Finally: Klieman Gets His First Win in Stillwater as K-State Struggles Continue
BY Cole Deutschendorf | 365 Sports
Stillwater, Oklahoma, has rarely been kind to Kansas State. Before Saturday, the Wildcats had won there just once since 1999, a 45–40 shootout in 2017. This time, it wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t easy, and it certainly wasn’t smooth, but K-State finally broke through again, grinding out a 14–6 win and giving Chris Klieman his first victory in Stillwater.
It was the defense that almost single-handedly won the Wildcats the game, causing five Oklahoma State turnovers and turning the Pokes over on downs to end the game in the fourth quarter. All 14 of K-State’s points came off turnovers on a day when the offensive unit struggled to put together drives. The Wildcats had just four first downs on their first five drives, but a 34-yard catch-and-run from Avery Johnson to Jayce Brown after K-State’s first interception of the day gave them a 7-6 lead, the score as the two teams headed to halftime.
The Wildcats would have just two drives in the third quarter. The first would end with an Avery Johnson interception, and the second would end with a punt at over 7 minutes of gametime coming off the clock. Then, after Oklahoma State put together its best drive of the game from a yardage standpoint before a strip sack gave the Wildcats the ball back early in the fourth. They would put together a 10-play, 70-yard touchdown drive, capped off by a Joe Jackson 15-yard carry to get into the endzone to make the score 14-6. The defense would hold twice more with an interception and then a turnover on downs, ending the game and putting the Wildcats back to .500 on the season.
The win puts K-State just one win away from bowl eligibility, and with Colorado left on the schedule, that seems likely. But before the Buffaloes come to town, the Wildcats have an opportunity to dash Utah’s hopes of a College Football Playoff berth on Saturday. Utah, currently on the cusp of an at-large bid, has K-State and Kansas left on its schedule. K-State could play spoiler, though, but it seems like an impossible task given the state of the roster, which has been decimated by injuries over the course of the season.
Running back Dylan Edwards is no longer with the team. Star linebacker Austin Romaine has been shut down for the season after sustaining an injury to his hand. And of course, the most recent injury: Brown, who leads the team in receptions, yards and touchdowns. Utah has looked like a buzzsaw outside of its two games against the best the Big 12 has to offer in BYU and Texas Tech. It’s the most lopsided spread of the season for K-State, as the Utes have been favored from anywhere from 14.5-18.5 as gameday approaches. More than anything, for the Wildcats, it would be a feather in the cap of an extremely disappointing season for the Cats.