What we learned from Kansas State’s heartbreaking last-second loss at Baylor
It was fitting that Kansas State’s final conference road game of the season was played during a rainstorm against Baylor on Saturday at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas.
Both teams were in desperate need of a victory, but only the tougher, more disciplined and mentally strong team was going to emerge from the elements as a winner.
The Wildcats didn’t have quite enough healthy starters, experience or clutch playmakers to gut out a much-needed victory. John Mayers kicked a short field goal as time expired to lift the Bears to a 32-31 win, which ended a five-game losing streak for Baylor and extended a four-game losing streak for K-State.
This will likely go down as the most painful defeat of the season for Chris Klieman’s team.
Not only did the Wildcats (4-5, 4-4 Big 12) lose in excruciating fashion, they did so after leading for all but a few moments of the game. The Bears (2-5, 2-5 Big 12) needed all the way until the final second ticked off the clock to pull ahead with a 30-yard field goal.
K-State botched its best opportunity to win the game on its final drive, when it could have run out the clock leading 31-29 with a few nice rushes and some first downs. The situation seemed tailor made for the Wildcats, as they amassed a season-high 256 yards on the ground. But they couldn’t move the chains when things mattered most and punted after a quick three-and-out.
It briefly appeared as though the Wildcats were going to survive anyway when they pounced on a fumble from Charlie Brewer, but the turnover was overruled on replay review with officials saying the Baylor quarterback’s knee was down before the ball came shooting lose.
That sequence allowed Baylor to keep possession and drive 57 yards for a game-winning field goal.
The result spoiled an otherwise promising day for K-State, which got 102 rushing yards from Deuce Vaughn as well as big touchdown runs from Will Howard and Malik Knowles, despite the Wildcats learning on Friday that they would be without starting offensive linemen Josh Rivas and Ben Adler because of COVID-19 issues.
K-State also piled up a whopping seven sacks without Justin Hughes and Elijah Sullivan (its two best linebackers) as it led 17-6 in the first half and 31-22 early in the fourth quarter.
But Baylor responded with 349 passing yards and a few more clutch plays in the fourth quarter to take the victory.
The Wildcats will try to end their four-game losing streak in their final game of the regular season next week on senior night against Texas.
Until then, here are some key takeaways from their loss at Baylor:
More mixed results at QB
Remember early in the season when Klieman refused to say anything remotely negative about Howard, even though the freshman quarterback wasn’t exactly lighting up the stat sheet?
Well, those days have changed. Klieman evaluated his options before committing to Howard as K-State’s starter earlier this week and pointed out that he wished Howard would have kept the ball on a zone-read play on the Wildcats’ final drive of the fourth quarter with a 31-29 lead.
Howard scored on a 24-yard runner a few minutes earlier, so K-State went back to that play in crunch time. This time, he handed the ball off to Deuce Vaughn with Baylor lined up to stuff the run. Vaughn gained two yards, but Klieman thought Howard could have gained more by running it himself. K-State ended up punting three plays later, which allowed the Bears to mount a game-winning drive.
Overall, Howard was mediocre in this game. He completed nine of 18 passes for 88 yards and a touchdown, but also lost a pair of interceptions.
His goal should be to complete more than 50% of his passes and to protect the ball at all costs. He is capable of doing exciting things within this offense, but not enough of them to make up for multiple turnovers.
Party in the backfield
For as long as the Wildcats have been playing football, they have never made more than nine sacks in a single game. For a while, it seemed like that record might fall on Saturday as K-State’s defensive line continually destroyed Baylor at the point of attack and spent much of the night living in the Bears’ backfield.
That’s not much hyperbole, either.
K-State piled up six sacks, one quarterback hurry and an extra tackle for loss … by halftime.
The Wildcats were unable to maintain that pace and ended the game with only seven sacks, but the Bears also clearly got tired of dealing with K-State’s pass rush and altered their offensive approach to get around it by throwing screen passes and running the ball to the perimeter.
Wyatt Hubert led the way with a pair of sacks, while Daniel Green, Cody Fletcher each had 1/12 and Jahron McPherson and Drew Wiley each had one. This was a positive area for K-State.
“We need to tackle better”
Those are the words Klieman said about K-State’s defense following a loss in which it surrendered 420 yards and allowed Baylor to move the ball at will throughout the fourth quarter.
It’s fair to say the Wildcats came out with an excellent game plan on defense, as they built a 17-6 lead at halftime. And the one touchdown Baylor scored came on a short field following an interception. But the Bears made excellent adjustments in the second half and began to put up points.
Some, and perhaps most, of that falls on K-State’s coaches to fix. This is the second time in three games the Wildcats have coughed up a double-digit halftime lead. But Klieman said it might be a simpler fix than that.
“When the ball is thrown in front of us we have to come up and make tackles,” Klieman said. “We have to tackle better on defense. I don’t know if we got tired in the second half or what, but we have to tackle better.”
Big game for Knowles
Malik Knowles was having a hugely disappointing season before Saturday, but perhaps better days are ahead for the sophomore receiver following this breakout showing.
K-State turned to Knowles several times when it needed a big play and he delivered.
His best play of the night came on a 75-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. The Wildcats called his number moments after the Bears took a 6-0 lead, and he found acres of open space on a jet sweep handoff from quarterback Will Howard.
Knowles made a cut up field between a pair of defenders and was gone thanks to some excellent blocks from teammates Chabastin Taylor and Nick Lenners.
The touchdown sprint had to feel good for Knowles, who entered this game with just six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown. He hasn’t lived up to his preseason billing as K-State No. 1 receiver, but he looked like a difference-maker against Baylor.
Where do the Wildcats go from here?
Klieman said he was “crushed” and “sick” for K-State players following this defeat, because they played with maximum effort and bounced back admirably from an ugly 45-0 loss last week against Iowa State. That simply wasn’t good enough for them to win.
It will be interesting to see if the Wildcats can respond with more fight when they close out the regular season next week against the Longhorns.
Klieman barely lost at all during his time as North Dakota State’s coach. A four-game losing streak is foreign territory for him. It’s also a humbling reminder of how far K-State has fallen since beginning Big 12 play with four consecutive victories. It needs to beat Texas to salvage a winning conference record.
Motivation won’t be hard to find, but the past month hasn’t been easy on anyone inside the K-State locker room. The Wildcats’ resolve will be tested next week.
“It just sucks, because we were so close to winning that game,” Hubert said. “As for our record right now we are going out and attacking every week. The most frustrating thing is putting in so much effort and not getting the result that you want.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2020 at 9:51 PM.