Kansas State scares Utah, but falls 51-47

Records fell like dominoes in a wild contest, and the Utah Utes scored a final-minute touchdown to come back from a 12-point deficit to keep their playoff hopes alive with a 51-47 win over the Kansas State

Wildcats at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City.

K-State set a school record for single-game rushing yardage with 472 yards. Utah set a school record for rushing yards allowed in a single game. Avery Johnson tied Will Howard’s school record for touchdown passes with his 48th.

And Joe Jackson eclipsed one of K-State’s most lustrous records, rushing for 293 yards to pass the 292 yards Darren Sproles racked up against Louisiana-Lafayette back in 2004.

It was a hard-fought contest.

K-State’s opening drive included a dropped pass by Brayden Loftin, an intentional grounding call on Johnson, a sideline warning to the Wildcat sideline, and three plays for -9 yards. After the punt, Utah was in K-State territory after one handoff. The Wildcat defense held up, though, thanks to a great tackle by Daniel Cobbs which cost Utah five yards. The Utes chose to punt.

A third-down catch just past the sticks by Jaron Tibbs was followed by Jackson getting loose for a 44-yard scamper. Two plays later, K-State was called for a false start, and a good thing because the snap bounced off Loftin, who was in motion. On the next play, Antonio Martin slipped through the line and took off for a 37-yard touchdown.

K-State gifted Utah 45 yards on penalties on the follow-up drive. A pass interference call on Amarion Fortenberry, nowhere near the incomplete pass which Gunner Maldonado defended well, moved Utah into K-State territory. The Cats got a stop on 3rd-and-9, but Ryan Davis got popped for a late hit and targeting to extend the drive; the targeting was upheld on review, and it should’ve been. Then Ralph Ortiz got flagged for a face mask, moving Utah to the 10; Byrd Ficklin ran it in from there to tie things up.

Jackson took a handoff and pitched to Sterling Lockett on a reverse for 19 yards to start the next drive. An 8-yard catch by Garrett Oakley gave Johnson a 2nd-and-2 to work with, but he got sacked after faking a handoff to Jackson. He got the first down on a pass to Tibbs, then Jackson rumbled for another 33 yards. Two plays later, Johnson found Oakley in the end zone from six yards out — but Andrew Leingang was called for ineligible man downfield. They got the yardage back on an offside call, but the quarter ended four yards short of the end zone. Johnson started the second quarter by running it in, giving the Cats a 14-7 lead.

Utah just ran all over the Cats on the rebound, 64 of their 75 yards coming on the ground, capping the drive with another touchdown run from Ficklin from 6 yards out.

An absurdly bad spot on a 3rd-down run by Johnson left the Cats half a yard shy; the ball was spotted where Johnson’s knee hit the ground, but he was leaning forward and was obviously well beyond the spot. No big deal. Johnson handed off to Jackson and he just ran right up the middle for 66 yards and 6 points.

The defense was set for a big stop, but Devon Dampier hit JJ Buchanan for a 60-yard gain; even if he hadn’t caught it, they’d have gotten the first down because Fortenberry got flagged for holding Buchanan on the way downfield. Two plays later, Dampier ran it in from 8 yards out to tie things up again.

After a pass interference penalty on Utah saved K-State from a 3-and-out, Johnson decided to get in on the party by running for 58 yards. But the Cats couldn’t punch it in, and had to cope with a 22-yard Luis Rodriguez field goal.

A huge offensive pass interference penalty turned a Utah first down deep in Wildcat territory into a 3rd-and-22 which was followed by an incompletion. Utah had to punt, giving K-State a chance to pad the lead. They did, as Jackson took off for another 80 yards and a 31-21 lead. The defense forced a punt, which bounced out of bounds at the five; Jackson ran for 8 and the clock ran out.

The Cats ran for 349 yards in the first half, with Jackson racking up 237 of those.

Utah just carved the Cats up to open the second half, closing it out with a 38-yard touchdown pass from Dampier to Dallan Bentley. The Cats then went 3-and-out, and Simon McClannan didn’t get a great punt off; Utah stormed down and scored again on Ficklin’s third rushing score of the day, another 10-yard run. Utah, for the first time all day, had the lead.

Martin busted off what would have been a 73-yard touchdown run, but a holding call reduced that to a mere 33-yard gain. Johnson found Tibbs for a first down, then Oakley for another; Johnson and Jackson used their legs to get down to the five. Then Jackson was stopped a half a yard short of the goal line, but moved the chains. He was stopped short on first down, Johnson was stopped short on second, then lost two yards on third. Johnson finally got the Cats in the end zone by dumping the ball off to Oakley on fourth down, regaining the lead.

Jordan Allen dropped Daniel Bray for a 6-yard loss, then Dampier was forced to run and couldn’t get near the sticks, forcing a 3-and-out. The Cats mostly stayed on the ground, churning clock; an exception was a completion to Oakley which dinged up his ankle. On 4th-and-a-half from the 25, Johnson pitched to Johnson for a first down. They faced 4th-and-5 three plays later, and opted to bring Rodriguez out for a 36-yarder.

VJ Payne laid a hard hit on Dampier as he was running for a first down, knocking the ball loose and Cody Stufflebean recovered. Two plays later, Jackson ran it in from 24 yards out. The Cats went for two for no real good reason; Johnson was intercepted and Utah ran it back, so instead of 48-35 the Cats settled for a 47-37 lead.

Utah moved downfield; K-State got a stop on 4th-and-1 at the Wildcat 37, but K-State was called for 12 men on the field. Zashon Rich made a great breakup in the end zone, then Dampier got called for intentional grounding. On 3rd-and-22, Dampier got 21, and then Utah converted.

Matt Wells called a pass play, but Johnson got eaten for a loss of one. Jackson picked up 2, giving him the record. But the Cats couldn’t get to the sticks, and had to punt. Utah took over at their 30 with 2:25 to go. Three plays later, Dampier broke loose for a 59-yard scamper, and three plays later Dampier scored from the one.

Johnson was picked off, and that was that.

Johnson was 12-23 for 102 yards, with a touchdown and two interceptions, plus 72 yards on 12 carries and a score. Jackson, as noted, had 293 yards on 24 carries and three touchdowns, and caught a pass for 19 yards, giving him 312 yards in total offense. Martin would’ve broken 100 himself if not for the holding penalty; he settled for 89 yards on 5 carries. Overall, the Cats ran for 472 yards on 42 carries, an 11.2 yards per clip.

Tibbs had 6 catches for 45 yards; Oakley had 4 for 33 and a touchdown.

The Cats outgained Utah 574-551, 472-292 on the ground; Utah had the edge in the air 259-102. Utah had the turnover edge 2-1, technically, although the defensive PAT isn’t recorded as a turnover. The Cats had a 1:44 edge in time of possession, and easily lost the penalty game (although after giving up 75 yards on 10 penalties in the first 20 minutes, they didn’t get flagged again after that).

WHAT WE LEARNED

1) The defense was hot garbage for 40 minutes, but…

After Davis got himself ejected, the Cats were playing with almost half their front seven missing thanks to the season-ending injuries to Austin Romaine and Tobi Osunsanmi. Given Utah’s offensive potency, it would have been foolhardy to expect the defense to stop them.

And then they got hot for a bit. They got a 3-and-out, and then forced a fumble, and that led to K-State extending the lead by four.

And then they folded.

But, again: they were basically at half-strength. We can point out that they were bad and still note there’s a good reason why.

2) Maybe Matt Wells should stay in the booth from now on.

For the first time all season, Wells went upstairs to call the game, and holy cow what a difference. For the most part, the playcalling was sensible — except for calling two pass plays on the drive when K-State really needed to burn clock. He put this insane offensive performance together despite not having the services of Jayce Brown, Jerand Bradley, or Dylan Edwards.

3) Who made the decision to go for two?

It was unnecessary. It would only have put K-State up by 14, so it wasn’t a necessarily obvious move like it would’ve been if the Cats would’ve gone up 15. The defensive PAT turned a 13-point lead into a 10-point lead, and while it didn’t matter in the end (Utah still would have won by a point), it changed the dynamic of the final few minutes, and prevented K-State from being able to win with a field goal if it came down to it.

4) Hats off to the offensive line.

They’ve been bad. Can’t argue otherwise. But today, they just opened hole after hole, and, well…

5) Joe Jackson, man.

One of the frustrations this season has been the inability to get Johnson productive. He showed last year he could handle being the guy; he averaged 5.8 yards a carry behind DJ Giddings and Dylan Edwards. For whatever reason — be it playcalling, the offensive line not opening holes, whatever — he’d only managed 476 yards coming into the game.

Well, he’s over 750 now, and he’s got one of the holy trinity of single-game K-State records.