MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The Kansas State football team took care of business against West Virginia and defeated the Mountaineers, 48-31, for an important road victory on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.
K-State (8-3, 6-2 Big 12) moved one step closer to earning a berth in its first conference championship game since 2003 with the win. It will clinch a trip there, and a rematch against TCU, with a victory over rival Kansas next weekend.
West Virginia (4-7, 2-6) is no longer in the running for a bowl with the loss. It must now decide what to do with coach Neal Brown, who is on the hot seat near the end of a disappointing season.
The Wildcats made sure the Mountaineers weren’t able to celebrate on Senior Day with an explosive effort on offense and some big plays on defense in the second half.
Here are some key takeaways on the action:
Big win for Will Howard
This will probably go down as one of the most satisfying victories of Will Howard’s career.
Not only did the junior quarterback lead the Wildcats to 48 points and 437 yards, he did so after coach Chris Klieman put his trust in him as QB1. Yes, Adrian Martinez was unable to play with an injury, but Howard deserved to start on Saturday. He has been K-State’s most productive passer all season and Klieman went so far as to say “it’s his football team now” when speaking about Howard earlier this week.
The Wildcats rallied around Howard and he responded by playing at a high level.
Howard completed 19 of 27 passes for 294 yards and two touchdowns. He was so good that you almost forget about the fact that he threw a pick-six in the first quarter. That mistake didn’t matter much in the grand scheme of things. He connected with Malik Knowles, Ben Sinnott and Sammy Wheeler for several explosive plays.
This type of effort was encouraging. There was some fear that Howard might not be able to handle the pressure of starting at quarterback with a full week of buildup toward this game. In his three previous appearances this season, he only played after Martinez was ruled out. Howard prepared like a backup.
His role changed on Saturday, but his stellar play did not.
It was also interesting to see how Howard handled the closest thing he gets to a homecoming game. Howard is from Downingtown, Pa., and he had lots of family and friends in the stands for this game. The last time he played here, West Virginia wiped the floor with K-State.
Things went much better this time around. The Wildcats can confidently put their trust in Howard again next week in the Sunflower Showdown.
K-State missed Kobe Savage on defense
The Wildcats didn’t look like their normal selves on defense against West Virginia.
Unlike previous weeks, when it was difficult for opposing teams to reach the end zone, the Mountaineers scored lots of points on Joe Klanderman’s unit. They were most effective through the air, as quarterback Garrett Greene completed 15 of 27 passes for 204 yards and three touchdowns.
West Virginia got several explosive plays and made K-State sweat on a day when the Wildcats scored 48 points themselves.
It was clear that K-State missed star safety Kobe Savage, who is out for the season with an injury. The Mountaineers went deep against K-State’s secondary and found success. Compounding matters was the fact that safety Cincere Mason left this game early with an injury of his own.
Josh Hayes, T.J. Smith and Drake Cheatum served as K-State’s primary safeties most of the way. They weren’t nearly as stingy as we have seen K-State play in previous weeks.
To be fair, the Wildcats did have some nice moments on defense. Mason returned an interception for a touchdown in the first quarter. Julius Brents had a pick. Daniel Green also blew up a fourth-down conversion by perfectly timing the snap on a QB sneak and jumping across the line of scrimmage for an impressive tackle. And West Virginia scored six points in the second half.
It wasn’t all bad. But K-State clearly has improvements to make on defense as the season draws to a close.
It all happened in the first quarter?
You couldn’t blink without missing a scoring play in the first quarter of this game.
At the end of 15 minutes, K-State led West Virginia by the jaw-dropping score of 28-19.
Fans were treated to 391 total yards of offense, 47 total points, seven touchdowns, two pick-sixes ... and no punts. The Wildcats jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first four minutes with a flawless opening drive and then a defensive touchdown from Cincere Mason. But West Virginia answered back with an impressive touchdown drive of its own, followed by a defensive touchdown from Malachi Ruffin. Just like that, it was 14-13 at the 6:41 mark of the first quarter.
Both teams kept chugging along until the quarter came to an end.
K-State running back D.J. Giddens broke free for a 49-yard touchdown. Greene hit Sam James for a 71-yard touchdown pass.
A shootout was brewing. The pregame over/under points total for this matchup was 53 1/2. K-State and West Virginia nearly hit that number before the second quarter.
Martinez showed leadership despite not playing
Senior quarterback Adrian Martinez is out indefinitely with a lower-body injury, but that didn’t stop him from making an impact on Saturday’s game.
Martinez traveled with the team to Morgantown and participated in some light warm-up drills before kickoff despite wearing street clothes and being slowed by a walking boot on his right foot. He offered his teammates words of encouragement as they stretched and then supported Will Howard on the sideline whenever the K-State offense wasn’t on the field.
Injured players don’t always travel to away games, as teams aren’t allowed to bring their full rosters on the road. But it was important for K-State to have Martinez on the sideline. He seemed willing to help in any small way that he could.
Ty Zentner continues to be special
It can easily get overlooked compared to other things that have transpired this season, but Klieman’s decision to let Ty Zentner handle field goals on top of punts and kickoffs has proven to be an excellent coaching move.
Zentner, a super-senior from Topeka, has been excellent as a place kicker.
He connected on long field goals of 46 and 53 yards against West Virginia. The 53-yarder was a clutch kick at the end of the first half that gave the Wildcats a 41-25 lead.
K-State struggled with field goals at times earlier this season, but that hasn’t been the case since Zentner took over.
