Kansas State football starts Will Howard at quarterback against Oklahoma State

MANHATTAN — Apparently the pregame warmup was an elaborate smoke screen.

Adrian Martinez, who left last week's game at TCU after one series with a knee injury, went through pregame warmups with the first team, but it was backup Will Howard who took the field for the start of the game Saturday against Oklahoma State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Howard got off to a great start, leading the Wildcats on a nine-play, 77-yard scoring drive, capped with a 38-yard touchdown strike to Kade Warner on fourth down.

Martinez, who started each of K-State's first six games, was listed as a game-time decision all week.

After Martinez left the TCU game, a 38-28 Wildcat loss, Howard led K-State to touchdowns on each of his first possessions.

Against TCU, Martinez ran twice for yards, including an 11-yarder on the game's first play, and completed 1 of 2 passes for 7 yards. Howard, making his first appearance of the season, was 13 of 20 passing for 225 yards and two touchdowns, plus scored on a 1-yard quarterback sneak.

For the season, Martinez came in having completed 62.1% of his passes for 907 yards and four touchdowns without an interception, and was second on the team to Deuce Vaughn with 565 rushing yards and a team-high nine scores.

K-State coach Chris Klieman said he would still prefer to redshirt Howard, a junior, who played in nine games as a true freshman and six last year when starter Skylar Thompson was injured. Howard can appear in four games without sacrificing the redshirt.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State names Will Howard starting quarterback vs. Oklahoma State