Will Howard’s stellar play against KU makes K-State ‘dangerous’ in Big 12 title race
Will Howard dropped back to pass on the opening drive of the third quarter and looked to his left. What happened next will most likely be quickly forgotten compared to everything else that occurred during Kansas State’s 55-14 victory over Kansas on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, but it might turn out to be very significant in the grand scheme of things as the Wildcats fight to stay on top of the Big 12 standings.
The Wildcats have struggled to move the ball since quarterback Skylar Thompson went down with a season-ending injury earlier this month. They only scored one offensive touchdown during an ugly win against TCU and they continued to sputter throughout the first half against Kansas. For a while, it looked like they were going to rely entirely on special teams and defense to beat the Jayhawks.
But that changed early in the third quarter when Howard looked to his left and saw Malik Knowles come open via a short route on the perimeter and connected with him for a gain of 8 yards.
That one catch opened the flood gates for K-State’s offense. After gaining 150 yards in the first half, the Wildcats exploded for 220 yards … in the third quarter. After failing to complete a single pass to a wide receiver in the first half, Howard found them with ease and led the Wildcats to 21 points … in the third quarter.
He connected with Chabastin Taylor four times for 68 yards, D.J. Render once for 21 yards and Knowles once for the 8 yards. For the first time in weeks, K-State had more offensive weapons than freshman running back Deuce Vaughn (152 all-purpose yards and a touchdown) and senior tight end Briley Moore (three catches for 33 yards and a touchdown).
“In the second half we came out saying, ‘It’s go time,’” Howard said. “We switched our mindset. We knew that we were up big and KU might not be the toughest opponent, but we kind of said to ourselves, ‘We have to play the way we play and not play down to our competition.’ That is exactly what we did.”
Indeed, the results were encouraging. Howard, who looked very much like a freshman quarterback in his first six quarters as a college starter, began to play like a veteran by completing 17 of 24 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns.
Howard was so hot in the third quarter against the Jayhawks that he led the Wildcats on consecutive touchdown drives of 65 yards, 71 yards and 94 yards to turn the Sunflower Showdown into a Sunflower Snoozefest.
“What (Howard) did in the third quarter is what I have seen throughout camp,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said. “He got into a rhythm and relaxed, made some really good throws. He stepped up in the pocket and ran the football a little bit. We were able to get Deuce on the edge. We were able to do a lot of stuff. We even got our inside game going, running downhill. It was big for us. I was really pleased with what we did in the second half offensively.”
The 55-14 victory was the most lopsided score in this rivalry since 2012, which was coincidentally the last time K-State won a Big 12 championship, under former football coach Bill Snyder.
Whether the Wildcats can repeat that accomplishment will most likely come down do to how their offense performs during the final five games. The Wildcats (4-1, 4-0 Big 12) haven’t needed statistically beautiful efforts to win thus far, but that may change starting next week when they play West Virginia and in the subsequent games against Oklahoma State, Iowa State, Baylor and Texas.
K-State will probably need complete efforts to win any of those games.
It remains unclear what boat racing a hapless opponent like KU means for the Wildcats moving forward, but it was hard not to be encouraged by the way the Wildcats moved the ball during a dream third quarter.
Maybe their offense is destined for better things now that Howard and K-State’s receivers are coming off this confidence booster.
“Whenever we get rolling, we can do a lot of damage,” Vaughn said. “I feel like Will, as the game went on, started to sit in there and he made some throws that were spectacular. We just need to do a better job of getting rolling earlier. Whenever we do that, I feel like we are pretty dangerous.”