Recap: No. 13 Kansas State embarrassed by BYU in conference opener

It was one to forget for Kansas State, as they suffered their first loss to BYU in blowout fashion. The Wildcats dominated the first part of this game, but it fell apart quickly with about two minutes to go in the first half.

After that, a complete meltdown occurred.

K-State’s first two possessions were long, successful drives, but both of them only ended in two field goals. The Wildcats were forced to be behind the sticks because of penalties, a major theme of the night. Ultimately, settling for field goals ended up costing K-State. BYU got a field goal themselves on the next possession, but things went haywire after that.

An uncharacteristic play by DJ Giddens led to the Cougar’s first touchdown. Giddens was running on the outside and got the ball punched out by a Cougar defender, leading to a scoop and scoring a touchdown. On the next possession, Avery Johnson tried to find Dylan Edwards, but a BYU lineman intercepted the pass. BYU would score a touchdown on that drive.

While ending the first half in a tough way, K-State still had to feel like they were in a decent spot to return in this one. BYU had other plans, however, picking off Johnson again on the first possession out of the half. It only took BYU two plays to rack up another touchdown and make it a 24-6 game.

BYU would deliver the dagger later in the quarter, as Parker Kingston returne a punt 90 yards for a touchdown. Kingston looked to muffed the punt at first, but picked it up near the other endzone, broke the outside, and took it to the house. After that play, we knew the night was over for the Wildcats.

It wasn’t entirely Avery Johnson’s fault this game got out of control, but the sophomore quarterback did not play well on the road, as he finished the game with 2 costly interceptions. These interceptions got the Cougars going and they never looked back.

I don’t think anyone expected this game to go like this for Chris Klieman’s group.

K-State was riding high after a big win over Arizona and seemed to match up well with the Cougars. A lot of mistakes led to this loss in a miserable fashion. K-State knows they are better than this, and this is one you just crumble up and throw in the trash.

They can’t hang their heads too long about this one with a massive matchup with Oklahoma State on Saturday.