KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles will force Oklahoma to use every bit of its big lead in the Bowl Championship Series standings.
Roberson threw four touchdown passes and Sproles rushed for 235 yards as No. 13 Kansas State defeated a top-ranked team for the first time in school history with a stunning 35-7 rout of the Sooners in the Big 12 Conference championship game.
"I am just glad we won," Sproles said. "We were the better team today. They are still a great team."
Oklahoma (12-1) had been told all week that it had an insurmountable lead in the BCS standings and would be assured of one of the top two spots in Sunday's final BCS standings, regardless of the outcome against Kansas State.
The Sooners played as if a seemingly guaranteed berth in the Sugar Bowl was good enough, showing little spark against the emotionally charged Wildcats.
"I'm not going to sit here and lobby our way into a bowl game," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "If the BCS says we're in, we're in."
Kansas State (11-3) clinched the first Big 12 title in school history and threw the oft-maligned BCS into chaos. Should the Sooners earn a Sugar Bowl berth, it would mark the second time in three years that a team will head to the national title game after a lopsided loss in its penultimate game. In 2001, Nebraska played in the Rose Bowl after being routed by Colorado.
The dominance by Kansas State, which scored 21 points in the second quarter, will lead to speculation whether the Sooners will fall far enough in the coaches and media polls to have an influence on the final BCS standings.
The loss also may hurt the Heisman Trophy candidacy of Oklahoma's Jason White, who was shut down by an aggressive defense led by linebacker Josh Buhl. White threw a pair of costly interceptions and often missed open receivers.
"As soon as they scored the first TD, we didn't want to let them have anything else," Buhl said. "Then the offense took over and after that, they didn't even try."
Safety James McGill had the first interception in the second quarter after the Sooners moved to the Kansas State 5, keeping the score at 14-7. The second interception was returned 27 yards for a score by linebacker Ted Sims in the fourth quarter, putting the game out of reach at 35-7.
White appeared to injure his right arm after being intercepted in the end zone in the first half but downplayed it.
"I'm fine," he said. "I have little bumps and bruises."
"Playing a championship game against one of the best teams in the country at this level, I can't tell you how much respect I have for the guy," Stoops added. "He injured his arm. He was getting knocked around. He was dazed."
The victory continued a remarkable turnaround at Kansas State, which won its seventh straight game after a three-game losing streak. It also was a sweet triumph for veteran coach Bill Snyder, who earned the biggest win in 15 years at the school.
Kansas State won its first league title of any kind since capturing the Big Six Conference crown in 1934.
"I'm excited about Ell, the toughest quarterback in the nation," Snyder said. "I'm excited about Darren Sproles. You want to vote for a Heisman, there's your Heisman."
"It sets the tone for years to come," Roberson added. "It's definitely (Snyder's) biggest win. Knocking off OU, the No. 1 team, nobody ever thought we'd do it - and getting into the BCS for the first time ever."
It was a bitter sendoff for Sooners co-defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, a one-time assistant under Snyder at Kansas State who watched his unit shredded by the Wildcats in his final game before taking over as coach at Arizona.
