K-State outlasts Texas A&M to win Texas Bowl

Kansas State was one of the nation’s hottest football teams at the end of the regular season, and that remains the case today following a 33-28 victory over Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl.

The Wildcats flexed their muscles against a SEC opponent in front of 68,412 at NRG Stadium on Wednesday and showed a national viewing audience their strong finish was no fluke.

They won six of their final seven games and now head into 2017 with all kinds of momentum.

K-State (9-4) certainly ended 2016 with a bang. This was arguably its best performance of the season. Texas A&M (8-5) was favored and benefited from a noticeable crowd advantage, even with approximately 15,000 K-State supporters in attendance. None of it mattered for a team that traveled to Houston hell bent on winning its first bowl since 2013 and its second since 2002.

“It was the perfect ending for this team,” safety Dante Barnett said. “With all that we have been through with last season and starting off this season, the fight that this team had, this was the perfect way to end it, building toward something special next season.”

Jesse Ertz led the way. The junior quarterback amassed 280 yards of offense and scored three touchdowns, looking sharper than he has at any point in his career.

Texas A&M quarterback Trevor Knight (310 yards and three touchdowns) and receiver Josh Reynolds (12 catches, 154 yards and two touchdowns) put up a good fight, but it wasn’t enough.

Not with Ertz completing 14 of 20 passes for 195 yards and turning receiver Byron Pringle into a deep threat on his way to MVP honors.

“I expect Jesse to play well,” K-State coach Bill Snyder said. “He has gotten to that point. In the first half of the ball game he was 9 of 11. That tells you it’s not a bad idea to throw the ball.”

This was the culmination of a transformative year for Ertz. He missed all but one play last season with a knee injury and got off to a shaky starter as a full-time starter this season, but seemed to get better every week. He ran for 1,000 yards and led K-State to nine victories.

“It’s incredible,” Ertz said, “just from where I was last year to where I am now. Being able to be on the field the entire season playing with my friends, there is no better feeling.”

K-State entered the Texas Bowl having lost seven of its last eight postseason games, but it felt like things were going to be different early.

Snyder said he grew confident earlier in the week watching K-State players compete against Texas A&M at friendly pregame events such as a rodeo. The spirit they brought to Houston, Snyder said, was encouraging.

That made it possible for the Wildcats to do something they rarely do in bowl games: overcome a slow start. That was often the bugaboo of its bowl losses, with early deficits forcing them to abandon their methodical approach on offense and try to play catch up. That seemed like it might once again be a problem when Texas A&M marched 75 yards in 10 plays to score the game’s first touchdown, but it wasn’t an issue.

Little fazed K-State. The Wildcats kept their cool and responded to Keith Ford’s opening score with a 79-yard touchdown pass from Ertz to Byron Pringle. It was unlike any play they pulled off during the regular season, as Ertz hit Pringle in stride as he beat man coverage and safety help down the sideline.

The only other explosive pass of the year came on a short slant that Pringle turned into an 83-yard gain. They should be fun to watch next season.

“We knew exactly what was going to happen before that play,” Pringle said. “I had already set up my defender on the play before. I told Jesse, ‘When you see man coverage just check to a fade and I’m going to go get it.’ And that’s what happened.”

This connection went down as the second-longest pass play of the season and the second-longest pass play in K-State bowl history, trailing only an 88-yard touchdown pass from Michael Bishop to Darnell McDonald in the 1998 Alamo Bowl.

“It was a perfect throw,” Snyder said.

The quick-strike touchdown shifted momentum K-State’s way and gave the Wildcats confidence to play with the Aggies.

On Texas A&M’s next drive, Kendall Adams intercepted a pass intended for Christian Kirk, which gave K-State quality field position. Eight plays later, Ertz stiff-armed his way into the end zone on a 5-yard keeper.

The Aggies answered back with a touchdown pass from Knight to Ricky Seals-Jones to take a 14-13 lead, but the Wildcats closed out the half with 10 straight points.

K-State was a dominant running team near the end of the regular season, averaging more than 290 rushing yards over its final six games, but the Wildcats used a different strategy. They rushed for 218 yards and passed for 195.

Perhaps some of that was due to the absence of top running back Alex Barnes. The redshirt freshman averaged 7.9 yards per touch this season, but he watched the Texas Bowl from the sideline in sweats.

Or maybe K-State came up with a new set of plays to beat Texas A&M.

The Wildcats reached into their bag of tricks for their final touchdown of the second quarter when receiver Dominique Heath took an end-around 52 yards for a touchdown. It was the longest running play in K-State bowl history.

“Texas A&M is a great team and we knew we had to create big plays against them,” Heath said. “We really did a good job of that as receivers against man coverage.”

Things were mostly back and forth from there. The Wildcats whiffed on some touchdown chances, but did well enough to take a 33-21 lead on a touchdown run from Ertz with 9 minutes remaining.

Texas A&M answered with a touchdown pass to Reynolds and had an opportunity to take the lead in the final minutes, but K-State’s defense held strong.

The game ended with K-State fans chanting, “We own Texas,” a nod to the Wildcats’ sweep of five Lone Star teams this season. The Wildcats beat Baylor, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech in the regular season, followed by Texas A&M in the Texas Bowl. No one has beaten that collection of teams in the same season since Arkansas went undefeated in the old Southwest Conference.

Not a bad way to end a season.

“That means a lot to us,” K-State linebacker Elijah Lee said. “All you hear about growing up is Texas football. Texas this, Texas that. They overlook us. We have big-time football players on our team and it goes unnoticed. I would like to think people will notice us now.”

This story was originally published December 28, 2016 at 11:41 PM with the headline "K-State outlasts Texas A&M to win Texas Bowl."