Grades from Kansas State’s blowout loss at Iowa State and a look ahead to Baylor
The Kansas State Wildcats were no match for the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday at Jack Trice Stadium.
Iowa State won easily 45-0, and the score could have been even more lopsided had Matt Campbell decided to play his starters beyond the third quarter.
It was the kind of game that had K-State players doing some soul-searching when it was over.
Here are grades from K-State’s latest defeat and a look ahead to its next game against Baylor.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Take your pick between Iowa State quarterback Brock Purdy and running back Breece Hall. They both had Big 12 Player of the Week type performances.
Purdy completed 16 of 20 passes for 236 yards and three touchdowns before leaving the game and letting Hunter Dekkers take over in garbage time. Hall rushed for 135 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
PLAY OF THE GAME
The final score might not have been so lopsided had K-State found the end zone on its opening drive, but the Wildcats weren’t able to get any points after marching to the ISU 3. The Cyclones stuffed Will Howard on back-to-back quarterback keepers near the goal line to force a turnover on downs.
Iowa State, leading 7-0, responded with a 97-yard touchdown drive. Going for a touchdown instead of settling for a field goal was the right call, and K-State coach Chris Klieman said he would do it again. The Wildcats simply didn’t execute. They tried, and failed, to play catch up the rest of the way.
“I just thought the start of the game in general was positive,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “I thought we had a big third-down conversion, offensively, that we were able to turn into points on the first drive of the game. Then for the defense to turn them back around and to limit a drive where they did a good job, from a Kansas State standpoint, of moving the football down the field and then to be able to hold them to zero points there. I thought that was big.”
STAT OF THE GAME
K-State averaged an ugly 3.2 yards per play and suffered its first shutout loss since 2015.
QUOTE TO NOTE
“We need to improve, get better and we can’t worry about things we can’t control. We got hammered with Covid the last two weeks and we can’t worry about that. I know it stinks for the guys when there’s a number of guys that can’t make the trip because they get pulled for Covid, but we’ve got to move on from that. That’s just the reality. That just is going to happen. It sucks but nothing that they can do about it. They’ve just got to play with whoever we have and get ready to go.” — Chris Klieman
GRADES
Offense: F. It was an all around ugly performance for K-State on offense. The Wildcats gained 62 yards on their opening drive and then managed just 87 on their next 11. Deuce Vaughn rushing for 44 yards on seven carries was the only thing close to a bright spot. Will Howard and Nick Ast both struggled at quarterback. It will be interesting to see who starts under center next week.
Defense: F. Missing starting linebackers Justin Hughes and Elijah Sullivan had to be difficult on K-State’s defense, but it doesn’t come close to explaining its putrid effort against Iowa State. The Cyclones had 35 points and 363 yards by halftime.
Special Teams: D. Vaughn set up the Wildcats with decent field position by piling up 94 return yards.
Coaching: F. The Wildcats (4-4, 4-3 Big 12) are fading hard after starting the season 4-1. They were absolutely no match for the Cyclones. This was the most lopsided defeat of Klieman’s career as a head coach.
NEXT UP
There is plenty for K-State to play for in its final two games against Baylor and Texas, but the Wildcats will need to play much better than they have recently to beat either of those opponents.
Next up is a road game against the Bears, which feels like a toss up between a pair of struggling teams.
Baylor has lost five straight since opening the season with a blowout victory against Kansas. K-State has lost three straight since beginning conference play with four consecutive victories.
The Bears have been competitive in their last two games though. They build an early lead over Iowa State before falling 38-31 to the Cyclones and couldn’t quite hold on against Texas Tech in a 24-23 loss.
They are still trying to find their footing under new coach Dave Aranda. Quarterback Charlie Brewer is having a dismal senior season after throwing for more than 3,000 yards as both a sophomore and a junior. Through six games, he only has 1,278 passing yards to go along with 11 touchdowns and six interceptions.
This story was originally published November 22, 2020 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Grades from Kansas State’s blowout loss at Iowa State and a look ahead to Baylor."