Avery Johnson took sole possession of Kansas State’s all-time lead in career touchdown passes from Will Howard, and the Wildcats methodically dismantled the Nicholls State Colonels in a 71-3 rout tonight at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
Rodney Fields posted a 100-yard game in his first start after transferring from Oklahoma State, while Johnson was cool and efficient, tossing three touchdown passes and rushing for another. The Wildcat defense all but shut down the visiting offense, and the game was never
in doubt.
The Cats lost the toss and received. A completion to Jaron Tibbs ended with a personal foul for a late hit, moving the Cats to near midfield. Two of the next three plays were big: a 21-yard run by Rodney Fields (the hole opened by one Ryan Howard) and a 26-yard completion to Garrett Oakley. Two plays later, Johnson hit Tibbs again from seven yards out to put K-State in front.
The defense forced a 3-and-out, and then a horrible punt gave the Cats possession in Colonel territory. Forced into 3rd-and-12, Johnson found Brandon White to convert. Four plays later, Johnson ran it in himself from ten yards out; a run by Linkon Cure for a two-point conversion extended the lead to 15-0.
The third tight end of the trip got into the action on the following drive as Will Anciaux grabbed a couple of passes, but K-State had to punt. No problem; Simon McLannan dropped a 42-yarder to the six-yard line. Nicholls was forced into another 3-and-out, and White returned the punt 65 yards for a touchdown.
The Cats forced another 3-and-out, and Jay Harris opened the drive with a 15-yard run, but then fumbled on the next play and Nicholls recovered. No real damage, as the Colonels went 3-and-out again, kicking it out of bounds rather than testing White again.
K-State pecked and poked on the following drive before Fields broke loose for a 26-yard touchdown run to bring the score to 29-0. On the ensuing drive, Nicholls finally moved the chains for the first time as well as crossing midfield for the first time. The defense locked down and forced a 4th-and-9, but Ean Rodrigue converted on a 12-yard pass to Jordan Smith to get into K-State’s red zone. The Colonels had to settle for a 32-yard Kingston Phan field goal, however, and a 29-3 deficit.
Fields continued toting, getting K-State into Nicholls territory, then Johnson found a wide-open Joe Jackson for a 43-yard strike. Koy Beasley almost picked Rodrigue off with 20 seconds left in the half, but it was overturned on review; Nicholls called a timeout with 2 seconds left to the consternation of nearly everyone with the ball at midfield, but couldn’t even get the hail mary in the air.
Nicholls went nowhere to start the second half, and K-State just moved slowly down the field before an 11-yard pass from Johnson to Josh Manning pushed the score to 43-3. Two plays later, Darien Whitaker forced and recovered a fumble by Rodrigue, and Blake Barnett came on to relieve Johnson. Three plays later, Jackson scored from 11 yards out and the Cats hit 50.
Harris redeemed himself for his earlier fumble, scoring on an 11-yard run following another 3-and-out. A bad snap pinned Nicholls back on their six-yard line, creating yet another 3-and-out as the third quarter came to a close.
WIth the game totally in hand, for the most part the starters took the rest of the night off. The first play of the final quarter featured K-State’s first penalty of the night before Monterrio Elston busted loose for a 43-yard touchdown run to make the score 64-3. Later, Jacob Knuth, the third quarterback of the night, ran it in from two yards out to break 70.
The Wildcats outgained Nicholls 559-122, on the ground 312-92, and in the air 247-30. Time of possession was remarkably even, 33-27 in favor of the Cats, and each team had one turnover.
Johnson was 15-21 for 199 yards and three touchdowns, plus 23 yards and a score on 4 carries. Barnett was 4-5 for 41 yards with three yards rushing, while Knuth was 1-1 for seven yards, plus 25 yards and a score on three carries.
The top four running backs for the Cats all scored single touchdowns. Fields had 101 yards on 14 carries, Elston added 7 yards on six carries, Harris had 53 on six touches, Jackson had 38 on seven plus two catches for 48 yards and a score.
No actual receiver broke 40 yards; Jackson was the leading receiver on the night by yards, while Tibbs and Darren Salley led with four catches each. Tibbs and Josh Manning, in addition to Jackson, found the purple turf.
The defense forced a total of eight 3-and-outs on the night, and two other drives ended without moving the chains — one on a fumble, and one on the final gun.
What We Learned
Not a damned thing, honestly. This was a bad opponent, and the Wildcats had the entire camp to prepare for them while they only had a week to prepare for K-State.
That said, the execution was almost flawless. Harris’s fumble, one penalty, and a bad snap late were the only miscues on the night. Johnson’s incompletions weren’t egregious, the worst being an overthrown deep ball in the end zone which had no chance of being intercepted. If that execution continues, this could be a very good season.
Players of the Game
On offense, we’ll go with Fields, who made his mark in his first contest in purple after a decent freshman year last season in Stillwater. Darien Whitaker gets the honors on defense for forcing the only Nicholls turnover.
Next
Washington State makes their first trip to Manhattan next Saturday for an 11am contest.
