What we learned from Kansas State’s injury-filled victory over Texas Tech
Kansas State’s 31-21 victory over Texas Tech came at an expensive price for the Wildcats.
They lost their starting quarterback, and it’s unclear when he will return to action.
Skylar Thompson was knocked out of Saturday’s game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with an injury to his right shoulder late in the first half and was unable to return. He spent the entirety of the second half watching the game in street clothes with a sling on his right arm.
What will happen to the Wildcats if they have to play a few more games with a freshman leading the offense as their senior starter gets healthy? Fans got a preview of what that may look like when Will Howard took over for Thompson and handled every snap in the second half.
Turns out, K-State may be in capable hands. After a few shaky moments, Howard helped the Wildcats hold off a comeback attempt from the Red Raiders with a pair of passes that his skill players turned into monster gains. Both occurred after K-State coughed up a 14-0 halftime lead and was forced to mount a comeback of its own down 21-17 in the fourth quarter.
The first was a 66-yard pass to tight end Briley Moore, who caught the ball in the middle of the field and then tip-toed his way up the sideline for a game-changing play that allowed Harry Trotter to splash into the end zone for a 24-21 lead moments later.
Two drives later, Howard found running back Deuce Vaughn over the middle, and Vaughn outran everyone on the field for a 70-yard touchdown that further established him as one of the best freshmen in K-State football history.
Vaughn finished the day with 113 yards and a touchdown on 16 rushing attempts to go along with 81 yards and a touchdown on three catches.
His big plays helped Howard rise to the occasion while playing in just his second college game. Howard completed 7 of 12 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown after Thompson had led the Wildcats to a pair of scoring drives in the first half.
It will be fascinating to see what Howard can accomplish moving forward if he is thrust into a starting role next week against TCU.
For now, though, all is swell in Manhattan.
Things got nervous for the Wildcats (2-1, 2-0 Big 12) when the Red Raiders (1-2, 0-2) began the second half with three straight touchdown drives, but the Wildcats made clutch plays down the stretch to win their second straight game.
Here a few other things we learned from K-State’s most recent game:
Unfortunate injuries
This was the rare game in which both starting quarterbacks were knocked out of the lineup with injuries. That’s always unfortunate. But what made things frustrating for both sides is that each injury happened on a late and arguably dirty hit.
Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman had to leave the game in the first quarter when Khalid Duke tackled him low from behind well after Bowman had thrown the ball down field. Duke was flagged for roughing the passer.
K-State quarterback Thompson was forced out of the game when Texas Tech linebacker Riko Jeffers lowered his helmet and drilled him around the shoulder on a blitz after Thompson had thrown the ball down the field. Jeffers was flagged for targeting and then ejected from the remainder of the contest.
Some K-State fans will wonder if the hit from Jeffers was retaliation from Texas Tech after what happened to its quarterback earlier in the game. It’s impossible to know.
It was an ugly exchange of quarterback injuries, anyway you slice it.
Deuce Vaughn continue to impress
No K-State football player has gotten off to a hotter start as a true freshman Vaughn.
That is a statement of fact, not opinion.
The electric running back led K-State in rushing in his first game against Arkansas State, made game-altering plays during a win at Oklahoma and then came up huge against Texas Tech when the Wildcats needed him most.
He has now amassed 439 all-purpose yards and scored four touchdowns as a true freshman. It usually takes players several years to get acclimated to K-State’s system before they start putting up those kinds of numbers. Vaughn is doing this straight out of high school.
Most impressive of all: Texas Tech knew it was coming. The Red Raiders focused their defense on trying to stop him and were unable to. He finished with 194 all-purpose yards.
Doing Moore at tight end
He may only play one abbreviated season with the Wildcats, but that might be all Briley Moore needs to establish himself as one of the best tight ends in school history.
Moore was once again a difference-maker for K-State on Saturday by catching two passes for 78 yards and a touchdown. The Wildcats rarely utilized tight ends in the passing game under former coach Bill Snyder, but that is clearly changing under Chris Klieman.
K-State quarterbacks trust Moore as much as any receiver and proved it in this game. Thompson hit Moore for a 12-yard touchdown in the first quarter and Howard found him across the middle for a 66-yard catch in the fourth quarter when the Wildcats badly needed a big play trailing 21-17. Moore caught the ball and then tip-toed his way up the sideline for a huge gain that set up running back Harry Trotter for a touchdown moments later.
It’s easy to see why K-State coaches were so excited when they landed Moore as a graduate transfer out of Northern Iowa during the offseason.
Blocked Punt U
Many like to refer to K-State as Special Teams U as a nod to the Wildcats’ long history of stellar kickers, punters and return specialists. Perhaps a more specific nickname would be appropriate this season: Blocked Punt U.
The Wildcats continued their streak of blocked punts to three games on Saturday when Seth Porter raced into the backfield and got his hands on a punt attempt from Texas Tech. Brock Monty immediately hopped on the loose ball. That big play set K-State up with excellent field position in the first quarter, and the offense capitalized moments later with a touchdown catch from tight end Briley Moore.
It’s rare to see a team block three punts in an entire season. The Wildcats are on pace for 10, one in every game.
Overall roster improvement
The Wildcats have come a long way since their season-opening game against Arkansas State, at least in terms of overall roster strength.
Down nearly 40 players at the beginning of September, K-State coaches had to get creative with personnel on both sides of the ball. The situation improved against Oklahoma and got even better when Texas Tech came to town on Saturday.
K-State was only missing a handful of notable players for this game. Starting running back Harry Trotter was back in the lineup after missing the Oklahoma contest, and so was defensive back Ryan Henington, tight end Nick Lenners and defensive tackle Eli Huggins.
The three biggest names missing from the Texas Tech game were Lance Robinson, Kiondre Thomas and Joshua Youngblood. Otherwise, K-State’s two-deep was mostly intact for kickoff.
This story was originally published October 3, 2020 at 6:34 PM with the headline "What we learned from Kansas State’s injury-filled victory over Texas Tech."