KSU Recap: The Cats Keep the Cup

As Garrett Oakley would hit the injury report, the worry that an 18 game win streak over the Kansas Jayhawks would come to a close in Collin Klein’s first year as head coach. Fortunately for the 51,000 fans in Bill Snyder Family Stadium, there soon became nothing to worry about.

1st Quarter

Both teams came out guns blazing to start the game, which is uncharacteristic for both units. K-State took five plays to the house for six, including a 59 yard run from Avery Johnson to get the offense into gear. In spite of KU’s slow starts, they hit the ground running with a 95 yard kick return to the house from Bryson Hayes. Both teams traded haymakers early, but K-State’s next drive stalled on a fourth and five in the redzone, giving the Jayhawks a chance to get a headstart.

And they took that head start, capping off a 13 play drive with a 12 yard touchdown pass from Isaiah Marshall to Buffalo transfer Nik McMillan. As KU took a 14-7 lead, K-State offense continued to struggle as sophomore TE Linkon Cure fumbled the ball right back to the Jayhawks who were right in front of the redzone. K-State’s defense finally got a stop, holding KU to a field goal as the first came to a close with KU leading 17-7.

2nd Quarter

The second quarter saw a different side of this K-State unit. The offense still struggled to finish drives in the endzone, but the Cats picked up two field goals to cut KU’s deficit to four. Meanwhile, the K-State defense generated the first two scoreless drives from the Jayhawks all morning.

Kansas quickly started to generate miscue after miscue, with Marshall missing passes left and right and special teams even causing a safety after punter Matthew Gill dropped the ball mid play and shoved it out of the endzone. On the other side, K-State’s defense continued to get into field goal range and let Luis Rodriguez finish off drives.

Before both teams knew it, a 17-7 Jayhawk lead turned into an 18-17 Wildcat lead heading into the tunnel. K-State’s defense was back to nonconference form and the run game looked explosive between the 20 yard lines.

3rd Quarter

The Kansas Jayhawks started the third quarter with a bang, going 75 yards on a nine play drive and capping it off with a three yard Dylan Edwards touchdown. K-State’s defense began to regress into first quarter form, allowing KU’s run game to go wherever it pleased.

The Cats offense, however, kept the party going with a nine play touchdown drive of their own to retake the lead. Joe Jackson was finally back in the fold, getting his first touchdown since KSU’s week one matchup against Nicholls. K-State’s offense continued to move in their next possession, trying to add onto a one point lead, but the quarter ended with fourth and goal at the one…

4th Quarter

The fourth quarter opened with one of the more head scratching decisions from Coach Klein; a goal line halfback drive from the shotgun. The Jayhawks make a massive stop, putting their offense as close to their own goal line as possible.

Isaiah Marshall put on a masterclass, driving the Hawks all the way to the Cats 18 yard line  where he immediately threw the first interception of K-State’s season to Safety Logan Bartley. The costly turnover felt like a major turning point as K-State took the ball right back to the endzone as Jaron Tibbs punched in a nine yard touchdown to give the Cats a 32-24 lead.

KU’s offense continued to struggle as chunk plays were called back due to penalties, K-State’s elite secondary protected the skies and the run defense cleaned up nicely. K-State added onto their eight point lead with another Luis Rodriguez field goal, giving the Cats their first double digit lead of the game. From there, the defense held on, putting up a big stop on fourth and 14 and K-State kneeled out another Sunflower Showdown victory.

Overall, K-State had their first good game against Big 12 competition, and it came at the best time. At 4-2, there’s still a lot of potential for this Cats team to go places, especially after seeing some of the improvements on the defensive side of the ball.

On top of that, there’s something poetic about Collin Klein’s first win in the Big 12 as head coach coming against K-State’s biggest rival. Klein keeps the streak, K-State rights the ship and the fans leave riding the high of winning the Governor’s Cup.