 5 seconds left in the third quarter. That score, which made it 42-6, came after Kansas State backup Carson Coffman threw an interception inside the Wildcats' 30-yard line.

Vizza finished 16-for-29 for 100 yards.

The Wildcats overwhelmed North Texas on offense as well, scoring less than two minutes into the game on a 4-yard run by walk-on Keithen Valentine on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead.