From The Couch – K-State Still In Contention After Victory Over West Virginia

From The Couch – K-State Still In Contention After Victory Over West Virginia

Quarterback Avery Johnson threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns in a 45-18 win over the West Virginia Mountaineers on Saturday night. The victory moved K-State to 6-1 on the season and right in the thick of the race to the Big 12 championship.

It was nice to see a blowout, no-stress win as a fan, but this was still a game in doubt at halftime, and had West Virginia quarterback Garrett Greene been healthy throughout the game, the final score would have likely been different. Greene appeared to suffer a leg injury early in the game and was visibly limping, but was declared out of the game at halftime with an upper-body injury. He was seen on the sideline in the second half wearing a walking boot. West Virginia coach Neal Brown was quick to mention that injury and others right out of the gate after the game…

“I’ll be quick. We’ve got a beat-up locker room. (It’s) probably the most injuries I can remember in a first half. They just took it to us in the second half. We went for it on fourth down there because I knew it was going to be a touchdown game. (We) had a good play, and we didn’t convert. Three of our best players on offense are out in the second half, so then we (also) had a couple defensive linemen out as well. We just didn’t play very well.”…West Virginia head coach Neal Brown, post-game

JM: K-State held a 17-10 lead at halftime and Greene was carving up the K-State defense. He had 89 yards rushing in the first half on 11 carries, 8.1 yards per carry. He added 85 yards passing with a touchdown and two interceptions in the half. Is it fair to blame the result on injuries? Neal Brown is on the hot seat, and this game was competitive until Greene was ruled out, so he has a point in this case. West Virginia’s backup quarterback was mostly terrible, throwing for 58 yards in the second half.

“Credit to them (Kansas State). I think they’re the best team in our league, to this point.”…Neal Brown, post-game

JM: Is K-State the best team in the league or is Neal Brown trying to make excuses as to why his team got blown out? Probably a little bit of both. Until Iowa State or BYU lose, they are the favorites to play in Arlington.

“(That was a) really good second half. We played to pull away and get a big win. Hats off to West Virginia in the first half, I thought they did some really good things to slow us down rushing the football with a lot of stunts, and then we struggled to tackle the quarterback. We were ahead because we forced a couple of turnovers and scored off of them, and that was a big deal for us.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Actually, K-State was able to pull away in the second half because West Virginia’s offense was inept with a backup quarterback in the game. But I’ll take it.

“What we did with the guys being banged up and trying to fight through and get them through the week so we could get them as healthy as we could.”…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Every team is fighting through injuries right now. I found it interesting that Chris Klieman mentioned his team’s injuries too.

JM: West Virginia shut down K-State’s running attack early in the game, keying on DJ Giddens. It took a couple of drives before K-State’s offensive coordinator(s) realized this and opened things up. This pass from Avery Johnson to Jadon Jackson was beautiful. Jackson had 84 yards receiving and a touchdown on the night.

JM: How did Greene not see Sigle there? He threw it right to him! It was still a great play by Sigle on the pick-six.

JM: This touchdown drive by K-State opening the second half, capped off by the pass from Johnson to Oakley, was huge. It gave the Wildcats some breathing room and put West Virginia in a fourteen point hole that they were unable to dig out of.

JM: Wanna take away DJ Giddens on the ground? Fine. We’ll just throw it to him. What an amazing throw, catch, and run. Giddens had two catches for 53 yards and 19 carries for 57 yards and two touchdowns on the night. Not bad against a defense that was keying on him all evening.

JM: The rout was on at this point. K-State scored touchdowns on their first three drives of the second half to take a 38 to 10 lead.

JM: We will see that run on the “DJ Giddens For Heisman” highlight reel, that I’m sure some K-State super fan will put together at the end of the season.

JM: K-State fans showed up in Morgantown in pretty good numbers. It was nice to sit and relax in the second half and watch a K-State blowout victory.

JM: And here the “experts” said K-State would be good NEXT year. It looks like these Wildcats want to take care of business right now.

Here are my players of the game.

Offensive player of the game: Avery Johnson. 19/29 for 298 yards and three touchdowns.
Defensive player of the game: Marquis Sigle. Nine tackles. Two tackles for loss and a 43-yard pick-six.

Up next for K-State is the rivalry game against Kansas, which will be played next Saturday in Manhattan at 7:00 PM central time. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2. I can’t wait for this one. See you there!


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