What went wrong in K-State football’s upset loss at Houston, blown 4th-quarter lead
It’s rare for Kansas State to walk off the field after any football contest feeling like it gave a game away.
But the Wildcats undoubtedly felt like they choked after a 24-19 loss against the Houston Cougars on Saturday at TDECU Stadium.
Chris Klieman’s team held a 19-10 lead and possessed the ball early in the fourth quarter — against an opponent that was struggling to do much of anything on offense in a game that was being played in terrible weather. And yet the Wildcats were unable to win.
The game ended with an unsuccessful Hail Mary pass from K-State’s Avery Johnson. The Houston fans who remained until the bitter end rushed the field to celebrate.
“That was a good team, and they played better than us today,” K-State wide receiver Keagan Johnson said. “They were playing in the same conditions as us. They were out there on the same field as us. They played better, and they executed when they needed to. I felt like we controlled most the game, but when they needed to execute and make plays, they made plays. We have got to get better.”
Most expected the Wildcats to close out this game by running the ball and playing strong defense.
It is what they have done all season in close games. They entered the weekend with a perfect 3-0 record in games decided by one score.
But things didn’t play out that way here. K-State quarterback Johnson threw a pair of costly interceptions in the final 11 minutes, and the Cougars took advantage with a pair of late touchdowns to pull off an upset.
The first interception came deep in K-State’s own territory and allowed Houston to take over the ball just 9 yards away from the end zone. The second interception came with under 2 minutes remaining and the Wildcats trying to score a go-ahead touchdown.
In between, Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss threw a short touchdown pass to Maliq Carr and then ran for a 41-yard touchdown to give the Cougars a lead they would not relinquish.
K-State (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) lost its second conference game and dropped into a tie for fourth in the league standings. Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) improved to .500 in Big 12 play.
K-State is next in action in two weeks against Arizona State. Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:
Weather played a major factor in this game
This was football in a monsoon.
Lightning delayed kickoff by 55 minutes at TDECU Stadium, but that was far from the only impact that weather had on this game.
Rain fell on the turf throughout the afternoon, and both teams played in an absolute downpour in the second half.
That made passing and special teams difficult for both sides.
K-State managed 327 yards on 75 plays. Houston only gained 232 yards on 52 plays.
The team that had the most explosive plays was going to come out on top, and that is exactly what happened for Houston. Even though most of its plays went for small yardage, they had four plays go for more than 28 yards. That helped make up for a difficult afternoon of offense.
Avery Johnson threw a pair of costly interceptions
K-State was in position to beat Houston by running the ball and punting in the fourth quarter.
The Wildcats could have won simply by avoiding mistakes. But a pair of interceptions from Johnson let the Cougars back into the game.
The first one was the most frustrating. Johnson didn’t need to be throwing early in the fourth quarter, but he committed an error that set Houston up with excellent field position.
Johnson took blame for the loss afterward.
“It really just starts with that interception and giving them the ball in plus territory,” Johnson said. “They score right there and I put our defense in a horrible position. Then they score again.”
He finished the day 23-of-39 for 238 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore quarterback had nice moments, but his two interceptions ruined his day and showed his young age.
Right place, right time for K-State defense
The Wildcats have a knack for coming up with big plays at opportune times on defense.
That trend continued on Saturday when the Wildcats jumped on a fumble near midfield in the final minute of the first half.
At the time, Houston was leading 10-9 and threatening to move ahead by more. But instead of Houston adding a field goal or a touchdown before halftime, K-State defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi hit quarterback Zeon Chriss from behind and forced a fumble. Nobody on the field was expecting the ball to pop loose, which allowed linebacker Desmond Purnell to dive on the ground and recover it.
It’s impossible to overstate how important that play was in the flow of this game.
Instead of going into halftime with a deficit, the Wildcats pulled ahead 16-10 when Johnson led K-State on a touchdown drive that was capped by a 7-yard pass to Keagan Johnson.
Neither team wanted to play from behind in a game like this, especially with bad weather looming over the stadium. That turnover allowed K-State to gain momentum and to play from ahead — until the fourth quarter.
K-State encountered problems on special teams
The Wildcats were uncharacteristically mediocre in kicking situations against the Cougars.
K-State was unable to connect on an extra point in the second quarter and a long field goal in the third quarter because of poor snaps.
On both plays, K-State holder Simon McClannan was unable to seamlessly catch snaps from long snapper Mason Olguin, which made it impossible for Chris Tennant to even attempt either kick.
McClannan was forced to try and run for yards after the Wildcats botched both field-goal attempts.
Weather likely had something to do with those miscues. And Klieman probably regrets not going for it on fourth down when his team was in Houston territory in the third quarter.
Still, it was bizarre to see K-State struggle in that area. It doesn’t happen often.
The Wildcats made a change at long snapper on their next attempt. Andrew Johnson came in and got a good enough snap off to allow Tennant to kick a 47-yarder late in the third quarter.
Kansas State’s running game is in a slump
DJ Giddens is no longer carving up defenses like he was at the beginning of the season.
The talented running back was held to 50 yards on 17 carries against Houston.
His longest run of the day went for 10 yards. His average rush was only 2.9 yards.
That is not a good development for the Wildcats, who are at their best when they are able to lean on a workhorse running back. Defenses are beginning to focus almost exclusively on shutting him down, and the Wildcats have struggled to handle all the extra attention that has come his way.
The Wildcats tried to get the ball to Dylan Edwards more on Saturday. That strategy worked at times, but he only finished with 31 yards on eight carries.
Klieman said the Wildcats have to get better in that area if they want to get back to their winning ways.
“We’re not playing with good enough fundamentals and techniques,” Klieman said. “That has been the case for the last couple weeks, and we’ve been able to overcome it a little bit with an explosive play here and there. But we’re not good enough at starting blocks, sustaining blocks and finishing blocks. When we do, we still have to run through an arm tackle or something, and we’re not doing that well right now at all.”
This story was originally published November 2, 2024 at 7:00 PM.