Why one ‘blown coverage’ cost Kansas State dearly in upset loss to West Virginia
The play that will haunt Kansas State most following a surprising 24-20 loss against West Virginia on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium was a mixture of bad luck, poor execution and lack of focus.
It happened when the Mountaineers faced a third-and-22 from midfield in the fourth quarter and it seemed like the Wildcats were primed to force a punt and possibly clinch the game with a scoring drive. All they had to do was prevent the Mountaineers from pulling off their biggest gain of the day.
But that turned out to be more difficult than expected.
Here’s what happened on the play: WVU quarterback Jarret Doege escaped pressure from K-State’s defensive line and kept a broken play alive by scrambling to his left. Then he looked down field for passing options and saw receiver Bryce Wheaton streak a good 10 yards behind K-State safety Wayne Jones, who came up to help defend another receiver closer to the first-down marker. Doege lobbed a pass deep, Wheaton caught it and then sauntered into the end zone for a go-ahead score with 11:27 remaining.
“I was thinking just get through my progression, but I was forced out of the pocket and I saw Bryce just standing there wide open,” Doege said. “Fortunately I was able to get it off before I got hit. I didn’t know exactly if he caught it or what happened until I looked up and he was in the end zone.”
The rest is history. K-State got three chances to regain the lead and failed to take advantage. The Mountaineers (4-6, 2-5 Big 12) won their first game in over a month. The Wildcats (6-4, 3-4) lost their second straight.
“It was a blown coverage,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said, “but I didn’t see where he came from on the third and extra long. That can’t happen to give up a touchdown. All that being said, that’s not the play that beat us. That was a key factor, but there’s so many other things throughout the game that could’ve helped determine that fate.”
He is right about that. Senior defensive tackle Trey Dishon was penalized for illegally making contact with West Virginia’s long-snapper on a field-goal attempt in the first half. The Mountaineers missed the kick, but it didn’t matter. The penalty gave them a first down. A few plays later, Doege connected with George Campbell for a 15-yard touchdown pass.
Skylar Thompson also had Dalton Schoen open deep on K-State’s final offensive play of the day. K-State likely would have won had Thompson hit him in stride. Instead, he under-threw the pass and West Virginia’s Hakeem Bailey came up with a game-clinching interception.
You could also argue that K-State, as a 14-point favorite, simply overlooked an opponent that had lost its previous five games.
Still, the Wildcats’ biggest mistakes came while trying to defend the pass. K-State has been stingy against the pass all season, allowing just five touchdown passes in its first nine games. But West Virginia threw for three on Saturday.
The first was a beautiful pass from Doege to Campbell in the right corner of the end zone in which he lobbed a ball over double coverage. The second was an over-the-middle throw to Campbell and the third was the 50-yard bomb to Wheaton.
How did those plays happen against a quarterback making his first start of the season?
K-State defenders tipped their caps to West Virginia for the first one, blamed themselves for the second one and wished like heck they could have a mulligan on the third one.
“I saw him just scrambling, and it’s tough when a quarterback scrambles because sometimes players don’t know if they are past the line of scrimmage or not,” K-State safety Denzel Goolsby said. “So I just saw the ball getting thrown on the side of the field and a guy must have been able to get open. I will have to see exactly what transpired, but it was just a good play on their part.”
The Wildcats could have helped themselves by positioning defenders deeper on the field to prevent a long throw. But Goolsby said coaches made sure the players knew how to stop the play. Jones simply made a bad read and lost track of Wheaton.
“Just don’t get beat deep,” Goolsby said. “Keep everybody in front of you. Sometimes it’s hard when guys are scrambling around and creating extra time. Your eyes can get lost. That is the main focus.”
Chalk it up as an uncharacteristic mistake in an uncharacteristic loss for the Wildcats.