Kansas State 45, Nebraska 21

Saturday, October 23rd 2004, 7:10 pm

By: News On 6

MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) _ Backup quarterback Allen Webb rushed for 147 yards and scored four times and Darren Sproles broke two offensive records, leading Kansas State past Nebraska 45-21 Saturday.

Webb, starting in place of injured Dylan Meier, scored on runs of 13, 8, 1 and 9 yards for Kansas State (3-4, 1-3 Big 12), which broke a three-game losing streak. He would have tied Kansas State's single-game record with five TDs if he hadn't fumbled just as he was starting to cross the goal line in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats, who snapped a 29-game losing skid to the Huskers in 1998, have now beaten their former tormentors three years in a row and four of the last five.

Nebraska (4-3, 2-2) remains winless in Big 12 road games under first-year had coach Bill Callahan. The Huskers stayed in the game with two long pass plays and a defensive touchdown but collapsed in the fourth quarter with three consecutive turnovers that led to two Wildcats touchdowns.

Sproles rushed for 135 yards on 22 carries and scored on two short runs. His first, a 2-yard sprint, broke the school career record with his 41st touchdown. He also scored on a 3-yard run and raised his career all-purpose yards total to 6,010, breaking the Big 12 record held by former Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams of Texas.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, who never talks about injuries, had refused all week to say whether Webb or Dylan Meier would start. Meier, who ranks second in the Big 12 in passing, was hurt the week before against Oklahoma and was the clear favorite of fans.

But Webb, a 6-foot-3 sophomore, led the Wildcats on touchdown drives of 75 and 49 yards on their first two possessions.

Sproles turned a short pass into a 26-yard gain and Webb hit Yamon Figurs for 23 yards, setting up his 13-yard TD run.

Five minutes later, with the help of Sproles runs of 18 and 16 yards, Webb made it 14-0 with an 8-yard run.

Two long pass plays kept the Huskers in the game in the first two quarters despite Kansas State's near total domination, including an advantage in possession time of 8 minutes, 54 seconds to Kansas State's 21 minutes, 6 seconds.

Kansas State had 134 total yards to Nebraska's minus-2 when Cory Ross took a shovel pass from Joe Dailey and sped 63 yards to the 20.

On the next play, Brandon Jackson took a handoff and bulled through the middle of the Wildcats' defense to make it 14-7.

Sproles' record-breaking touchdown run had put the Wildcats up 21-7 when Terrence Nunn got behind the secondary and hauled in Dailey's pass for a 55-yard gain.

Three plays later, Jackson took it in from the 2 and the Huskers, despite being thoroughly outplayed, trailed only 21-14.

The Wildcats went up 24-14 in the final seconds of the half on Joe Rheem's 40-yard field goal.

Kansas State was attempting to punt from its own end zone in the third period when the center snap hit one of the up men. Nebraska's Daniel Bullocks picked up the ball on the 10 and took it in for the touchdown, bringing Nebraska to 24-21.

After Webb's 1-yard run put Kansas State on top 31-21, the Wildcats turned consecutive Nebraska turnovers into touchdowns, with Webb going 9 yards on one play and Sproles getting a 3-yard TD run a few minutes later.