Grades from Kansas State’s 34-17 victory over West Virginia and a look ahead to Baylor
Kansas State’s 34-17 victory over West Virginia was the type of college football game that proved the value of good coaching.
The final score doesn’t show it, but the Mountaineers (345) gained more yards than the Wildcats (299) and made it hard for K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson to sustain drives the way he has during the rest of his team’s current four-game winning streak.
And yet the Wildcats pulled away for a lopsided win because, unlike their opponent, they didn’t beat themselves.
K-State (7-3, 4-3 Big 12) didn’t turn the ball over and came up with two huge plays on special teams. West Virginia (4-6, 2-5), on the other hand, made every mistake possible in the first half.
West Virginia allowed K-State to block a punt and return the loose ball for a touchdown. It also missed a field goal, threw an interception, failed to complete a flea-flicker pass that was open for a touchdown and committed a blatant targeting penalty that led to an ejection and nullified an interception from Thompson.
It was the definition of a team shooting itself in the foot.
K-State, which played with discipline under the guidance of Chris Klieman, graciously accepted the charity and took a 17-0 lead that it never surrendered. Sometimes avoiding mistakes is all it takes to convincingly win a football game.
Here are grades from K-State’s win over West Virginia and a look ahead to Baylor.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Russ Yeast had his finest game in a K-State uniform by making four tackles, breaking up three passes, forcing a fumble and coming up with an interception.
The defensive back transfer from Louisville was at his best in the first quarter when he intercepted a Jarret Doege pass on the second play of the game when the intended receiver bobbled the throw and then broke up a flea-flicker pass that looked like it was going to result in a West Virginia touchdown.
Both plays were gifts from the Mountaineers, as they would have gone for big gains with good execution, but Yeast deserves credit for staying with both plays. He showed great concentration on his pick and then covered a lot of ground to break up the flea-flicker.
He also later sniffed out a pass in the flats for another break up. Challenging him was a mistake by West Virginia.
PLAY OF THE GAME
Skylar Thompson connected with tight end Sammy Wheeler for a gain of 35 yards on a key fourth-and-8 near midfield in the fourth quarter.
K-State was only leading 24-17 at the time, and a turnover on downs would have been disastrous. But Klieman showed faith in his offense and the Wildcats came through in the clutch. It was a great throw by Thompson and an even better catch by Wheeler. Deuce Vaughn scored on the following play to ice the game.
STAT OF THE GAME
K-State defeated West Virginia for the first time since 2015, ending the Wildcats’ longest active losing streak against a Big 12 opponent.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“That is a monkey off our back, for sure. Going through the whole week, it was definitely something fresh on my mind and the senior class. We just had a bad taste in our mouth with West Virginia and felt like we’ve never been able to get over the hump against them since we’ve been here. To go out there and play the way we did today and get the win at home was big time.” - Skylar Thompson.
GRADES
Offense: C. The Wildcats did enough to get the job done, and maybe that was the only goal after they took a 17-0 lead in the first half. But this wasn’t an impressive day from Courtney Messingham’s unit. K-State averaged 5.1 yards per play, its second-lowest number of the season, and Thompson only threw for 138 yards. Vaughn saved the day by rushing for 121 yards and a touchdown.
Defense: A. K-State did a nice job playing from ahead in this game and forced three turnovers. Cody Fletcher and Yeast both came up with interceptions. Reggie Stubblefield recovered a fumble. Jarret Doege threw for 268 yards, but Leddie Brown only ran for 85 yards.
Special Teams: A. It was a good day for Special Teams U. K-State scored a touchdown when Ty Bowman blocked a West Virginia punt and Marvin Martin scooped up the loose ball for a touchdown. Malik Knowles also setup the Wildcats for a touchdown at the start of the third quarter with a 64-yard kickoff return. Chris Tennant missed a 26-yard field goal, but special teams still helped K-State win this game.
Coaching: A+. As noted earlier, it was clear that K-State was the better coached team on Saturday. Klieman had the Wildcats fired up to play against an opponent that has dominated them in recent years. His decision to go for it on fourth down late in the game also worked out perfectly. K-State is now 12 of 14 on fourth-down conversions this season.
NEXT UP
K-State’s winning streak is about to be put to the test.
Beating Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas and West Virginia secured bowl eligibility and clinched a winning record for the Wildcats, but they are still searching for their first signature victory of the season.
They can get one next week when they host Baylor at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The Bears (8-2, 5-2) were ranked 13th in the latest playoff rankings, and they are sure to climb this week after handing Oklahoma its first defeat of the season on Saturday.
Abram Smith leads the Big 12 with 1,203 rushing yards, Gerry Bohanon ranks third in passing yards with 2,084 and Baylor has a stingy defense under second-year coach Dave Aranda.
Baylor is by far the best team K-State has played since it began conference play with three straight difficult games against Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Iowa State. The Wildcats lost all three of those games. Will things be different this time?
This story was originally published November 14, 2021 at 12:00 PM.