Kansas State 2018 Season
The 2018 season will be known in KSU folk lore for four reasons. The hiring of soon to be legendary coach HAFFnHAFF, the wild upset over Houston in week 4 in HAFFnHAFF's first game as coach, the farewell tour of star running back Dylan Stewart, and the emergence of QB Julius Minnow. Two games into the 2018 season, Kansas State hired coach HAFFnHAFF. Coach HAFFnHAFF promptly knocked off an undefeated Houston team in his first game as coach. But he wouldn't win another game the rest of the season, despite taking undefeated TCU all the way down to the wire. KSU began to transition from a very run heavy offense to a more balanced offense as the season progressed.
KSU @ Washington State
Not much went right for Kansas State in their debut. Washington State scored on their first possession as Andrew Butts scooted into the endzone from three yards out less than four minutes into the game. Butts would add a second touchdown run later in the first quarter, and the threat of the run would end up opening up the pass. Raoul Gomez was on fire, and wide receiver Jeremy Cook was scintillating. Cook caught a screen pass in the second quarter, got a couple key blocks ahead of him, benefited from a couple Kansas State players getting in each other's way, and sprinted 68 yards down the sideline for a 21-0 lead early in the second quarter. Later, Cook would get wide open over the top of the defense, haul in Gomez's pass, and take it for a 52-yard touchdown catch for a 28-0 lead that would carry into halftime. The second half didn't get better. Gomez found Eduardo Cantu for his third touchdown pass of the game and a 35-0 lead. The Wildcats would get set up by a good kick return and convert that into a 2-yard William Proctor touchdown run to at least get on the board. But Wazzu struck back with Gomez's fourth touchdown pass, this one a 20-yarder to K.J. Sykes. In the fourth quarter, the game just managed to get worse for Kansas State. Backup quarterback August Crain threw a pick, and that led to Gomez's fifth touchdown pass and his third to Jeremy Cook. And after yet another Wildcat punt, backup Cougar halfback Elmer McDonald would punch in a 6-yard touchdown run to close the scoring. When the dust had cleared, the final score was 56-7 the worst margin of defeat and most points allowed in Kansas State's history. On the bright side, they were able to pick up 190 yards on the ground despite Dylan Stewart being held out of the game for undisclosed reasons. Stewart is expected to return next week, but this team's issues run much deeper than that.
KSU 7 - Washington State 57
KSU @ #18 Missouri
The season debut of Dylan Stewart was...underwhelming. The senior back picked up just 90 rushing yards on 28 carries, and with no help from quarterback Aiden Higgins (5-10 for 58 yards, 5 carries for negative 17 yards), the Kansas State offense was unable to get virtually anything going. The game was pretty much in hand for Missouri when Tucker Dowden hit Daniel Hobbs on a 10-yard corner fade to put Missouri up 7-0, but having a bit of insurance is always nice. Caleb Sherwin would add a touchdown run of his own late in the second quarter, but that would be the only points Missouri scored in the first half. Kansas State was doing a good job of bending without breaking, forcing Missouri to march all the way down the field before they could score. That did not remain true after the half. David Murray would find himself wide open downfield, and Tucker Dowden didn't need any encouragement to hit him with the 28-yard touchdown pass and a 21-0 lead. The third quarter was the only drive of any significance for Kansas State. They converted on a couple of short third downs, moved the ball into the red zone, and got as far as the 12 before Stewart was stood up at the line of scrimmage on 3rd and short, forcing the field goal unit to come on. At least they were on the board, but that's as far as they'd get. Missouri's defense played shutdown ball for the remainder of the game, and Kansas State didn't do anything to challenge them. To close out the festivities, Cameron Lindsey won his footrace with Ahmad Williams as Dowden put the deep ball up for grabs. Lindsey hauled it in, shook off Williams's tackle, and practically danced the last few yards on the way into the endzone for the 40-yard score. That put the Tigers up 28-3 and pretty much summarized the day for the beleaguered Wildcats. Next up is their home opener on Thursday against Joel King and the Houston Cougars.
KSU 3 - #18 Missouri 28
KSU vs. #23 Houston
Aiden Higgins showed off his chops as a runner in the first half, Dylan Stewart turned up the heat in the third quarter, and the Kansas State Wildcats did just enough to hold off a monster game from Joel King and a comeback bid from the Houston Cougars in a shocking upset win. They never trailed in the feline fight, taking their first lead when Aiden Higgins broke containment on a designed pass play, scrambling out of pressure and never finding resistance downfield en route to a 41-yard touchdown run, which exceeded his rushing total for the season to date. He wasn't done yet, either; with the score tied at 7 after Trainer Joyce's first-quarter touchdown run, Higgins broke the tie for good with a 3-yard keeper just before halftime. Kansas State would get the ball to start the second half, and workhorse back Dylan Stewart began to show off his chops. Big run after big run put the Wildcats into scoring range, and he'd close out the drive with a 5-yard touchdown run. This began a run where neither team could get a stop on defense. Joel King found Michael Baxter downfield for a 36-yard touchdown pass. Stewart answered with a 4-yard score. King found James Hampton deep over the middle for a 40-yard score. Stewart answered by practically running over a safety on a 30-yard touchdown run. King found Trainer Joyce on a swing pass for a 16-yard touchdown. Then, with a 35-28 lead, Kansas State stalled at their own 40 and had to punt. However, the defense was able to break up a pass on third and long, and Houston had to punt it back. Kansas State would turn it into a field goal, but Houston came right back and score quickly as Kansas State lost John Mitchell on 4th down, and King found him for his 4th touchdown pass. However, the Cougars would fail to recover the onside kick, and Higgins would get the first down on the quarterback sneak to force Houston to burn its last timeout. The Wildcats knelt out the clock, and their first home game was in the books as their first win. They'll have to head back on the road next, but they'll likely be favored against Louisiana Tech.
KSU 38 - #23 Houston 35
KSU @ Louisiana Tech
It was a miserable day of offense for the Wildcats of Kansas State, and it was a slightly less miserable day of offense for the Bulldogs of Louisiana Tech. Kansas State went back to the power run over and over again, running the ball 35 times on the day. While they were able to get reasonably good efficiency out of that (more than 4.7 yards per carry), they struggled to turn yards into points. Louisiana Tech was able to force them into 3rd-down situations, and the Wildcats consistently struggled to stay on the field (3-13 on third downs). Even though the Bulldogs' Lukas Shea hovered just barely over 50% on their completions, they were able to put a couple of big enough plays together that they'd eventually find themselves in Kansas State territory in the first quarter. They made it as far as the 6, in fact, before the Wildcats broke up a pass in the endzone and forced a field goal. That would hold as the game's only score for a while. The first quarter ended. The second quarter came and went. Kansas State went three-and-out to start the third. Then, Louisiana Tech would add another field goal and get those dots on the scoreboard moving around. Meanwhile, Kansas State remained scoreless. At this point, it had gone from a blip on the radar to something alarming. Eventually, Dylan Stewart would put them on the board with a 3-yard touchdown run to close Kansas State's only truly good drive of the game, and the extra point put the Wildcats in the lead. Kansas State fans could breathe a sigh of relief--only to hold their collective breath once again. Louisiana Tech had one last drive in them. Taking to the air against an exhausted Wildcat defense, Lukas Shea found his groove. And the end result was a touchdown pass from Shea to Nicholas Baker to take the lead back with just 1:33 to play. Kansas State would get the ball back needing a touchdown. They wouldn't get it. Aiden Higgins would throw his first career interception with 22 seconds to play, and the Bulldogs knelt the clock out to close out a bad loss for the Wildcats. Kansas State will have a bye week to figure things out before their conference opener against Kansas.
KSU 7 - Louisiana Tech 13
