With a help from the clock, Oklahoma State's defense gets the stop it needed

That, Blatnick said, was the most frustrating thing, knowing what was coming – Klein – and not being able to stop him.

“Klein is a big, physical quarterback and it's hard to bring him down,” said OSU cornerback Brodrick Brown. “We have to wrap up.”

The good news: the Cowboys aren't likely to see a quarterback remotely resembling Klein the rest of the way.

The bad news: on the down side of the turnover battle for a change, the OSU defense struggled to get stops. Right down to the final play.

The Cowboys seemed to finally be ending the Saturday night suspense when they went up 34-24 in the third quarter.

But soon enough, K-State led 38-37.

The Cowboys struck back to go ahead 45-38, only to see the 'Cats tie it 45-45.

The OSU offense, again, responded, with a touchdown to make it 52-45 with 2:16 to play.

Too much time to play.

K-State marched from its own 37 to the OSU 5, with a first-and-goal from there. Fortunately for the Cowboys, the clock was a factor, all but forcing Klein to throw.

On first down, his pass for Tyler Lockett in the end zone was broken up by Markelle Martin. And the Cats called their final time out with :05 showing.

On second down, Klein lobbed a throw to Chris Harper, with Brown making the play, but with a single second still showing on the clock.

With one final shot, Klein fired for Tramaine Thompson, a Jenks product, who had Justin Gilbert cut in front of him and was unable to adjust to the ball in the air.

Ball game.

“The first thing I thought when the clock hit zero was, ‘Thank God, it's over,'” Brown said. “We did it again. We made a stop when we needed it.”

Barely.

“It gets scary there at the 5,” Blatnick said. “But that's good, fear is a good motivator.

“I'm exhausted. I'm dead dog tired. We've got to make plays. We had them in third-and-long and let Klein slip out. Those are the plays that kill you.

We'll get it fixed.

“But I'm still happy.”