From The Couch – BYU Hammers K-State
It has been a long time since I have been as disappointed as I was last night watching a K-State football game. A bizarre sequence of events at the end of the first half into the third quarter doomed K-State. BYU won the game 38-9, but K-State dominated the game statistically, out-gaining BYU, 367 to 241 total yards. However, K-State made some huge mistakes turning the ball over in their own territory and BYU took full advantage of them.
I watched the game again this morning and verified in my mind that the game was not as lopsided as the final score indicated. On K-State’s first drive of the game, they scored what appeared to be an easy touchdown that was called back because of an illegal snap by center Sam Hecht. It was an obvious infraction by Hecht, but K-State was moved back five yards and had to settle for a field goal. K-State also drove down the field on their second drive of the game, but once again had to settle for a field goal and a 6-0 lead.
With nine minutes left in the first half, K-State had out-gained BYU 160 to 44 yards. While the score didn’t necessarily indicate it, K-State controlled the game. BYU was able to kick a field goal of their own to cut the deficit to 6-3. Then the wheels fell off for K-State and everything snowballed against them. With 1:19 left in the first half, DJ Giddens fumbled and BYU returned the fumble for a touchdown.
JM: Ok. A 10-6 deficit going into halftime isn’t the end of the world. After all, K-State was set to receive the second-half kickoff. But BYU wasn’t done scoring in the half. This inexplicable interception by Avery Johnson on the next possession gave the Cougars the ball right back.
JM: BYU immediately capitalized on the interception with this touchdown pass from Jake Retzlaff to Chase Roberts to go ahead 17-6.
JM: A 17-6 halftime deficit isn’t the end of the world, but K-State continued its sloppy play. Four plays into K-State’s first second-half possession, Avery Johnson threw this interception to BYU’s Harrison Taggart. The bottom right video below shows the interception…
JM: Two plays later, BYU scored a touchdown to go ahead 24-6.
JM: Down 24-6, K-State went three and out and was forced to punt. The crazy sequence of events continued, as BYU was able to return the kick for a touchdown.
JM: That might be the flukiest punt return for a touchdown I’ve ever seen. If Kinston caught the ball at the 20 yard line, he would have been immediately tackled. Instead, he muffed it and the ball bounced right back into his hands. It was great awareness and a great play by him, but this play is just another example showing that the ball bounced BYU’s way the entire game.
The game was effectively over at this point. BYU added a touchdown in the fourth quarter for the final score of 38-9. Ouch.
“Congratulations to BYU and Kalani. There may not be a better man in the business than Kalani. I love the guy. As crushed as I am on how we played, I told him I was happy for him, because he’s one of the good ones in the profession. Everything was probably in good shape with two minutes left in the half, and then it snowballed, and we couldn’t stop it. Credit goes to BYU. We told our team that [BYU] wasn’t going to beat themselves, so we had to beat them. And instead, we beat ourselves.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: I don’t always buy the “we beat ourselves” excuse. Usually when a coach says this, the other team played better. However, it fits last night’s game.
“We weren’t very good tonight, so it’s my job and our job as coaches to fix it.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Can they get it fixed? Yes. K-State’s running game was mostly good and the defense played pretty well overall. Avery Johnson is having growing pains passing the ball, which is the weakness of the team right now. Both of his interceptions were bad throws. He needs to be better.
“We just weren’t in sync. We weren’t on the same page all the time. I have to be better — give them a chance with the football, cut down on the overthrows and do a better job of giving those guys a chance to make those catches.”…K-State quarterback Avery Johnson, post-game
JM: I’ve said it ever since the season started. Once the offense gets humming, this team will be scary good. The problem is that they’ve got a ways to go to get humming, and it doesn’t get any easier with a game against Oklahoma State this Saturday.
“You have to score touchdowns and take care of the ball on the road. Credit to their crowd, they got loud and most of our penalties came as a result. Being able to give them the momentum back over and over again definitely hurt us tonight.”…Avery Johnson, post-game
JM: Credit to the BYU crowd. They were loud and affected the game. The only thing K-State can do is try to learn from this and be better next week. I think they will be.
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