Five takeaways from Kansas State’s deflating 34-27 home loss against the Texas Longhorns
It wasn’t all that long ago that Kansas State fans used to chant “we own Texas” at the end of football games whenever the Wildcats played (and usually beat) the Longhorns.
But those days feel like ages ago after Texas defeated K-State 34-27 for its sixth straight win in the series on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The Longhorns were dominant in the first half and then held on for dear life in the second half as the Wildcats mounted a comeback that fell just short in the final minute. With the win, Texas (6-3, 4-2 Big 12) is now tied for second place in the conference standings with K-State (6-3, 4-2).
Chris Klieman and his team will look to bounce back next week in a road game against Baylor.
Here are some thoughts on everything that transpired in Saturday’s game:
Adrian Martinez looked sharp in his return as QB1
There were plenty of reasons for the Wildcats to keep starting Will Howard at quarterback, but the Wildcats went with Adrian Martinez against the Longhorns.
That was an interesting, if not surprising decision, from Chris Klieman given how well Howard played over his past two games. It’s rare for a quarterback to throw for 296 yards and four touchdowns one week and then watch from the sidelines the next.
But Klieman apparently liked what he saw from Martinez all week leading up to kickoff. He wasn’t a game-time decision on Saturday. K-State’s radio crew reported that the Wildcats planned to start the Nebraska transfer at quarterback well before action got underway. Klieman later said he made the call to go with Martinez on Friday after liking what he saw from him in practice.
Playing Martinez instead of Howard set up K-State coaches for plenty of second-guessing from fans, but there wasn’t much to complain about the way he played. Martinez threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 52 yards and a score. The offense wasn’t quite as dynamic as it was the past two weeks with Howard at the controls, but K-State was also facing a better defense than it saw against TCU or Oklahoma State.
Martinez didn’t show any rust and looked fully healthy after recovering from a lower-body injury. He was at his best throwing the ball to Deuce Vaughn, who caught seven passes for 86 yards and a touchdown. He also helped Kade Warner continue his hot streak of games with five catches for 52 yards and a score.
It was far from a perfect night from Martinez, though. He threw his first interception in a K-State uniform and later failed to lead the Wildcats on a do-or-die touchdown drive when he lost a fumble near midfield with 24 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. He had a chance to be the hero and he couldn’t deliver a win.
Still, it is impossible to pin this loss on him.
Odds are good he will carry on as K-State’s starting quarterback moving forward, as long as he stays healthy.
Defense struggled early against Texas, especially without Julius Brents
It seemed like K-State might be in for a long night when Julius Brents, the team’s best cornerback, was ejected from the game in the opening minute for targeting.
The Wildcats struggled mightily without him.
Texas ran over, around and through K-State for 34 points and 466 yards on a night when the Longhorns did almost nothing wrong in the first half. They led 31-10 and had 352 yards before cooling off in the final two quarters. Star running back Bijan Robinson moved the chains like a bulldozer for 209 yards and a touchdown on 30 carries. Roschon Johnson was also hard to bring down, as he rushed for 62 yards and a score.
Credit the Wildcats for figuring some things out in the second half and coming up with enough stops to stay in the game. But the Longhorns had too big of a lead for that to matter in the end.
That came as a surprise given how well K-State had previously played at home this season. Perhaps losing Brents was the reason why.
Hats off to tight end Ben Sinnott
It’s rare that you see two notable plays in one game from a K-State tight end, given how few chances they get to make an obvious impact within the Wildcats’ offense.
So Sinnott deserves props for coming through with a couple big plays against the Longhorns.
The first came at the end of a 20-yard catch-and-run in the first half when he hurdled a Texas defender on the sideline and kept chugging along up the field. That is a play that K-State may show during pregame hype videos from now on.
His second big play wasn’t exactly a highlight, but it was more meaningful. K-State receiver Malik Knowles lost the ball at the end of a long catch in the second half and Sinnott came zooming in from behind to recover the fumble and maintain possession. That was important, because K-State went on to score a touchdown on that drive.
Ekow Boye-Doe also had a memorable play. The K-State cornerback provided us all with a good example of why you should never give up on a play.
Just when it looked like Texas running back Roschon Johnson was on his way up the sideline for a touchdown in the second half, Boye-Doe ran him down from behind and punched the ball free for a fumble that K-State was able to recover.
That was a heads-up play that allowed K-State to stay in the game instead of falling impossibly behind. The Wildcats made a few of those.
Did K-State have a let down after a big win?
It’s fair to wonder if the Wildcats have struggled to handle success this season.
K-State won a lopsided game against Missouri in Week 2 and vigorously celebrated the victory. The next week, it lost at home to Tulane. Fast forward to this month and the Wildcats followed a 48-0 victory over Oklahoma State with a frustrating loss against Texas.
Fans stormed the field to celebrate the win over the Cowboys. It was a party in Manhattan. Maybe that didn’t have anything to do with the way K-State played in the first half of this game. But it does make you wonder.
Big 12 championship picture is suddenly jumbled
K-State no longer has an advantage over Baylor or Texas in the Big 12 championship race.
All three of those teams have a pair of losses in conference play and sit in a tie for second place in the league standings behind undefeated TCU. It seems like a forgone conclusion that the Horned Frogs will claim a berth to the Big 12 title game at the end of the regular season. But the second spot is up for grabs.
Texas now has a head-to-head tiebreaker over K-State. Neither of them has played Baylor yet.
That will make the next few weeks interesting for all three teams. K-State heads to Baylor for its next game. Texas will host TCU in its next game.
Which one of them will make it to Arlington, Texas? It’s way too early to make any predictions after what happened on Saturday.
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 9:41 PM with the headline "Five takeaways from Kansas State’s deflating 34-27 home loss against the Texas Longhorns."