Kansas State University Athletics
The Growing Confidence of Joe Jackson
Nov 24, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
He sat at the table in silence. Instead of smiling in a black windbreaker soaked from a celebratory water-bottle bath, Joe Jackson, who had just rushed for more yards in a single game than any player in the history of Kansas State football, sat in only his postgame sweats, quietly licking the collective wounds of a last-minute 51-47 loss at No. 12 Utah on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The No. 4 jersey associated with arguably the finest defensive back in K-State history — Terence Newman — now is shared with a 6-foot, 212-pound sophomore running back from Haines City, Florida, who in just his 23rd career game and ninth start, darted and powered and sprinted and twisted for a school-record 293 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries, eclipsing the previous school record of 292 rushing yards by College Football Hall of Famer Darren Sproles in a game against Louisiana in 2004.
Jackson, who rushed for a total of 277 yards all of last season, and who entered Utah with 476 rushing yards on 119 carries and two touchdowns this season, raced to 236 rushing yards against the Utes by halftime — which marked the most rushing yards ever produced by an opposing player at Rice-Eccles Stadium, and the most by a FBS player in a first half this season.
By the time Jackson signed off with one final rush with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter, he had amassed the second most rushing yards by a FBS player this season, the 12th most by a player in a Big 12 Conference game in league history, and the most by a Big 12 player since Oklahoma State's Chubba Hubbard rushed for 296 yards in a game in 2019.
Asked what it meant to break Sproles single-game rushing record, Jackson, seeming somewhat shocked, replied, "Say that again?"
Asked again what it meant to topple Sproles' single-game rushing mark, which had stood for 21 years, Jackson replied, "Oh yeah, they just told me. Man, I give all the glory to God. It means a lot. It means a lot.
"I couldn't do it without my team."
Jackson powered a K-State offense that recorded a school-record 472 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns while averaging 11.2 yards per carry for the Wildcats, whose 574 total yards of offense was the eight-best offensive output in school history.
"You see that confidence growing within him," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said a couple of weeks prior to Jackson's outburst. "Joe has better football in him. I tell you what, he's running hard, physical. I'm happy for Joe. He's stepped up."
Jackson had touchdown runs of 66, 80 and 24 yards. His 80-yard run tied for the eighth-longest rush in school history and the longest since Deuce Vaughn's 88-yard run against Alabama in the 2022 Sugar Bowl. K-State had totaled two rushing plays of 50-plus yards through 10 games this season. Jackson had two — 66 and 80 yards — all by himself in the first two quarters against the Utes.
"It was awesome," K-State offensive lineman John Pastore said. "Seeing your running back break tackles, the offensive line loved that. You want to block for a guy like Joe. He breaks tackles. You want to block for a guy like Joe. He played his butt off tonight."
Jackson's record-setting accomplishments came as K-State entered the game 89th in the FBS in averaging just 137.8 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats previous season high was 266 rushing yards against UCF on September 27. It marked the only time K-State amassed 200 rushing yards in a game this season prior to Saturday in Salt Lake City.
"We'd been struggling running the ball all year," said Jackson, whose previous career high was 110 rushing yards on 27 carries against TCU on October 11 — his only 100-yard rushing performance prior to Utah. "We knew if we came in here and dominated the run game it'd give us the best chance to win. We grinded throughout the week to get the ground game going. That was the key to it.
"Once we got that mindset, I didn't think anything could hold us back."
The process began in practice in the days leading up to the first-ever meeting against Utah.
"We wanted to establish what K-State is, which is running the football," Pastore said. "All week, we ran the ball, ran the ball, ran the ball. It was a mindset we were going to run the ball this week."
And Jackson ran, and he ran some more, and at times it felt like nobody could stop him. While his 66-yard touchdown brought K-State to life, his 80-yard jaunt moments later proved something special was brewing against one of the top teams in the country.
In the end, Jackson sat in silence moments after the ear-ringing died down from a postgame celebration at Rice-Eccles Stadium that shook college football as the Utes stamped their furious comeback with a game-winning touchdown with 56 seconds left.
Jackson had the K-State single-game rushing record. He happily would've traded it for a win that would've given the heavy-underdog Wildcats an incredible victory and launched them to bowl eligibility with one game remaining in the regular season.
As for the record?
"It definitely means a lot," he said. "That's something pretty special. Yeah, it means a lot."
But Jackson was heartbroken.
"There's a lot of hurt going on right now," he said. "Like I told the guys in the locker room, I'm so proud of them and of this team. This just showed us how much it means to us because we grind out all week, and we came here as big underdogs. We had the power of belief in us.
"I'm unbelievably proud of that."
He sat at the table in silence. Instead of smiling in a black windbreaker soaked from a celebratory water-bottle bath, Joe Jackson, who had just rushed for more yards in a single game than any player in the history of Kansas State football, sat in only his postgame sweats, quietly licking the collective wounds of a last-minute 51-47 loss at No. 12 Utah on Saturday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah.
The No. 4 jersey associated with arguably the finest defensive back in K-State history — Terence Newman — now is shared with a 6-foot, 212-pound sophomore running back from Haines City, Florida, who in just his 23rd career game and ninth start, darted and powered and sprinted and twisted for a school-record 293 rushing yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries, eclipsing the previous school record of 292 rushing yards by College Football Hall of Famer Darren Sproles in a game against Louisiana in 2004.
Jackson, who rushed for a total of 277 yards all of last season, and who entered Utah with 476 rushing yards on 119 carries and two touchdowns this season, raced to 236 rushing yards against the Utes by halftime — which marked the most rushing yards ever produced by an opposing player at Rice-Eccles Stadium, and the most by a FBS player in a first half this season.
By the time Jackson signed off with one final rush with 2 minutes, 43 seconds left in the fourth quarter, he had amassed the second most rushing yards by a FBS player this season, the 12th most by a player in a Big 12 Conference game in league history, and the most by a Big 12 player since Oklahoma State's Chubba Hubbard rushed for 296 yards in a game in 2019.
Asked what it meant to break Sproles single-game rushing record, Jackson, seeming somewhat shocked, replied, "Say that again?"
Asked again what it meant to topple Sproles' single-game rushing mark, which had stood for 21 years, Jackson replied, "Oh yeah, they just told me. Man, I give all the glory to God. It means a lot. It means a lot.
"I couldn't do it without my team."
Jackson powered a K-State offense that recorded a school-record 472 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns while averaging 11.2 yards per carry for the Wildcats, whose 574 total yards of offense was the eight-best offensive output in school history.
"You see that confidence growing within him," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said a couple of weeks prior to Jackson's outburst. "Joe has better football in him. I tell you what, he's running hard, physical. I'm happy for Joe. He's stepped up."
Jackson had touchdown runs of 66, 80 and 24 yards. His 80-yard run tied for the eighth-longest rush in school history and the longest since Deuce Vaughn's 88-yard run against Alabama in the 2022 Sugar Bowl. K-State had totaled two rushing plays of 50-plus yards through 10 games this season. Jackson had two — 66 and 80 yards — all by himself in the first two quarters against the Utes.
"It was awesome," K-State offensive lineman John Pastore said. "Seeing your running back break tackles, the offensive line loved that. You want to block for a guy like Joe. He breaks tackles. You want to block for a guy like Joe. He played his butt off tonight."
Jackson's record-setting accomplishments came as K-State entered the game 89th in the FBS in averaging just 137.8 rushing yards per game. The Wildcats previous season high was 266 rushing yards against UCF on September 27. It marked the only time K-State amassed 200 rushing yards in a game this season prior to Saturday in Salt Lake City.
"We'd been struggling running the ball all year," said Jackson, whose previous career high was 110 rushing yards on 27 carries against TCU on October 11 — his only 100-yard rushing performance prior to Utah. "We knew if we came in here and dominated the run game it'd give us the best chance to win. We grinded throughout the week to get the ground game going. That was the key to it.
"Once we got that mindset, I didn't think anything could hold us back."
The process began in practice in the days leading up to the first-ever meeting against Utah.
"We wanted to establish what K-State is, which is running the football," Pastore said. "All week, we ran the ball, ran the ball, ran the ball. It was a mindset we were going to run the ball this week."
And Jackson ran, and he ran some more, and at times it felt like nobody could stop him. While his 66-yard touchdown brought K-State to life, his 80-yard jaunt moments later proved something special was brewing against one of the top teams in the country.
In the end, Jackson sat in silence moments after the ear-ringing died down from a postgame celebration at Rice-Eccles Stadium that shook college football as the Utes stamped their furious comeback with a game-winning touchdown with 56 seconds left.
Jackson had the K-State single-game rushing record. He happily would've traded it for a win that would've given the heavy-underdog Wildcats an incredible victory and launched them to bowl eligibility with one game remaining in the regular season.
As for the record?
"It definitely means a lot," he said. "That's something pretty special. Yeah, it means a lot."
But Jackson was heartbroken.
"There's a lot of hurt going on right now," he said. "Like I told the guys in the locker room, I'm so proud of them and of this team. This just showed us how much it means to us because we grind out all week, and we came here as big underdogs. We had the power of belief in us.
"I'm unbelievably proud of that."
Players Mentioned
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