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MANHATTAN, Kansas (Ticker) -- Sixth-ranked Kansas State picked off Mike Moschetti three times en route to a 20-point lead and remained unbeaten with a 20-14 victory over Colorado in a Big 12 Conference North battle. Moschetti rebounded from his early struggles to throw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Javon Green, but the Wildcats (9-0, 6-0 Big 12 North) were able to hold off the Buffaloes and set up next weekend's showdown with ninth-ranked Nebraska. "I think as far as being 9-0, it is fairly obvious," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said of the importance of the victory. "It just keeps us in the postion to get us where we want to go." As Nebraska beat Texas A&M today, next weekend's game will be for the North title and a spot in the conference championship game on December 4. "For me, it is how you play," added Snyder. "Whether you make an improvement or take a step back. For me, it is just a matter of being consistent with young people and making an improvement." Kansas State has won three in a row against Colorado (5-4, 4-2) for the first time in school history but still trails the all-time series, 39-15-1. "I think we are a good enough team to be in a bowl game," said Buffaloes coach Gary Barnett. "We have made a lot of strides this season. A bowl is our goal right now, but we need one or two more wins for that to happen." Kansas State's Jonathan Beasley threw for just 88 yards but 68 of them came on a first-quarter touchdown to Quincy Morgan. Jamie Rheem booted two field goals for Kansas State, which won its 27th straight regular-season game. The Wildcats are riding a 51-game winning streak over non-ranked opponents. Kansas State appeared to be well in control until Moschetti burned a usually stingy defense with a 70-yard TD pass to Green with 4:12 remaining, cutting the deficit to six points. "We had a game plan for the first half and the second half," said Green, who caught three passes for 139 yards. "K-State was not as potent as they used to be, but they played very well today." "One of the passes (to Green) was one-on-one and their guy did a better job than ours," said Snyder. "The other was an eight-yard pass where we missed some tackles and didn't do the job defensively." The Wildcats' ensuing drive lasted four plays and lost eight yards and Colorado regained possession on its own 39-yard line with 1:59 to play. But on the next play, Moschetti was sacked by defensive end Monty Beisel for a three-yard loss. Moschetti proceeded to throw three straight incompletions. He was 11-of-25 passes for 187 yards, trying to carry the load as Dwayne Cherrington was held to just 32 yards on 13 carries. Beasley completed 5-of-12 passes. His strike down the right sideline to Morgan with 1:53 left in the first quarter put the Wildcats on top. A blocked punt led to Joe Hall's three-yard TD run that gave Kansas State a 14-0 lead with 37 seconds remaining in the first half. Hall, a 6-2, 290-pound fullback, carried 18 times for 50 yards. "You just go out and use every advantage you can get," Buffaloes linebacker Jashon Sykes said of trying to tackle Hall. "You try to get there before he gets there." Rheem booted field goals of 20 and 42 yards within a 3:23 span of the third quarter, allowing the Wildcats to open a 20-point advantage. Rheem has made a school-record 15 straight field goal attempts. Kansas State's Aaron Lockett had one reception for 13 yards and moved into ninth place on the KSU career yardage list, passing Henry Childs, who totaled 1,365 yards from 1971-73. Lockett has 1,369 career receiving yards.
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