Defense carries Kansas State to 21-6 home victory over Texas Tech
If this turns out to be Bill Snyder’s final home game as Kansas State’s football coach, he will remember it fondly.
The Wildcats put together a defensive masterpiece and defeated the Texas Tech Red Raiders 21-6 on a cold Saturday afternoon at Snyder Family Stadium.
It was far from a perfect outing, as K-State only managed one touchdown in front of a crowd that was easily the smallest of the season. Still, it was one of the team’s strongest efforts of the year.
K-State (5-6, 3-5 Big 12) kept its bowl hopes alive and made Texas Tech (5-6, 3-5) look like a Big Ten team, holding its high-octane offense without a touchdown for the first time since early last season.
Behind an impressive rush, the Wildcats thwarted the Red Raiders at every turn, forcing them into five turnovers and limiting them to 181 yards. Things got so bad for Texas Tech that coach Kliff Kingsbury pulled quarterback Jett Duffey late in the third quarter for his third-string passer. He was ready to try anything to create a spark.
Nothing worked.
That shouldn’t be much a surprise. Though Texas Tech entered this game as a 6-point favorite, no one has moved the ball on K-State at home this season. Blake Seiler’s unit held Kansas, Oklahoma State and Texas to fewer than 20 points in recent games played here.
Add on Texas Tech’s six points and K-State is allowing just 18 points a game at home.
That’s particularly impressive given that the Wildcats are currently down usual starters Duke Shelley, Elijah Sullivan and Walter Neil.
K-State was led by Wyatt Hubert and Reggie Walker in this game. The defensive ends wreaked havoc on Texas Tech’s backfield and had Duffey scrambling from the start. Both players had sacks and forced fumbles.
A.J. Parker grabbed an interception and Brock Monty added on a blocked punt, which resulted in a safety.
Texas Tech managed to take a 6-0 lead by kicking field goals on its first two drives, but nothing went right for the Red Raiders from that point on.
The Wildcats confused them with a variety of different looks they haven’t shown in previous games, including a dime package that featured six defensive backs and a front of three defensive linemen.
On offense, K-State did enough to take advantage of a strong showing from its defense. Though the Wildcats had trouble reaching the end zone, they did amass 367 yards and moved the ball well between the 20s.
Skylar Thompson returned at quarterback and gave the Wildcats an obvious lift, completing 17 of 26 passes for 213 yards and a touchdown. Alex Barnes complemented him well at running back, adding 136 yards on the ground.
They also had what looked like a fun touchdown called back. Late in the fourth quarter, Thompson tossed a sideways pass to right tackle Dalton Risner and he rumbled into the right side of the end zone for a feel-good moment. But Thompson’s pass was ruled to be forward, not a lateral, which made Risner an illegal receiver.
K-State had to settle for a field goal, its third of the night.
The first half felt nothing like a traditional Big 12 game, especially one involving Texas Tech.
The Wildcats (127) and Red Raiders (120) combined for 247 yards and 16 points. Texas Tech took a 6-0 lead on a pair of field goals and K-State answered back with one of its own. No one scored a touchdown until the bitter end of the second quarter.
Skylar Thompson delivered the timely points with a nifty pass to Malik Knowles that gave K-State a 10-6 lead. On the play, Thompson wanted to throw to his left but ended up scrambling to his right when Texas Tech brought pressure. He lofted a pass into the end zone and Knowles came down with it.
Most of the other highlights before halftime occurred on defense. Both teams got after the quarterback, making it difficult for Duffey and Thompson to find any kind of rhythm.
Hubert had a particularly good game that featured two sacks and a forced fumble. Walker also had a sack and another tackle for loss.
Monty blocked a punt through the back of the end zone for a safety that gave K-State a 12-6 lead early in the third quarter. It was the Wildcats’ first safety since 2009.
There was a lot of talk before the game about Snyder’s future. With K-State struggling, there is speculation this could be his final season with the Wildcats, potentially making this his final game at the stadium that bears his name.
Time will tell on that front. For now, Snyder and K-State fans get to celebrate a win before the Wildcats head to Iowa State next week for their final regular season game.
This story was originally published November 17, 2018 at 6:10 PM.