From The Couch – Stand Up For The CHAMPIONS!!!!
The Kansas State Wildcats won their third Big 12 football championship Saturday, beating the TCU Horned Frogs 31 to 28 in an overtime thriller. It was K-State’s first conference championship since 2012 and their first Big 12 championship game win since 2003.
I made the trip to Arlington with two of my kids and some friends of theirs. We had a spectacular time. K-Staters showed up en masse like they always do. The party started at College Gameday in the morning, continued through the game, and lasted throughout the afternoon and evening at Texas Live.
There is a lot to unpack, so let’s do it.
“We know what this is. It’s gonna be a 60 minute slug fest.”..,TCU head coach Sonny Dykes, in a pregame speech to his team
JM: Dykes was prophetic with this statement, but it was actually more than a 60 minute slug fest since the game went to overtime. Darren Sproles seemed pretty confident in the Wildcats’ chances during this pregame television interview….
JM: It doesn’t seem like it’s been 19 years since Darren Sproles had 323 yards against the “best college football team of all-time” in the 2003 Big 12 championship game. I remember it like it was yesterday.
Now onto the game. TCU was the first to scoreon this touchdown by Taye Barber, capping off their opening drive of the game.
JM: The teams traded drives, and after TCU missed a field goal K-State answered with this touchdown pass from Will Howard to Ben Sinnott on a fourth and one from the TCU six-yard line.
JM: The teams traded possessions before K-State took the lead on this touchdown run by Will Howard that was set up by a 40-yard pass to Malik Knowles followed by an 18-yard pass to Deuce Vaughn near the goal line…
JM: K-State held their 14-7 lead late in the 2nd quarter when Julius Brents forced a fumble of Quentin Johnson that was recovered by Austin Moore…
JM: TCU got the ball back after a K-State punt and drove down the field to kick a field goal right before halftime to cut the lead to 14 to 10. Early in the third quarter, K-State forced what initially looked like a Max Duggan fumble and appeared to get a safety. The officials reviewed the play and reversed the call to an incomplete pass, forcing TCU to punt. While it may have been the right call, I think it could have gone either way. What do you think?
JM: After the TCU punt, K-State scored four plays later on this pass from Will Howard to RJ Garcia…
JM: K-State had the momentum after this touchdown, forcing TCU to punt after a Felix Anudike-Uzomah sack of Max Duggan. Unfortunately, TCU got the ball back after Phillip Brooks muffed a punt that was recovered by the Horned Frogs….
JM: Three plays later, TCU scored a touchdown to cut the lead to 21-17….
JM: K-State was forced to punt on their next drive and TCU drove down the field threatening to take the lead, but Julius Brents intercepted Max Duggan in the end zone on what I might consider the play of the game.
JM: Why might the Brents interception be the play of the game? If TCU scores there, they go ahead by three points. Instead, K-State got the ball back and Deuce Vaughn ran for an unbelievable 44-yard touchdown to put K-State back ahead by 11.
“We ran a man scheme, like our no-pull power play. And the D ends slanted in. Great job by I believe it was KT to mash them down and it opened up a seam. Once we planed through Kade, it brought the corner out and a little bit of space and after that it’s one-on-one with the safety. But I’m not doing that, I’m not doing anything without those guys up front and everybody on the perimeter.”…Deuce Vaughn, post-game
JM: Have you noticed that Deuce Vaughn never takes credit for anything? He always gives the credit to his teammates. But how about that juke job? All the defender could do was fall down, helpless to do anything!
TCU wouldn’t go away in this game. They came back with a field goal and then this touchdown by Max Duggan. The two point conversion was successful, tying the game and sending it to overtime.
JM: TCU got the ball first in overtime. I’ll admit that I didn’t like K-State’s chances going into the overtime period. My heart was beating fast and this game was an emotional roller coaster ride. TCU had all the momentum at the time, coming back to tie the game from an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. Add to that the fact that K-State’s defense looked gassed on the last TCU drive of the game. I expected TCU to score easily. Luckily, I was wrong. K-State’s defense stepped up and held the Horned Frogs on both third and fourth and goal from the one yard line. Up until this game, the goal line stand against Miami in 2011 was considered the best goal line stand in K-State history. This one replaces it….
“And the overtime stop, it’s incredible. We get a third-and-1 and fourth-and-1, as good as they are up front and good run game as they have and our defensive line stood up and stuffed them back-to-back plays.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: I was stunned that the K-State defense held TCU twice from the one-yard line. TCU fans were questioning the play calling, but give the defense all the credit. This was a big time stop. On that 4th and one, TCU running back Kendre Miller ran into a wall. And that wall’s name was Eli Huggins. Everyone did their jobs, and Daniel Green definitely deserves an assist on that play, but Huggins slammed into the lineman blocking him and kept driving like he was hitting a tackle sled. When he hit Miller, he stopped him dead in his tracks. It was an amazing play. Defense wins championships.
“And just I can’t say enough about these guys and the leadership of this crew, because once we got it to overtime, and went on defense first, we knew we were going to get a stop. I’m telling you, if we didn’t get a stop we were going to score a touchdown and go for two. We were going to end this thing. Will knew it. The offense knew it. Once we got that stop, we were going to position ourselves and let
Ty win the game.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: I heard that Klieman told his defense that it was okay if TCU scored because K-State planned to score a touchdown and go for two to win the game. With one caveat. It would be nice if they got a stop to make it a bit easier on them. And they did. K-State got the ball needing only a field goal. Ty Zentner did it again….
“I would say over the last five to six weeks, there may not be a more valuable kid on the football team than Ty Zentner. And Ty was huge again today. And what was just so poetic for me was the ball was on his foot in the last game in Big 12 play for him. And there was no doubt in my mind he was making that. No doubt in my mind.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: It’s hard to pick K-State’s MVP this season, but Zentner deserves to be in the conversation. He hasn’t missed a field goal since getting the job mid-season while still performing kickoff and punting duties. I’ve never seen a kicker look so relaxed while attempting a game-winning kick. He was smiling because he knew it was going in before he even kicked it. Pure awesomeness. Here’s another view of the kick….
JM: And another…
“K-State nation came today. That crowd was electric and it was an unbelievable atmosphere. When we were on defense, that crowd was phenomenal and can’t thank our fan base enough for coming down here in droves and cheering on these guys because we were playing for them as much as we were for each other.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: K-State fans represented just as well as TCU fans did and TCU’s campus is only about 20 miles away from the stadium. We went to College Gameday and it was 95% K-State fans in the crowd. While we were at Gameday, my daughter asked me “are TCU fans allowed to come to this or do they just not want to?”
JM: There is no doubt that this is a special team. Will Howard came in to replaced an injured Adrian Martinez and surprised us all with how well he played, but Klieman is right to point out that Martinez had a lot to do with the team’s success as well.
JM: The celebration in the stands was mayhem just like it was on the field. We all hugged and jumped on each other and my cap went flying off my head and ended up four rows in front of us. I wouldn’t have it any other way. Celebrating a championship with two of my kids who also both went to K-State was phenomenal.
JM: What a sight. This was so much fun. Let’s do it again!
JM: Congratulations to Deuce Vaughn. He was amazing yet again.
JM: Up next for K-State is Alabama in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Eve. I can’t wait!
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