Kansas State earned its first conference victory against Oklahoma State on Saturday, 42-20.
It was a complete game effort on both sides of the ball, led by Avery Johnson And DJ Giddens offensively and Jacob Parrish and Marques Sigle on defense.
The K-State offense got things started with a 14-play, 75-yard drive. Avery Johnson rushed to his right looking for a receiver, but eventually found his own space and rushed for an 11-yard touchdown. The Wildcats got aggressive on the first drive, going for it twice on fourth down.
Oklahoma State, however, took the lead with a field goal, then a 77-yard flea touchdown run that worked to perfection.
The Cowboys had success with Ollie Gordon in the first quarter, so that’s what K-State expected. Gordon fooled everyone and sent him back to Alan Bowman who found De’Zhaun Stribling for the touchdown. After that score, K-State’s defense dominated from there.
However, the next five goals all came from the Wildcats.
Despite an interception by Johnson in the second quarter, he played almost perfectly from that point on. He achieved career highs in passing yards and passing touchdowns, with 259 yards and five total touchdowns, three from the air and two from the ground.
With Johnson, you know you’re going to get some big moments, and that’s exactly what he did. He had a perfect ball for Jayce Brown for a 55-yard touchdown. It was the first touchdown by a K-State receiver all year.
On his other rushing touchdown, Johnson took the ball himself, made defenders miss and rushed for a 13-yard touchdown. This is by far the best match he played early in his career.
Outside of Johnson, the story of the offense was DJ Giddens. Giddens was unreal in this game, throwing for 187 yards and a touchdown. In a battle between two highly touted running backs, Giddens won the battle between the two. The junior running back had a career-long run with a 66-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter.
Chris Klieman spoke after last week’s loss to BYU about the need to create turnovers. This defensive group heard his message and delivered it.
The defense forced three turnovers, all in important moments of the game. In the red zone of the state of Oklahoma, Desmond Purnell reached the quarterback, forcing a fumble which was recovered by Colby McCalister. Brands Acronym And Jacob Parrish added interceptions.
Like many of K-State’s home wins in recent years, this was pure K-State domination. You could tell they wanted to send a message after last week’s loss to BYU. A lot of guys on the offensive and defensive sides stepped up in a big way. The Wildcats move to 4-1 on the year with a bye week next week.
