The Houston Cougars held K-State to 89 yards rushing and intercepted K-State quarterback Avery Johnson twice to earn a 24-19 victory over the Wildcats on a rainy Saturday night in Houston, Texas last weekend. K-State head coach Chris Klieman mentioned that a lack of fundamentals and techniques contributed to the loss, but I think a lot more needs to be unpacked to figure out what exactly went wrong. The College Football Playoff isn’t completely out of reach, but now K-State needs some help from other teams to make it to Arlington to have a chance to win the Big 12 championship. That is disappointing considering the Houston game was a winnable one for the Wildcats. The loss dropped K-State to 7-2 on the season, 4-2 in the Big 12. BYU remains undefeated atop the conference, and Iowa State and Colorado each have one loss. Winning their remaining three games may get K-State into the championship game, but I have doubts that will happen until they make some changes to their offense. More specifically, they need to unleash quarterback Avery Johnson.

Run blocking was an issue during Saturday’s game, but Houston’s defense is good and put eight in the box to try to shut down K-State’s running backs. They were successful in doing so. DJ Giddens had 50 yards on 17 carries, a 2.9-yard per-carry average. Dylan Edwards had eight carries for 31 yards, a 3.9-yard per-carry average. Avery Johnson had eight “official” rushes for 18 yards, a 2.3 average. Quarterback scrambles and sacks are included in that total. I only recall one designed quarterback rush in the game. Johnson spent most of the day dropping back in the pocket looking for receivers and completing mostly short passes. So let me get this straight…K-State recruited Avery Johnson, one of the best dual-threat quarterbacks in the country, so he can stand back there in the pocket like he’s Dan Marino, Peyton Manning, or Brett Favre? K-State’s offensive game plan makes no sense. Other teams with a dual-threat quarterback make sure they incorporate the quarterback run game into their offense. For some reason, K-State doesn’t. We are nine games into the 2024 season. What are they saving Avery Johnson for? Why aren’t they utilizing all of his talents? I wish I had the answer to these questions.

Running the ball and a stagnant offense is sometimes an issue for K-State, so maybe it’s time to use their quarterback in the running game. Does Bill Snyder watch this offense and shake his head in disgust? Avery Johnson is the dual-threat quarterback that Snyder had trouble finding again after Ell Roberson’s senior year. Snyder’s offenses usually successfully incorporated the quarterback in both the run and pass game. It doesn’t appear that Chris Klieman, Conor Riley, and Matt Wells want Avery Johnson running the ball.

Why is the option not a part of this offense? I’m not saying to run the option all the time, but running it at least a couple of times a game would make sense. Klieman has said Avery Johnson is the fastest player on the team. It’s time to utilize his strength. His legs. I know they don’t want to get him beat up or hurt, but there are only three games left in the season and a spot in the Big 12 championship game is on the line. Every other college team I watched on Saturday that had a dual-threat quarterback incorporated that quarterback into their running game. There were specific quarterback run plays called as part of their offense. I am perplexed as to why K-State isn’t utilizing their talented quarterback in the same way.

K-State has a bye week this weekend. They next play Arizona State at home on November 16th. No game is a gimme for this team, so they’d better come ready to play. They still have a chance to make the Big 12 championship game, but they will need Colorado to lose and will have to win out and beat Iowa State in Ames the last game of the regular season. Then see how everything else plays out. I don’t have much confidence that we will see them in the championship, but you never know what can happen. I would have a lot more confidence in them making it if they unleash Avery Johnson.