From The Couch – K-State’s Playoff Chances Diminished After Perplexing Loss To Houston

From The Couch – K-State’s Playoff Chances Diminished After Perplexing Loss To Houston

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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 night in Houston, Texas. 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 conference. That is disappointing considering this was a winnable game for the Wildcats. The loss dropped K-State to 7-2 on the season, 4-2 in the Big 12.

“We have talked about it for a little while now that we’re not playing with good enough fundamentals and techniques. That has been the case for the last couple of weeks, and we’ve been able to overcome it a little bit while explosive plays here and there.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Run blocking was an issue during this 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 recall only one designed quarterback rush in the game. Johnson spent most of the day dropping back in the pocket looking for receivers to complete short passes. 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? This offensive game plan makes no sense. Any other college football team with a dual-threat quarterback makes 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.

“We’re not good enough identifying blocks, sustaining blocks and finishing blocks. When we do, we still may have to run through an arm tackle or something, and we’re not doing that well right now at all. People are doing some stunts and pressure, and we’re struggling too. Identifying blocks, so when you do that, you’re not running the football.“…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: If this is an issue, maybe it’s time to use your 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 graduated. Why is the option not a part of this offense? I’m not saying to run option all the time, but at least a couple times a game. Klieman has said Avery Johnson is the fastest player on the team. It’s time to utilize his strength. His legs.

“Those kids care. Those kids want to win. Those kids played their tails off. Nobody is going to say we don’t play hard. We play harder than heck, but we aren’t playing with great fundamentals and techniques. Being in this league six years, we’ve beaten teams better than us because we have better fundamentals and techniques.“…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Chris Klieman mentioned “fundamentals and techniques” six times in his post-game press conference. Six years into his tenure and nine games into this season, why isn’t his team playing with fundamentals and techniques?

“Today, we got beat by a team that was pretty comparable to us. That is as good as the defense other than BYU that we played this year, those guys up front. You still have to apply your rules and principles and play with good technique. We aren’t doing that right now.”…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Ok, enough about the “technique.” Let’s get to the game. K-State led 3-0 early, but gave up a touchdown and a field goal to Houston and were behind 10-3. The secondary gave up some big plays, which is an ongoing issue that has not been corrected. K-State got a touchdown on this two-yard touchdown run by DJ Giddens to cut the lead to 10-9. The snap on the extra point was mishandled, likely due to the rain and field conditions, so K-State was down one point with 1:48 left in the first half.

JM: Houston got the ball back and was driving before this sack and forced fumble by Tobi Osunsanmi that was recovered by Desmond Purnell. This was a great play by both players and it gave K-State a shot to score again right before halftime.

JM: And score they did, on this pass from Avery Johnson to Keagan Johnson. This gave K-State a 16-10 lead going into the half. Johnson had a pretty good game, with six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.

JM: K-State got a 47-yard field goal from Chris Tennant in the third quarter and led 19-10. The game went off the rails after this awful interception by Avery Johnson deep in their own territory.

“It really just starts with that interception and giving them the ball in plus territory. They score right there and I put our defense in a horrible position. Then they score again.”…K-State quarterback Avery Johnson, post-game

JM: Houston capitalized on the turnover, scoring a touchdown on this jump pass.

JM: K-State had a 19-17 lead, but stalled on offense. The Wildcats were forced to punt after five plays and 18 yards gained. The K-State defense forced Houston to punt and when K-State got the ball back they went three and out after gaining just two yards. This was another of the inopportune three-and-outs that Chris Klieman teams have become known for. This time it cost them, as Houston ran for the go-ahead and game-winning touchdown….

JM: K-State got the ball back and was driving, but Avery Johnson threw his second interception of the game, which all but sealed the victory for Houston. K-State would get the ball back with 35 seconds left, but all they could do was throw a Hail Mary, which fell incomplete.

JM: K-State had their chances in this one, but played way too conservatively on offense in the second half. When they were ahead by nine points they should have been aggressive on offense and put the game away. Unfortunately, they didn’t.

Offensive player of the game: Keagan Johnson, Six catches for 76 yards and a touchdown.

Defensive player of the game: Austin Romaine, 12 total tackles, five solo and seven assisted, 2.5 tackles for loss. Romaine was all over the field during this game. He played great.

K-State has a bye week next 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 they will have to win out and beat Iowa State in Ames the last game of the regular season. The Wildcats need to win the final three games and see how everything plays out. I don’t have much confidence that we will see them in the Big 12 championship game, but you never know.

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