Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – You can usually disregard the stat sheet when you play Kansas State. For years, the Wildcats have feasted on hidden yardage, special teams and turnovers.
 
And K-State's strong start this season under second-year coach Chris Klieman has been fueled by defensive touchdowns, punt returns and opponents' mistakes.
 
But not today. 
 
West Virginia (4-2) flipped the script on the 16^th-ranked Wildcats for a resounding 37-10 victory here at sun-soaked Milan Puskar Stadium this afternoon.
 
This afternoon's 27-point win before a COVID-19 reduced crowd of 10,441 was WVU's largest victory over a Top 25-team since defeating 14^th-ranked Clemson 70-33 in the 2012 Discover Orange Bowl.
 
"I thought it was a three-phase win," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said. "I thought we played well on offense, defense and special teams.
 
Today, the Mountaineers got a 301-yard passing performance from junior quarterback Jarret Doege, sophomore Bryce Ford-Wheaton caught three passes for 104 yards and Leddie Brown demonstrated once again why he must now be included in the conversation among the top running backs in the Big 12 Conference with his 102-yard rushing effort.
 
It was the junior's fourth 100-yard performance in six games to boost his season total to 694 yards. In West Virginia's current five-game winning streak over Kansas State, dating back to the Dana Holgorsen era, the Mountaineers' success running the football has been the difference against the Wildcats.
 
WVU outgained Kansas State 184 to 41 on the ground this afternoon.
 
"In our four wins, we've really done a good job of limiting rushing yards. In the two games we lost, Oklahoma State was right at 200, and I think Texas Tech was in the 180s, but only 41 rushing yards (today)," Brown said.
 
The game turned early in the second quarter when the Wildcats opted to try a Blake Lynch 52-yard field goal instead of pinning West Virginia deep in its own territory in a tight, 3-3 ballgame.
 
Lynch's kick landed well short of the goal post and WVU took possession of the football at its 34.
 
"We had our chances early," Klieman said. "Maybe punch that first score in rather than getting three; that didn't help us. We had a couple opportunities with good field position late in the first quarter or maybe early second. We didn't do anything with it."
 
Two plays after Lynch's miss, Bryce Ford-Wheaton got past a drawn-up Wildcats defense for a 58-yard reception to the K-State 7. That led to Doege's 5-yard touchdown toss to sophomore Ali Jennings in the back of the end zone.
 
Four minutes after that, West Virginia returned to the end zone when it got the ball at the 49 following a short Ty Zenter punt. On second and 12, Doege hooked up with T.J. Simmons for a 32-yard pass play to the Wildcat 21.
 
A Reese Smith 8-yard reception on third and 6 gave the Mountaineers a first and goal at the 9 where Brown took a Doege handoff and tight-roped the sideline for his eighth rushing touchdown of the season.
 
From that moment, Kansas State was in chase mode.
 
"Once we got to a three-plus score game we took the air out of it right there," Brown said. "We threw a couple of go-balls just because I was tired of getting free hits on our quarterbacks, but we took the air out of it."
 
West Virginia's lead swelled to 24-3 with 3:38 left in the second quarter when Doege connected with Winston Wright Jr. for a 15-yard touchdown.
 
K-State responded with its only touchdown of the game when Malik Knowles got behind corner Dreshun Miller for a 35-yard touchdown reception with 1:05 left in the half.
 
West Virginia (4-2) marched 67 yards on its opening possession of the third quarter to tack on three more when Casey Legg punched through a 25-yard field goal. 
 
Legg was in the game for regular kicker Evan Staley, who suffered a leg injury while covering a kickoff in the second quarter. Staley got West Virginia on the scoreboard in the first quarter with a 19-yard field goal and Legg also contributed a 45-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter for the game's final tally.
 
Things got completely away from Kansas State after Legg's first field goal when freshman quarterback's Will Howard's jailbreak screen pass to the far side of the field was tipped by Miller right into the arms of linebacker Dylan Tonkery, who raced 18 yards for a touchdown.
 
It was West Virginia's first defensive score this year and extended its streak to 12 straight years with at least one defensive touchdown, dating back to the 2007 season.
 
"I was really happy for Tonkery to get that (interception) in the end zone," Brown said. "One of our very own, so that was a great moment."
 
Howard, who performed so well in K-State's recent wins against TCU and Kansas after regular quarterback Skylar Thompson was lost for the season at Texas Tech, had a miserable afternoon against WVU's nationally ranked defense.
 
The Downingtown, Pennsylvania, resident completed just 19-of-37 passes for 184 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. Kansas State, the Big 12's leader in turnover margin, was minus-two in that category today.
 
The Mountaineer defense also completely bottled up freshman sensation Deuce Vaughn - the only player in the country with at least 300 yards rushing and 300 yards receiving heading into this weekend's action. Today, he finished with only 22 yards on nine rushes and was limited to two catches for one yard.
 
"We had some favorable matchups, and I thought we were relentless in our pursuit," Brown said. "If you are physical and you fly around you have a chance."
 
"I think they tackle as well as any defense that we've played this year," Klieman said. "I think that is the biggest key. They didn't allow him to break outside contain.
 
Overall, Kansas State (4-2) generated a season-low 225 total yards for an average of 3.75 yards per play. The prior low was 289 yards in a seven-point win at TCU.
 
"I thought it was our energy and our physicality across the board defensively," Brown noted.
 
Senior linebacker Tony Fields II led the defense with a season-high 15 tackles. In addition to Tonkery, West Virginia got interceptions from Nicktroy Fortune and Sean Mahone.
 
Jared Bartlett and Dante Stills were credited with sacks and Mahone, Tykee Smith, Akheem Mesidor, Jeffrey Pooler Jr. contributed to West Virginia's six tackles for loss.
 
West Virginia continues its five-week, five-game stretch of Big 12 games with next Saturday's matchup at Texas. The Longhorns are playing Oklahoma State this afternoon in Stillwater.
 
Kansas State will play host to Oklahoma State next Saturday.