MANHATTAN — Kansas State football is back in business.
A week after suffering a last-second loss at Missouri, the Wildcats opened Big 12 play Saturday by scoring 23 straight points on the way to a 44-31 victory over Central Florida in front of 51,912 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
UCF tacked on a meaningless touchdown with 3 seconds left on the game clock.
The Wildcats improved to 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12 heading into a bye week, while UCF fell to 3-1 and 0-1 in its first-ever Big 12 contest.
UCF scored on the opening drive of the second half to lead, 24-21.
But from there it was all Wildcats as they tied it on a 30-yard Chris Tennant field goal, then took control on touchdown runs of 2 yards by quarterback Will Howard and 3 yards by DJ Giddens. Howard tacked on a 31-yard scoring run with 2:01 left.
After a shaky first half, the Wildcats’ shook off UCF’s score to start the second and dominated the rest of the way.
Here are three quick takeaways from the Wildcats’ impressive bounce-back victory.
DJ Giddens carries the load for K-State
With Treshaun Ward sidelined by injury, sophomore DJ Giddens had to handle most of the workload at running back, and boy did he deliver.
The 6-foot-1, 212-pound Giddens was a human wrecking ball, shedding tacklers left and right on the way to 207 yards and four touchdowns on 30 carries.
He also caught eight passes for 86 yards.
By halftime, Giddens already had 107 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries, plus six receptions for 66 yards.
Big plays once again plague Wildcat defense
The inability to stop the big play on defense again proved to be costly for K-State’s defense repeatedly let UCF off the hook in long-yardage situations. The Knights’ touchdowns also came on explosive plays.
And it wasn’t just the passing game that bit the Wildcats. In the first half, UCF running back Johnny Richardson broke off a 48-yard run on the Knights’ opening drive that led to a field goal. A 51-yard kickoff return on to start the second half set up another touchdown.
Then there were the scoring passes from Timmy McClain of 69 and 46 yards to Kobe Hudson and 27 yards to running back RJ Harvey.
On the positive side, the Wildcats had eight tackles for loss and four sacks.
Will Howard answers the bell
Listed as questionable for the game early in the week by coach Chris Klieman after suffering a leg injury at Missouri, Will Howard had a remarkable week of recovery and not only started, but played the entire game for K-State.
Other than a first-quarter interception that led to a UCF touchdown, he was as good as ever, completing 27 of 42 passes for 255 yards, plus rushed for 64 yards and two scores.
True freshman Avery Johnson, who would have made his first start if Howard was unavailable, never got on the field.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
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2023-09-24 03:41:57
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