From The Couch – Plenty Of Blame To Go Around In Loss To Texas

It’s safe to say we don’t own Texas anymore. The Longhorns beat the Wildcats 34 to 27 yesterday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in a game that was frustrating to watch on many levels. K-State’s defense gave up 31 points in the first half, as Texas jumped to a 31-10 halftime lead. The defense played better in the second half, but questionable non-calls by the officials and some boneheaded clock management by the K-State coaching staff down the stretch negated what was otherwise a great comeback effort by the Wildcats.
Texas running back Bijan Robinson ran for 209 yards and a touchdown and quarterback Quinn Ewers had 197 yards passing and two touchdowns. K-State quarterback Adrian Martinez returned from injury and was both good and bad in the game. He had 329 yards passing and two touchdowns, but had a costly interception in the first half and two fumbles late in the game. The last fumble was recovered by Texas and ended the game as K-State was driving for the game-tying touchdown.
Here is what Chris Klieman and the players had to say after the game…
“Well, congratulate Texas. I thought they had a really good plan and executed really well in the first half and it was a while to make our adjustments.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Texas didn’t punt in the first half on their way to a 31-10 lead. The Wildcat defense was a sieve. Defensive back Julius Brents was ejected for targeting during the first drive of the game, which likely hurt, but I’m not sure it made that much of a difference in the game.
“There are definitely some plays that we wish we had back but I think we had a good look, we just didn’t finish on them.”…Kade Warner, post-game
JM: You wish you had some plays back? Like when the Wildcats had fourth and two on the Texas 16-yard line, down 21-10, and Martinez threw incomplete to Phillip Brooks deep in the end zone? By the way, the referees missed an obvious pass interference call on the play, but I took issue with the play call. It was a high-risk pass when you only need two yards. And why not kick the field goal to cut the lead to eight? Instead, Texas regained momentum and Bijan Robinson broke off a 68-yard run to put Texas in position to kick a field goal to go up 24-10. What happened next? K-State got the ball back with a minute and a half left in the first half and Adrian Martinez threw an awful interception right to a Texas defender. The Longhorns took advantage, scoring a touchdown to go ahead 31-10. Is there such a thing as a 13-point swing? I just made the case.
JM: This touchdown on the first play of the fourth quarter cut the Texas lead to seven. The Cats were back in the game, but Texas drove for a field goal on the next drive to take a 10 point lead. Then the K-State offense got perplexing.
“Yeah, probably needed to get some plays called a little bit quicker. We have a personnel substitution issue. Malik [Knowles] was out trying to get that thing organized and squared away that probably cost us a little bit of time.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: After Texas went up 10 points, K-State drove down the field, but stalled when they got into the red zone. They leisurely ran plays with no sense of urgency, let the clock run, and used up most, if not all, of the play clock between plays. The offensive players looked confused between plays, staring at the sideline waiting on the play calls. When Martinez got the call, he went up and down the line barking instructions to everyone. They looked discombobulated and confused and eventually had to settle for a field goal. That’s on the coaching staff.
“We were trying to get one more play off before we would get one because I didn’t want to be in the situation we were in last week, where we ran out of time without any timeouts. We thought we could get one more play off before we’d use a timeout. There were 36 seconds left, we had just gotten a first down. We were going to throw a quick pass and I didn’t see it all break down, but obviously it did break down and then we used it to get them going, but obviously did do that.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: With two timeouts remaining, K-State forced a Texas punt, stuffing Texas on a third down with 3:30 left in the game. Instead of using a timeout to stop the clock, Klieman decided to let the clock run and by the time Texas punted the ball, there was 2:53 left on the clock. Why waste 37 seconds there when you know you need a touchdown to tie the game?
K-State got the ball back on their own 19-yard line with 2:43 left. They could have had an extra 47 seconds to work with had they used a timeout. Instead, they had to hurry up.
How did the drive go?
First down: Two-yard pass to Garcia across the middle. Clock continues to run.
Second down: 10-yard pass and run to Sinnott for a first down. Clock continues to run.
First down: Two-yard pass to Deuce Vaughn, who ran out of bounds. Clock stops.
Second down: 13-yard pass to Warner for a first down. Clock continues to run.
First down: Two-yard pass incomplete across the middle. Clock stops. 1:32 left on the clock.
Second down: Martinez, under pressure in the pocket, tries to scramble and fumbles the ball out of bounds. Clock stops.
Third down and 12: Six-yard pass to Garcia. Clock continues to run. K-State still has two timeouts left.
Fourth down and six: Seven-yard pass to Deuce Vaughn for a first down. The Wildcats have first down on the Longhorn 43 yard-line with 32 seconds left.
First down: Martinez fumbles and Texas recovers.
This entire sequence was maddening to watch. In between plays Martinez was gazing over at the sideline trying to figure the play call and the players looked as confused as they did on the previous field goal drive. K-State ended the game with two timeouts left. They probably didn’t have enough time to score a touchdown anyway since all they could seemingly do was complete short passes. Would the last drive have gone differently if they had more time? I think it would have. The failure of K-State not being able to tie the game and send it into overtime falls on the coaching staff.
“Afterwards, me and Eli Huggins talked, he made a couple great points and I went up there and told him that this should hurt. The feelings in the locker room should hurt by now but it shouldn’t hurt because you’re feeling sorry for yourself and it shouldn’t hurt because of the result. It should hurt because of the journey you’ve been on and how hard all those guys have worked. It should hurt because of the work they put in and that you’re proud to be a Wildcat. It should hurt because you love every guy in that locker room to death. I told them that we have 24 hours to feel this feeling, flush it away, and then what can you give every single day so we don’t have to feel that feeling again.”…Wide receiver Kade Warner, post-game
JM: K-State is still not out of the picture for a Big 12 title game appearance, but they need to win out and they need help. Someone has to beat Texas. It is possible, but I don’t have much optimism that the Wildcats can run the table.
There is plenty of blame to go around in this loss. Do you blame the coaches, the players, the referees, or all three? I put this one squarely on the shoulders of Chris Klieman and his coaching staff. Not having the defense prepared to start the game and being slow to adjust was bad enough, but the lack of clock management at the end of the game is the ultimate reason for the loss.
K-State travels to Baylor next week. The game will kickoff at 6:00 and will be broadcast on FS1.
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