Once again, Kansas falls apart late. Once again, K-State wins.
Avery Johnson threw for two touchdowns, DJ Giddens returned to the 100-yard club, and Chris Tennant drilled a 51-yard field goal that would’ve been good from 60 to put Kansas State up late, and the defense swarmed all over Jalon Daniels to preserve a 29-27 win at Bill Snyder Family Stadium tonight.
The next time Kansas and Kansas State meet on the football field, it will have been over 6000 days since the Jayhawks walked off winners; the victory is the 16th in a row for the Wildcats.
The Jayhawk offense gave K-State (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) fits on the opening drive, which ended in only six minutes with a 38-yard rushing touchdown by Sevion Morrison after three failed attempts to stop Kansas on third down.
The Cats picked up a couple of first downs, but had to punt from midfield. They once again had trouble stopping the Jayhawk offense, partially as a result of Brendan Mott being held on every single play without any laundry hitting the field. Only a drop by Quentin Skinner on a bomb from Jaylon Daniels prevented Kansas (2-6, 1-4 Big 12) from extending the lead. The defense finally got a stop on the following play, forcing a punt.
Johnson dunked his way downfield, connecting twice with Keagan Johnson and Will Anciaux; the second catch by the latter was a 24-yard touchdown to tie the game and give Anciaux the team lead in touchdown receptions by a tight end. Coming into the game, the four primary tight ends had been tied with two touchdowns each.
On the ensuing kickoff, Jameel Croft caught the ball and stepped out at the one. Originally, the refs ruled the kick out of bounds but on review it was confirmed that Croft had landed in bounds with possession before stepping out. A play later, Devin Neal was stuffed behind the line of scrimmage by Damian Ilalio for a safety, and the Cats had the lead and the ball.
Johnson used his legs to convert a long third down near midfield, then found Dante Cephas for 13 and Jayce Brown for 25, getting down to the Kansas 2. Two plays later, Johnson threw a pop pass to Garrett Oakley, tying the tight end race again and giving K-State a 16-7 lead.
Kansas simply raced downfield, starting with a 36-yard completion to Trevor Wilson on the first play of the drive and aided later by a pass interference call on VJ Payne which got the Jayhawks into the red zone. Daniels then tossed a 10-yard pass to Luke Grimm on 3rd-and-7, closing the gap to 16-14.
K-State couldn’t get going with under three minutes left in the half and had to punt just after the two-minute timeout. Daniels dumped his way downfield, but Marquis Sigle picked him off in the end zone and returned the ball to midfield. K-State wasn’t able to capitalize, however, and the half ended with K-State still clinging to a two-point lead.
On the second play of the half, after weeks of never sending DJ Giddens outside, K-State finally did it and he ran 54 yards before being corralled. Two plays later, Johnson scored on a 10-yard run.
Kansas answered, again churning its way downfield before a 24-yard scoring run by Neal. Tabor Allen doinked the extra point, though, leaving K-State with a 23-20 lead.
Another 40-plus yard run anchored the next Wildcat drive, as Dylan Edwards raced 44 yards to the Kansas 21, but Johnson fumbled on the next play and the Jayhawks recovered. The Cats held on third down just inside midfield, and Kansas punted but it went too far and came back out to the 20.
A 3-and-out basically gave Kansas the ball back where they punted from, and Daniels aired it out to Grimm for 42 yards and into the red zone. Two plays later the Jayhawks had the lead when Daniels ran it in from eight yards out.
Johnson and Johnson responded with a 34-yard catch-and-run, then Avery legged out another first down to end the third quarter at the Jayhawk 30. Johnson then hit Edwards for 19, and the drive immediately stalled. Two incompletions to Anciaux forced a 28-yard field goal by Chris Tennant, but Kansas still led 27-26.
A beautiful pass breakup by Keenan Garber salvaged a 3-and-out, giving K-State another shot, but they failed to take advantage, kicking it right back. The defense finally got to Daniels, with Desmond Purnell credited for sacking him for a huge loss on 3rd-and-long when Daniels was flagged for intentional grounding. A poor punt gave the Cats possession at midfield.
Cephas made a nice sideline grab for a first down, but Johnson ate a 13-yard sack two plays later setting up 3rd-and-20. Two plays later, Cephas failed to catch a pass that was in his hands, and the Cats turned it over on downs with four minutes to go. Even the broadcasters allowed that pass interference should have been called.
Trying to kill the clock, Daniels ran the ball on 2nd-and-13 and fumbled; Brendan Mott recovered at midfield. Giddens bulled his way forward for 7, hitting the 100-yard mark. Two plays later, Johnson picked up six to move the chains and get into Tennant’s field goal range.
They wouldn’t get any further, and Johnson nearly threw an interception on 3rd-and-8.
And then Tennant hit from 51 yards out to give K-State a 29-27 lead.
Kansas picked up one first down, but the Wildcats forced 3rd-and-7 at the 49. K-State poured in on the all-out blitz, and Daniels escaped initially… but was hit and fumbled the ball out of bounds short of the sticks, allowing K-State to kneel out the clock.
Johnson was 19-24 for 253 yards with two touchdowns. Giddens had 102 yards on 18 carries, while Johnson added 67 on 14 and Edwards had 60 on 3. Brown again led the receivers with 98 yards on 5 catches; Keagan Johnson was 4-57, Anciaux, Cephas, and Edwards had two catches each, while Giddens, Oakley, Will Swanson, and Jadon Jackson each had one.
The Cats outgained Kansas in every category: 479-401 overall, 253-209 in the air, and 226-192 rushing. K-State was penalized four times for 50 yards, while KU was 5-25. After starting the game 7-8 on third down, the Cats locked down and held the Jayhawks to 1-5 the rest of the way. The turnover battle was won by the Wildcats, 2-1, as was time of possession at 32:20-27:40.
WHAT WE LEARNED
1) DJ Giddens HAS to be given outside rushing plays.
Look, nobody in the nation is more punishing running up the middle than Giddens. But when every time you hand him the ball he’s running between the tackles, defenses scheme to stop him.
We observed it last week against West Virginia, and K-State kept doing it in the first half. They finally called an edge rush for Giddens, and it resulted in 54 yards.
2) K-State’s defense is still having issues with mobile quarterbacks.
In the first five games, the Wildcats faced quarterbacks who weren’t real running threats. Two weeks in a row now, they’ve faced dual-threat guys and gotten burned badly. One has to question whether the defense, which is built on blitzing and pursuit, is leaving itself open for this sort of abuse.
That said: the Wildcat defense was nails in the fourth quarter, and things may have been complicated due to Asa Newsom being injured on the opening kickoff and not returning to the field.
3) Do officials know what holding is anymore?
We really hate to complain about the zebras in this space, but for the first 20 minutes of this game Brendan Mott was held on every single passing play, and most of them were blatantly obvious — including Mott being literally tackled twice. No flags.
Something has to be done about this, and don’t get it twisted, K-State probably gets away with its share of holding too. Maybe another official in the offensive backfield, or an official in the booth. It’s one thing for ticky-tack holds to be no-called. It’s another entirely when guys are getting flat-out tackled by offensive linemen.
4) The receiving corps is, on the whole, improving quickly.
Most of Johnson’s incompletions were overthrown balls. Receivers have been getting open in space, and the tight ends have been a tremendous unit. Earlier in the season we blamed the passing woes on the receivers, and that was accurate at the time. Tonight, it was Avery missing targets. But still, eight guys caught balls tonight, indicating that Avery’s able to spread the love around.
Except for the second red zone incompletion to Anciaux on the drive which ended with a field goal, which was just… bad.
5) We will no longer allow Chris Tennant slander.
You have been warned.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Offense? Defense? Sit down. Nobody stood out enough to earn the award over their teammates. The offense was perfectly balanced tonight, while the defense was very mid for three quarters and then perfect for the final fifteen minutes, and pretty much every member of the unit had a hand in matters.
No, our player of the game this week is neither; it’s Chris Tennant, who earned every bit of it.
NEXT
What’s this? An afternoon game? The Cats are on the road again, and the Houston Cougars are waiting for a 2:30 kick on FOX.