Grades from Kansas State’s 24-20 loss to West Virginia and a look ahead to Texas Tech
The Kansas State football team lost to West Virginia 24-20 on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. It was the Wildcats’ first defeat as a double-digit favorite under coach Chris Klieman.
That will put pressure on K-State (6-4, 3-4 Big 12) to finish the season strong. The Wildcats are already bowl eligible, but losing to the Mountaineers (4-6, 2-5) dropped them to the middle of the conference standings and hurt their postseason stock.
Here are some grades from the game:
Player of the game
The Mountaineers switched quarterbacks and gave Jarret Doege his first start of the season instead of Oklahoma transfer Austin Kendall. It was a brilliant decision by West Virginia coach Neal Brown.
Doege completed 20 of 30 passes for 234 yards and three touchdowns without throwing an interception. West Virginia hadn’t scored more than 17 points in more than a month, but it had more offensive punch against K-State.
Play of the game
West Virginia converted a third-and-22 from midfield with a 50-yard touchdown pass from Doege to Bryce Wheaton. K-State was up 20-17 and could have taken a commanding lead by forcing a punt and scoring a touchdown on the ensuing drive. Instead, Doege scrambled to his left and found Wheaton behind K-State’s defense on a blown coverage by safety Wayne Jones.
There were other big plays in the game, but that was a back-breaker for the Wildcats.
Stat of the game
K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson threw a pair of interceptions against West Virginia, including one in the final minute when he was trying to get the ball to Dalton Schoen, who was open deep for a potential touchdown. Thompson only threw one interception in his first nine games.
Quote to note
“We were able to limit their run game. I don’t think that this is a team that wants to throw the ball 39 times. They probably called closer to 45 pass plays. We came in the game and our intention was to try to make them throw the ball. I think Skylar Thompson is a really good player, but just because we didn’t think that was what they were built to do ... There’s some bad things that can happen when you have to lean on passing.” — West Virginia coach Neal Brown.
Grades
Offense: C+. The Wildcats gained 421 yards (102 more than West Virginia) and had some big plays in the passing game, including a 68-yard touchdown catch by Schoen. Thompson threw for a career-high 299 yards, but he also had a season-high two interceptions. K-State would rather run the ball, but it only averaged 3.2 yards per rush. That’s back-to-back games in which it has struggled to gain yards on the ground. It cost the Wildcats in both. Their inability to sustain early leads has been surprising.
Defense: C-. K-State limited West Virginia to 319 yards, which would normally be a good day for Scottie Hazelton’s unit. But it surrendered three passing touchdowns against an unproven quarterback and once again couldn’t get the job done on third-and-long with the game on the line.
Special Teams: C. Blake Lynch nailed two field goals, but Devin Anctil only averaged 38.5 yards per punt. Trey Dishon also committed a costly penalty on special teams that gave West Virginia a first down following a missed field goal.
Coaching: D. Losing as a 14-point favorite is never good. Klieman said he expected Doege to start for West Virginia and he had the Wildcats ready to play their best against a middling opponent, but the Mountaineers threw for 234 yards and K-State players said they overlooked this game. Perhaps that was the case. There was also some bad luck involved. If Thompson throws his last pass another yard or West Virginia doesn’t score on a broken play, the Wildcats probably win. Still, this game shouldn’t have come down to one play.
Next up
K-State will try to stop its losing streak and improve its bowl stock at Texas Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
The Red Raiders are a difficult team to figure out under new coach Matt Wells. They have an impressive win over Oklahoma State, they pummeled West Virginia 38-17 and they pushed Baylor to overtime earlier this season. But they also lost to Kansas and are coming off a 33-31 home loss against TCU.
At 4-6 with a 2-5 conference record, Texas Tech needs to win to keep its bowl hopes alive. It will be a tricky game for Klieman’s team.
This story was originally published November 17, 2019 at 11:33 AM with the headline "Grades from Kansas State’s 24-20 loss to West Virginia and a look ahead to Texas Tech."