West Virginia knocks off Kansas State 17-16

One look at Matthew McCrane is all it took to realize how much a 17-16 loss to West Virginia bothered Kansas State football players on Saturday at Milan Puskar Stadium.

McCrane, a junior kicker, fought back tears as he emerged from the locker room and then blamed himself for the defeat after he missed a field goal in the final minutes that would have given his team a late lead.

“It’s disappointing,” McCrane said. “I am disappointed in myself right now. To cost our team the first conference game is big, and I apologize for that.”

The kick was from 43 yards away – hardly a given, even though he had connected on his first three tries – and he booted it long enough, but it sailed left. West Virginia took over with 2 minutes, 11 seconds remaining and held on for victory.

“I am the one who kicked the ball,” McCrane said. “I don’t want to say it was me and not mean it, because I fully believe it was all me. The snap and the hold were there and I didn’t (make) it, so I take full responsibility for that.”

It may take a while for him to get over this defeat, but he’s hardly alone. Seemingly every K-State football player was willing to accept blame after letting the type of game they are known for winning slip away.

Jesse Ertz had his worst game in a K-State uniform, completing 10 of 30 passes for 166 yards and an interception, Byron Pringle dropped a perfectly thrown pass in the end zone that would have given the Wildcats a 20-3 lead in the third quarter, and K-State’s running backs combined to rush for 88 yards against one of the nation’s worst run defenses.

Even Jordan Willis and Elijah Lee, the stars of K-State’s defense, said they could have done more.

“It’s frustrating,” Willis said after harassing West Virginia quarterback Skyler Howard throughout and finishing with two sacks. “When I get back and look at the film I am going to tell myself I could have rushed better and gotten up the field.”

West Virginia came from behind in the fourth quarter to defeat K-State after doing nothing of merit in the first three.

K-State led 13-0 at halftime and 16-3 in the fourth quarter. A few more defensive stops or one more score, and victory felt all but assured.

Instead, the Mountaineers reeled off a pair of late touchdowns and held off a last-minute charge from the Wildcats.

“We played well defensively,” K-State coach Bill Snyder said. “I thought we struggled offensively in the second half when we had to have some movement. We couldn’t get first downs. We did get the ball downfield, but once we got across midfield we just hit a stone wall. The execution was not as good as it needs to be.”

The biggest miscues came on offense, particularly in the passing game. K-State continually asked Ertz to throw the ball deep against West Virginia’s blitzing defense, and he was rarely able to connect with his receivers. The majority of his throws went over the heads of open targets.

Still, he managed things well enough to give K-State a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter. With Lee making 14 tackles and the Wildcats’ defensive line continually flushing Howard out of the pocket, K-State didn’t need a potent offense to win this game.

It simply needed more than Ertz and company delivered.

“We didn’t connect, and that is on the offense,” Ertz said. “We have to score more points and give the defense something to play for.”

West Virginia took its first lead with 6:11 remaining on a touchdown pass from Howard, who threw for 298 yards, to Jovon Durante.

It was the most frustrating play of the night for Willis, who flushed Howard out of the pocket and appeared to be in position for a tackle until a West Virginia defender held him on the shoulder, pulling his jersey away from his shoulder pads. But no foul was called. Instead, Howard scrambled and found Durante in the back of the end zone.

“The offensive lineman grabbed me and I couldn’t get off,” Willis said. “It’s disappointing because if I was able to make that play or force him to throw it out wide they wouldn’t have the touchdown. You never know what still would have happened in the game, but it’s disappointing.”

The Wildcats still had time to win, and they put forth a solid try. Ertz, despite struggling most of the day, led the team within field goal range, and running back Charles Jones kept the clock moving. Everything went right until McCrane missed the field goal.

K-State (2-2, 0-1) nearly pulled out this game in vintage Snyder style. West Virginia (4-0, 1-0) gained 136 more yards than K-State and looked like the superior offensive team. But the Wildcats came up big when they had to in several situations and held the Mountaineers in check.

They simply needed more on the road against one of the Big 12’s final two undefeated teams.

“It hurts,” Lee said. “It hurts a lot. One point, that’s all it was. Going throughout life, even as a little kid, those one-point losses hurt. They hurt a lot more than usual.”

West Virginia 17

Kansas State 16

First Quarter

KSU: Ertz 2 run (McCrane kick), 4:41

Second Quarter

KSU: FG McCrane 37, 12:09

KSU: FG McCrane 31, 1:10

Third Quarter

WVU: FG Lambert 37, 11:24

KSU: FG McCrane 22, 6:37

Fourth Quarter

WVU: J.Crawford 1 run (Molina kick), 13:41

WVU: Durante 7 pass from S.Howard (Molina kick), 6:11

RUSHING: Kansas State, C.Jones 16-53, Warmack 8-35, Ertz 12-25, Pringle 1-5, Dimel 1-2, Silmon 4-0. West Virginia, J.Crawford 18-104, Shell 8-35, S.Howard 6-(minus 6), (Team) 3-(minus 9).

PASSING: Kansas State, Ertz 10-30-1-166. West Virginia, S.Howard 24-41-1-298.

RECEIVING: Kansas State, Pringle 4-61, Heath 2-35, Zuber 2-29, Burton 1-37, Dimel 1-4. West Virginia, Durante 7-67, Shorts 5-72, Ka.White 5-35, Gibson 3-104, Jennings 1-9, Shell 1-5, Wellman 1-4, Simms 1-2.

MISSED FIELD GOALS: Kansas State, McCrane 43. West Virginia, Lambert 30.

This story was originally published October 1, 2016 at 6:11 PM with the headline "West Virginia knocks off Kansas State 17-16."