Five takeaways as Kansas State opens football season with blowout win over UT Martin
Kansas State’s 41-6 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium could be summed up with one word.
Sloppy.
The Wildcats took care of business and won their season-opener, but it took them much longer than expected to pull away from an overmatched FCS team. K-State was favored to beat the Skyhawks by nearly 40 points but still had its starters in the game during the fourth quarter.
K-State was at its sloppiest on offense. Avery Johnson only led the Wildcats to one touchdown in the first half while making his first home start at quarterback. He ended up completing 14 of 21 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, but he also threw the first interception of his college career. K-State also lost a turnover when Jayce Brown lost a fumble on the opening kickoff of the third quarter.
Those hiccups made this game harder than fans expected it to be.
“I was not particularly pleased with with the first half offensively,” coach Chris Klieman said. “We just didn’t get into a rhythm and I didn’t think we had a lot of energy and juice. I had to challenge the guys.”
Klieman’s team can thank its defense for the win. The Wildcats limited the Skyhawks to two field goals and 134 yards.
“I thought we did very well,” K-State linebacker Desmond Purnell said. “We did a really good job just limiting their explosive plays. I definitely thought our run game was very nice. When they had chances to score we all huddled together and made sure that all we gave them was just a field goal.”
Next up for K-State is a road game against Tulane, which won its season-opener by a score of 52-0 over Southeastern Louisiana.
Until then, here are some K-State football game takeaways:
The Wildcats were dominant on defense
As mentioned above, there wasn’t much to complain about from the K-State defense.
The Wildcats made life miserable for UT Martin quarterback Kinkead Dent. Take away Brown’s fumble, which occurred deep in K-State’s own territory, and a broken play that resulted in a gain of 45 yards for the Skyhawks and they probably wouldn’t have scored a single point.
Avery Johnson said the Wildcats would have won via shutout without those mistakes.
“I can settle down having an experienced defense like we do,” Johnson said, “and being able to trust those guys to not give up anything. They gave up six points tonight. One was on my interception and one was on a fumbled kickoff. So that’s on us offensively, and we just have to be be better in that aspect to take care of the football.”
K-State was at its best on the defensive line, where Brendan Mott, Tobi Osunsanmi and Travis Bates all had at least one sack. Osunsanmi got the quarterback twice and showed off a fun celebration afterward.
Desmond Purnell and Cody Stufflebean also registered quarterback hurries.
Getting that kind of pressure on the quarterback made things easy for the rest of the defense.
Tougher challenges are ahead, but the Wildcats flexed their defensive muscles in Game 1.
Avery Johnson was far from perfect
This was not the type of performance that will launch Johnson into contention for the Heisman Trophy.
The Maize product completed 14 of 21 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 37 yards as a runner. It was a decent outing. Nothing more, nothing less.
Perhaps the most encouraging thing about his play was that he improved as the game went along. After a lackluster first half, he stepped up and completed a 44-yard pass to Jayce Brown that set up Dylan Edwards for a short touchdown run. Later, he found Edwards for a touchdown pass.
Those plays helped make fans forget about some of the poor throws he made in the first half, including an interception. On that play, he tried to connect with running back DJ Giddens as he streaked open in the middle of a zone defense, but Johnson didn’t put enough air under the ball and the Skyhawks came up with a pick.
It was a learning moment for him.
He responded well as the game went on. It will be interesting to watch his progression as the season continues.
“I thought he did some really good things in the second half,” Klieman said. “I know he probably wanted the (interception) back that he threw in the first half. But as we talked in fall camp, this is his second start and he made a mistake. Rather than sulk or worry about it, he went on to the next play and ... made some big time throws in the second half.”
Strong debut for Dylan Edwards
K-State fans erupted when Edwards was announced to the crowd as a punt returner on Saturday.
They wanted to see the Colorado transfer make a play so badly that they booed loudly when UT Martin kicked the ball 34 yards and out of bounds.
Fortunately for them, Edwards got many other chances to touch the ball. He touched the ball seven times and he turned those opportunities into highlights. Edwards rushed for 43 yards and a touchdown on five carries. He also caught two passes for 19 yards and a touchdown.
His touchdown catch went for 15 yards in the second half and brought the crowd to its feet.
Everyone in attendance was eager to see how he would deployed out of the backfield, and K-State found some creative ways to get him the ball. They did so even while starting running back DJ Giddens rushed for 124 yards on 13 attempts.
First catch, first touchdown
Earlier this week, Klieman went out of his way to compliment sophomore tight end Brayden Loftin.
The K-State coach said fans needed to keep an eye on Loftin because he had “jumped out” during preseason practices. It seemed like he was ready to make an impact in games.
His prediction came true.
Loftin caught the first pass of his college career on a wheel route in the first quarter and turned it into a 23-yard gain for a touchdown.
If he can continue to make plays like that he will be a valuable member of the offense.
K-State is still Special Teams U
The Wildcats had one of the easiest blocked punts you will ever see in their first game of the season.
K-State pulled ahead of UT Martin 14-0 when Ty Bowman blocked a punt from Jaren Van Winkle without even diving or jumping to get in the way. The ball deflected off his body and fell to the turf right in front of Colby McCalister, who scooped it up for a walk-in touchdown.
It was a key play in the game, because K-State only led 17-6 early in the third quarter. Without a touchdown on special teams the score would have been uncomfortably close.
K-State fans grew accustomed to those type of plays under Bill Snyder. They remain under Klieman.
This story was originally published August 31, 2024 at 9:13 PM.