DJ GIddens and Avery Johnson did some things as the Cats escaped Boulder still alive.
The Kansas State Wildcats were in control for much of the 60 minutes at Folsom Field, but a wild final few minutes saw the Colorado Buffaloes take a late lead before Avery Johnson launched a game-winning 50-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown as the Cats escaped Boulder with a 31-28 win tonight.
DJ Giddens rushed for 187 yards, helping K-State control much of the game, but some inexplicable play-calling late allowed Colorado to get back into the game, and then take the lead. But it only took K-State two plays to regain control, and a 4th-down incompletion by Shedeur Sanders allowed K-State to run out the clock.
The win keeps K-State on schedule for a potential playoff invitation, and removes one of the last serious obstacles; two problematic road games remain.
The Wildcat defense opened with a 3-and-out, but the offense had to punt from the 15 after an intentional grounding, giving Colorado the ball at midfield. The Cats forced 4th-and-7, but the Buffs converted. A sack by Brendan Mott pushed the Buffs back, but then Sanders hit a wide-open LaJohntay Wester on a screen for a touchdown to get Colorado on the board first. During a sideline interview at the start of the second quarter, Chris Klieman implied the uncovered Wester was a result of the defensive staff not getting the call in to the players in time.
The Cats marched back downfield, mostly on the legs of Giddens and Dylan Edwards before a 4th-and-4 at the Colorado 8. Johnson scrambled, stretching at the goal line for a touchdown which stood on review to tie the game. After the score, Johnson hopped up and did the Deion Dance, which certainly either delighted or infuriated the Colorado head coach.
Colorado was forced to punt on their possession, pinning the Wildcats at their own 4-yard line. No matter; Giddens ran up the middle for 26 yards for breathing room, and had another 13-yard gain for a first down two plays later. But the drive stalled, and Johnson was sacked again, and K-State had to punt. Colorado then got to midfield, but sack of Sanders by Travis Bates with an assist from Mott forced a punt which Edwards returned 20 yards to the Buff 40.
Giddens ran the ball six straight times, for 50 yards, but was shaken up on the final rush at the Buffalo 10-yard line. Edwards took over and nearly scored, being ruled out at the one; Edwards got the last yard on the next play to put the Cats up 14-7.
Sanders moved the Buff offense in response, but ate a 16-yard loss on a Desmond Purnell sack with — you guessed it, an assist from Mott. Two plays later, Mott did the job himself, forcing Sanders into an intentional grounding call, and the half ended on that note.
After the break, Jadon Jackson picked up a first down on 3rd-and-1, but was injured; a play later, Johnson hit Jayce Brown for 33 yards then left the game himself due to a non-contact injury which looked like an oblique pull, and he headed to the locker room. That brought Ta’Quan Roberson into the game, who found Brown for 14 on third down to get into the red zone. A Giddens run got the Cats to the four for a 3rd-and-3, and then he pushed in for what was initially ruled a touchdown on the next play, but his knee was down at the one, and to add insult to injury didn’t even get the first down. Johnson returned from the locker room, and handed off to Giddens… who did not score, but did move the chains to give the Cats four more plays.
The first was not good, as Giddens was stopped cold, but Johnson hit Brown on a quick slant and Brown got the ball on the ground over the line to extend the lead to 21-7 after an 8:05 drive.
The ensuing drive was an absolute mess. K-State had four different players leave the field due to injury or cramps, culminating with Jacob Parrish getting laid out by Nickendre Stiger in a friendly-fire incident. Sanders hit Will Sheppard for a seven-yard touchdown on the next play.
Devon Rice returned the ensuing kickoff nearly to midfield, and on 3rd-and-14 Johnson found Jackson for a first down. On 3rd-and-8 from the 30, a wide-open Giddens dropped a pass that would have moved the chains; Chris Tennant came on to make it a two-score game again at 24-14 with a 48-yard field goal.
Ryan Davis started the Buff drive by sacking Sanders, and then the third quarter ended. A 24-yard completion to Omarion Miller was followed by an 18-yard loss on intentional grounding, credited as a sack to Cody Stufflebean. But Sanders launched a 51-yard pass to Miller in response, who then left the game to join Travis Hunter and Jimmy Horn — the three leading receivers for the Buffs. On the next play, Sanders threw the ball directly to VJ Payne, without a Colorado receiver within a dozen yards, ending the threat.
The Cats did nothing on their possession, and Colorado moved into Wildcat territory before facing 4th-and-3 at the 38 with eight minutes to go. Colorado buffaloed their way downfield, finally scoring on a 2-yard run by Isaiah Augustave to get within a score.
K-State quickly got into Buffalo territory, but inexplicably decided to try to throw their way to a first down and two passes went incomplete under desperate pressure from the Colorado defense instead of running. On 4th-and-6, Johnson was picked off by Colton Hood, who ran it back 59 yards before stumbling and falling at the K-State 17. Sanders hit Wester from 11 yards out two plays later, and Colorado had a 28-24 lead.
A Johnson play-fake resulted in a 34-yard completion to Giddens, and another play-fake on the next play was an absolute dime dropped by Johnson into the arms of Brown for a 50-yard touchdown pass and a 31-28 lead.
Sanders completed a short pass, then threw incomplete twice. On 4th-and-5, Keenan Garber could have been flagged for pass interference, but Sanders’ throw to Sheppard was long and outside anyway, and that basically ended the game as Colorado only had one timeout left and only 1:14 to play.
Johnson was 15-23 for 226 yards and two touchdowns, plus an interception. He had (-15) yards on the ground, 21 after adjusting for sack yardage. Roberson was 2-3 for 14 yards. Sanders? 24-40 for 388 and three touchdowns, plus an interception. But his rushing line reads a glorious (-50). Another way of looking at it: per-carry, Sanders was K-State’s second-most effective rusher.
Giddens had 182 yards on 25 carries, 7.3 yards a tote (plus two catches for 38). Edwards added 21 on 7 touches and 3 catches for 27. Jayce Brown had a breakout game with 6 catches, 121 yards, and two touchdowns. Garrett Oakley and Dante Cephas each had a couple of grabs, and Jackson and Will Swanson each had one.
K-State outgained Colorado 423-359, but the big difference was on the ground where the Cats had 185 yards while holding Colorado to (-29). Even adjusting for sack yardage, Colorado only gained 45 yards on the ground. Penalties, 3rd- and 4th-down conversion, and yards per play were all basically even, as were turnovers. The biggest differences in the game were sacks (6-4 in favor of K-State, and a 74-36 yardage advantage) and time of possession, which K-State won 35-25. Interestingly, all of K-State’s tackles for loss were sacks.
WHAT WE LEARNED
1) Ta’Quan Roberson ain’t a bad backup.
Roberson came into a very fraught key situation and delivered, completing a critically important third down pass and adequately papering over Johnson’s brief absence. He was poised and prepared, and while it’s probably not enough to assuage any fears over an extended absence by Johnson, it’s at least something to cling to.
2) Shadeur Sanders has a critical flaw.
It’s not often we talk about the opposing team in this section, but it’s still a thing we learned and worth mentioning. When faced with pressure, Sanders has a penchant for running backward. This leads to two critical problems: it makes it harder to throw the ball away and get it to the line of scrimmage, and it results in horrible yardage loss when you’re sacked.
Sanders ate six sacks and lost a total of 74 yards on those sacks. Two of them were credited sacks resulting from intentional grounding calls. Scouts are gonna notice this.
3) It’s hard to defend against a quarterback who completes almost 90% of his passes.
In contrast to the previous item, Sanders was just nails getting the ball to receivers. The secondary is partially responsible for not covering guys up, but Sanders completed a bunch of balls that just weren’t really defensible. Sanders may be the best pure passer K-State faces all season, and K-State survived him.
4) The coaching staff needs to answer for the penultimate Wildcat drive.
The play calling was inexcusable. With four minutes to go, at the Colorado 31 on second down, K-State called two pass plays. Colorado sent the house on both, resulting in two terrible throws by Johnson; on fourth down, they went for it and tried it again with unsurprising results.
5) Avery Johnson, man.
After all of that, Johnson threw two perfect passes for 84 yards to regain the lead for the Wildcats. Absolute insanity.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
On offense, we have to give it to DJ Giddens, because 220 yards of total offense can’t be ignored. On defense, Brendan Mott was the entire first half for the Wildcat defense; he finished with two sacks and on three of K-State’s other four sacks he had a hand on Sanders.
NEXT
It’s another road test, as the Wildcats visit a team that at least gave undefeated Iowa State some acid reflux today in a 28-16 loss: the 3-3 West Virginia Mountaineers.