The Cats finally put together a dominant performance on the road.
Avery Johnson proved he can be a passing quarterback, and despite being keyed on the entire game DJ Giddens scored two rushing touchdowns as the Kansas State Wildcats routed the West Virginia Mountaineers 45-18 tonight at Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, West Virginia.
The win was the third straight for the Cats over the Mountaineers, and secured bowl eligibility while keeping K-State (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) firmly in the conversation for the Big 12 title. For West Virginia (3-4, 2-2 Big 12), it was their first loss to an unbeaten team. As has been custom, K-State went into halftime deeply concerned, then went off in the second half.
Both teams had to punt their first time out, and then the Jack Fabris Experience began. The Cats got lucky on the second Mountaineer drive when Fabris fell down, leaving a wide-open Jaheim White; Garrett Greene’s throw was a little short and White couldn’t hold onto it. On the next play, Fabris flat blew up tight end Kole Taylor short of the sticks to stop a first down. West Virginia did convert on the next play, but three plays later a pass to Traylon Ray bounced off his hands and right into Fabris’s hands.
With the run game ineffective, Johnson picked up a pair of third downs with his arm, but eventually the Wildcats had to settle for a 44-yard field goal by Chris Tennant to get on the board first.
A pass interference call on Nickendre Stiger was followed by a 28-yard run by Greene, getting the Mountaineers inside the Wildcat 30. But the defense went on lockdown at that point, forcing a 44-yard attempt by Michael Hayes, which leveled the score. Dylan Edwards fumbled on the ensuing kickoff, but Asa Newsom was able to cover it up and the Cats had to start at their own 16.
Since the Mountaineers weren’t inclined to allow K-State to run the ball, Johnson hit Jadon Jackson for 24, and then immediately hit him again for a 60-yard score. The first quarter ended with the Cats up 10-0.
On 3rd-and-9 on the next drive, Marquis Sigle jumped a route and picked off Greene, racing 43 yards for a Wildcat non-offensive touchdown. But that sent the defense back out on the field immediately, and being a little tired allowed West Virginia to move downfield. Hudson Clement caught a 7-yard pass from Greene.
Despite Giddens getting his best run of the night — a six yard run carrying half the West Virginia defense on his back — the Cats had to punt with five minutes left in the half. West Virginia again moved downfield, helped by a face mask call on Desmond Purnell when it appeared he’d stopped Greene on 3rd-and-6, and got down to the Wildcat 3, facing 4th-and-1. Under pressure, Greene threw the ball into the turf, and the Cats escaped to halftime still up 17-10.
K-State still had issues getting Giddens untracked, although he had his two longest runs of the night to this point on the opening drive of the second half. In Mountaineer territory, he was stuffed twice to set up a fourth down; Johnson somehow avoided a sack and dumped a pass off to Ty Bowman to move the chains. Three plays later, Johnson connected with Garrett Oakley for a 16-yard score and a 23-10 lead.
Nicco Marchiol took over at quarterback for West Virginia, as Greene was too beaten up after the first half to continue. With the risk of Greene running removed, the Cats were able to force a 3-and-out.
Johnson hit Giddens on a wheel, and Giddens was tackled 53 yards later at the half-yard line. Giddens was then stuffed twice before Johnson hit Will Anciaux on play-action to extend the lead to 31-10.
Marchiol was able to slowly progress downfield. On 3rd-and-5, West Virginia was called for holding on an incomplete pass, but Newsom was also flagged for personal four plus targeting; the penalties offset regardless, but the ejection was reversed on review. Two incompletions later — the second caused by Sigle batting the ball away — and K-State took over on downs at their own 35. The third quarter ended with the Cats in Mountaineer territory.
K-State had their longest run of the game shortly thereafter as Edwards broke loose for 24 to get the Cats inside the 10. Two whole minutes later, Giddens finally got through the West Virginia defense and scored on a one-yard run to make it 38-10.
West Virginia’s drive was extended by a face mask call on Rex Van Wyhe on what would have been a stop on fourth down at midfield. Then Tobi Osusanmi was called for roughing the passer, and Marchiol finally found Ray for a 12-yard touchdown. A pass to Kole Taylor converted for two, cutting the lead to 38-18.
The Cats went 3-and-out; a Chiddi Obiazor sack forced a Mountaineer 4-and-out in the red zone. Two plays later, Giddens blew through for an 18-yard touchdown run as a dagger. After another Mountaineer turnover on downs with just 1:56 left, Ta’quan Roberson came on to finish things off, except he almost did it. For the second time on the night, a running back broke free and got tackled at the half-yard line; this time, it was Joe Jackson, picking up 32 yards but no touchdown. With only 25 seconds left, Chris Klieman elected to kneel, and that was that.
Johnson was 19-29 for 298 yards, with three touchdowns, no interceptions — and no carries. Giddens only had 57 yards on 19 carries with two scores. Jackson added his 32 yards, and Edwards had 27 on 3 carries.
Giddens did manage 110 yards of offense, as he caught one ball for 53 yards. Bowman, Edwards, and Keagan Johnson all caught three balls; Jadon Jackson had two for 84 yards and a score, while Brown, Oakley, and Anciaux all also had two catches, and Dante Cephas hauled in one.
The Cats outgained West Virginia 412-294, although they were outrushed 151-114. K-State had both turnovers. The Cats were penalized nine times for 96 yards, compared to 5/39 for the Mountaineers, who also won time of possession 34-25.
WHAT WE LEARNED
1) The Cats need an alternative running scheme.
West Virginia’s top priority tonight was stopping Giddens. It worked, and K-State overcame it with Johnson’s arm, but it highlights a problem that needs fixing. The problem with being unable to run is that it exposes the defense to more time on the field than you’d like. The Cats led 17-10 at half, but the defense had spent 20 minutes on the field. Against a better team, this could have been disastrous.
2) Avery can carry the game with his arm.
The flip side is that we now know the offense doesn’t have to rely on Giddens first. Johnson was spectacular tonight; through three quarters he overthrew absolutely nobody, which had been his most obvious deficiency previously. (He did sky one over Swanson a few plays before the Giddens touchdown.) Also through three quarters, Johnson never ran the ball once. He was a passer tonight.
3) Someone missed a memo.
Garrett Greene came into the game just a couple of first downs shy of being West Virginia’s leading rusher. Yet the defensive game plan very much appeared to not take this into account, leading to Greene running for 88 yards on 8 carries before being forced to bow out.
A spy would’ve been appropriate, maybe. It didn’t matter in the end, of course, but it’s a thing worth noting.
4) The secondary was spot-on tonight.
Greene was 9-19 for 85 yards with one touchdown and two picks. He’s not the best quarterback in the league or anything, but that was a good performance by the secondary. Even better was the second half, where Marchiol was utterly ineffective until the Wildcat second-string came on.
5) That’s it.
There wasn’t much else to learn from this one. K-State delivered a beatdown which was so comprehensive that everyone was on cruise control with eight minutes to play.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Johnson is the man on offense this week, obviously. Defensively, we’re going with Sigle, who was fantastic even if we ignore his pick-six.
NEXT
A breather! The Cats come home to face that school down the river, who don’t seem nearly as threatening this year as they have the last two.