PROVO, Utah — BYU’s defense forced three turnovers, Jake Retzlaff threw for 149 yards and two touchdowns and Parker Kingston had a highlight: a 90-yard punt return touchdown in a 38-9 win over No. 13 Kansas State on Saturday night.

Sione Moa added a career-high 76 yards and a score on the ground. The Cougars (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) snapped a five-game losing streak against Big 12 opponents in emphatic fashion.

“A lot of people were surprised by this. They didn’t really think we could do this,” Moa said. “This is not a surprise to us. We know how much work we’ve put into getting to this point.”

Avery Johnson had 204 yards of total offense for the Wildcats, but also threw a pair of interceptions. DJ Giddens rushed for 93 yards on 19 carries as Kansas State (3-1, 0-1) fell to 0-4 all-time in Provo despite totaling 224 rushing yards. The Wildcats went without a touchdown in a game for the first time since 2020.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times and we’ve got to score touchdowns,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to pay attention to the football if you want to win games.”

BYU scored two touchdowns with 39 seconds between them before halftime after forcing Kansas State into two straight turnovers.

Jack Kelly stole the ball from Giddens on a third-down run and Tommy Prassas took the fumble 30 yards to the house, giving the Cougars their first lead, 10-6. Tyler Batty intercepted Johnson two plays later at the Wildcats’ 29-yard line. His takeaway led to a 23-yard touchdown catch by Chase Roberts, giving BYU a 17-6 lead into halftime.

“You have to make them earn everything and we finally cracked the code a little bit, forced some turnovers and created some momentum and then you saw the results,” BYU coach Kalani Sitake said.

Johnson threw his second interception to Harrison Taggart on Kansas State’s opening drive of the second half. Taggart’s pick and a subsequent 24-yard sprint by Moa led to a 3-yard TD catch by Darius Lassiter and extended BYU’s lead to 24-6.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, Kingston nearly lost the ensuing punt, but was able to pick up the ball, drive to the far sideline and run 90 yards for a touchdown. His score put BYU up 31-6 with less than five minutes left in the third quarter.

“It was mind-boggling to see that,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. “We got embarrassed and that hasn’t happened here since the year of COVID.”

A 22-yard touchdown run by Moa early in the fourth quarter capped the night for the Cougars.