This is one game Kansas State fans aren't going to want to remember.
Unfortunately, this was what a lot of Kansas State fans were warned about before this BYU game. A night game in Provo with the crowd on their side, all it took was one mistake for the Wildcats and everything began to snowball.
A fumble returned for a touchdown, an interception, a punt return for a touchdown, and another interception ultimately led the Wildcats' downfall against BYU 38-9. Oh, and we can't forget about the pre-snap penalties, those can tend to pile up on a team that can't get anything going.
The Wildcats were shooting themselves in the foot with pre-snap penalties that forced them to settle for field goals on their first two drives. That would have turned a 6-0 game into a 14-0 game and probably made it all very different.
Kansas State was unable to get anything going offensively, which can tend to seep into the defensive part of the game. Truly, it wasn't like BYU really beat Kansas State on offense, it was the defense and special teams of the Cougars.
A scoop-n-score and a punt return are 14 points on the board for BYU. The Cougars were only able to score two touchdowns on offense and a pair of field goals. The Wildcats also gave BYU good field position on the interceptions by Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson.
Johnson felt adversity truly for the first time in his young career as the mistakes just seemed to pile, not just on him but on the team as a whole. Johnson ended up throwing the second and third interceptions of his career and, unfortunately, wasn't able to get a connection going with any of his wide receivers when it mattered.
The Wildcat offense struggled in all phases. Johnson was able to get perfectly thrown balls to his receivers, but it seemed like they all had butter fingers and weren't about to haul in the passes. With a young quarterback at the helm in a game such as this one, it is hard for a team to pull themselves out of the hole, especially when nothing seems to go right.
With the offense struggling, Johnson tried to get things going with his legs and was able to finish with 74 rushing yards on 11 attempts and had the second-most rushing yards on the night for the Wildcats. His passing yards, however, don't show how good some of Johnson's passes were. The young sophomore finished 15-for-28 with 130 yards and two interceptions. Head coach Chris Klieman chose to pull Johnson with a little over five minutes left in the game, probably just trying to get out of Provo without an injury.
This one just wasn't in the cards for the Wildcats, and they will have to watch the tape, learn from their mistakes, adn turn the page because they have an even tougher matchup against Oklahoma State next week at home. The Cowboys are also coming off a loss to No. 12 Utah, so both teams will be coming into the game with a chip on their shoulder ready to make a statement.
Tip your caps to BYU today, Kansas State fans, they knew the stakes were high and met them. Kansas State just had a bad game, and sometimes it is better to have a bad game early in the season and learn from it early on.