No. 13 Texas 24, No. 16 Kansas St. 20

No. 13 Texas 24, No. 16 Kansas St. 20
By JIM VERTUNO
AP Sports Writer
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas answered its critics Saturday. The Longhorns can tough it out to win a big game.
Freshman Vince Young shook off a sore right ankle to rally the Longhorns with his running and passing and scored the winning touchdown from a yard out on fourth down with five minutes left as No. 13 Texas beat No. 16 Kansas State 24-20.
The Longhorns (4-1, 1-0 Big 12), whose reputation suffered a beating after a 38-28 home loss to Arkansas on Sept. 13, will face No. 1 Oklahoma next week in Dallas.
For Kansas State (4-2, 0-1), the Wildcats' second straight loss labels them once again as a pretenders for the national title and knocks them completely out of the chase.
Young limped off the field in pain after rolling his ankle on a sack in the third quarter. He returned in the fourth to lead Texas to the winning score after Chance Mock had little success getting the offense moving.
Young's dive over the top of the line capped an 88-yard drive that started after Texas recovered Kansas State quarterback Ell Roberson's fumble.
The big play in the drive came when Young uncorked a 52-yard pass to Tony Jeffery, who scored the game's first touchdown on a blocked punt in the first quarter. Jeffery over cornerback Cedrick Williams to make the grab, and Young scored five plays later.
The Longhorns gambled by not going for a tying field goal and Young's stretch with his 6-foot-5 frame made it pay off.
Roberson's fumble marred what was almost a spectacular return for the quarterback who missed K-State's loss to Marshall because of a hand injury.
Roberson ran for 87 yards and two touchdowns -- including a 1-yard run that gave the Wildcats a 20-17 lead. But he also had three turnovers with two interceptions, including one in the end zone that killed a scoring chance late in the first half.
Instead, it was Young who grabbed the spotlight.
Although he's No. 2 in the Longhorns' quarterback rotation with Mock, Young took a huge step in taking control of the offense.
Taking a cue from the K-State playbook, Young piled up a team-high 80 yards rushing on options and draw plays and threw for 69 yards.
Mock, who started the game and played most of the first half, threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to Sloan Thomas that gave Texas a 17-3 lead, but he was ineffective in the second half.
Roberson looked as though he would be the hero. His spinning, weaving 27-yard touchdown run in the third cut Texas' lead to 17-10 and a long completion to James Terry set up the second score.
But just when the Wildcats looked to put the game away after getting a fumble deep in Texas territory, the momentum turned on Roberson's fumble.
Texas had to fight for every yard against a stiff Wildcats defense.
After rolling to wins of 48-7 and 63-18 over Rice and Tulane, the Longhorns had just 290 total yards and gave up six sacks. Only Young's ability to dance around rushers kept it from being more.
Texas scored first on special teams when Michael Huff blocked a punt that Jeffery recovered in the end zone. Huff was so quick getting past the line that he got to the ball before punter Jared Brite even got a foot on it.
Young then used his first drive to grind out 11-play drive for a 22-yard field goal by Dusty Mangum.
Kansas State made it 10-3 on Joe Rheem's 41 yard field goal before Texas, which led the nation in scoring coming into the game, scored its first offensive touchdown when Mock floated a perfect deep pass to Thomas with 1:09 left in the half.