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K-State 44, Oklahoma State 30: Let the speculation commence

K-State built a comfortable lead in the first half and then held on for a 44-30 win over Oklahoma State. But with Collin Klein making an early exit from the game and all the other undefeated teams winning, the real questions begin now.

By TB
Ed Zurga

It wasn't easy, but it was a win.

A 24-point second quarter gave K-State a 31-17 halftime lead, and it looked like the Wildcats were on cruise control. And though Oklahoma State never cut the margin to less than 14 the rest of the way, it sure didn't feel like an easy win.

Even with the win, we face a week of speculation and uncertainty. Heisman frontrunner Collin Klein exited the game in the third quarter. While K-State held a relatively comfortable 38-20 lead at the time of Klein's exit, it would be out of character for Bill Snyder to pull his starting quarterback so early.

So now the speculation begins, on two fronts. First, we will probably have to endure a week of agonizing over Klein's status. I didn't hear Snyder's postgame remarks, but he's usually tighter with injury information than someone who grew up during the Great Depression is with a dollar. It certainly didn't look like Klein suffered a serious injury, although he clearly favored his wrist on the final scoring drive. But even after the apparent injury, he threw several nice passes to move the Wildcats down the field.

Because I don't follow Twitter during the game, I could have missed something, and feel free to fill me in down in the comments if I did. But just speculating, it seemed like Oklahoma State was playing rather, uhh, aggressively, especially after Wes Lunt was injured. Maybe the Cowboys thought we did something untoward to injure Lunt, and were trying to retaliate. But I definitely missed it if there was anything dirty about Lunt's injury.

The second front for speculation regards the BCS standings. All four undefeated teams stayed that way today, although not in uniformly impressive fashion. Notre Dame trailed by two touchdowns going into the fourth quarter before pulling out a win in triple overtime over hapless Pitt. That should help K-State. Oregon beat USC in a 62-52 shootout, which is an impressive win, but exposes some questions about the Ducks' defense. And Alabama tried its damnedest to make K-State the No. 1 team in the nation, but the Crimson Tide scored a late touchdown to pull out a win in Death Valley.

Barring a striking move from Oregon, K-State should remain No. 2 in the BCS standings this week. We'll have an open thread for the unveiling of the new rankings tomorrow night.