The missed opportunities that doomed Kansas State most during its 34-27 loss to Texas
It is impossible to pinpoint just one reason why the Kansas State football team fell flat during a 34-27 loss against Texas on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Many things factored into this defeat.
Here is a quick rundown:
- The Wildcats looked completely outclassed in the first half and allowed the Longhorns to take a 31-10 lead while gaining 352 yards in two quarters.
- Starting cornerback Julius Brents was ejected from the game following a targeting penalty on the first drive of the night.
- Adrian Martinez threw his first interception in a K-State uniform and lost a fumble on the final drive.
- Chris Klieman’s clock management and timeout usage (or lack thereof) in crunch time left much to be desired.
- K-State was penalized nine times for 85 yards, nearly double the amount for Texas.
- Finishing drives was an issue. The Wildcats crossed midfield seven times and only scored three touchdowns.
Most will likely start with Martinez. Fair or not, he was the starting quarterback and he was unable to play the role of hero in the fourth quarter when he had a chance to lead the Wildcats on a last-second touchdown drive that could have forced overtime or potentially won the game.
He threw for 329 yards and two touchdowns while also rushing for 66 yards and a score. From a statistical standpoint, it was his finest individual game since he transferred away from Nebraska. But he also threw a bad interception near the end of the first half that led to a Texas touchdown. Later, he fumbled twice on the game’s final drive. The Longhorns recovered the second near midfield and then ran out the clock.
“Winning is all that matters,” Martinez said. “I have looked down here and seen 110 yards passing and been happy because we won the game. I really don’t care too much for stats. I think they can be deceiving, especially when we were down so I had to maybe throw the ball a little bit more. It’s about winning. and that’s what I want to do and that’s what we want to do. Whatever stats we need to get it done is what I want to have.”
Even though he lost the fumble that ended the game, it would be unfair to blame this loss on Martinez.
Sure, the offense could have taken better advantage of its opportunities, instead of turning the ball over on downs in the red zone once and settling for a pair of field goals. But the Wildcats scored 27 points and actually out-gained Texas 468-466. There was plenty of finger-pointing to go around, even though Martinez held himself accountable.
“That is a tough one to swallow,” Martinez said. “Obviously we had an expectation going into that game to win, and when you don’t there is just a lot of disappointment. We’re going to have to shoulder this one and move forward.”
K-State defenders were equally frustrated after the game.
The Wildcats had been dominant at home all season and even held two of their previous opponents scoreless in games. But they had no answers for the Longhorns in the first half as Bijan Robinson (209 yards and one touchdown) and Roschon Johnson (62 yards and one touchdown) both ran at will through the heart of K-State’s defense.
“They had a really good plan and executed really well in the first half,” K-State coach Klieman said. “It took us a while to make our adjustments.”
Too long, it turned out.
Credit defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman for limiting Texas to three points and 114 yards after halftime. But the damage was already done.
“We just were really struggling with tackling in the first half,” defensive tackle Eli Huggins said. “I don’t know why. Obviously, Robinson is a heck of a player. We were kind of struggling to get him down. Our biggest problem was communication. They were doing a lot of shifts and stuff that kind of messed with us. We had calls to get adjusted, but it was loud and we couldn’t keep up with what they were doing. We were just struggling to get lined up properly. So, second half, we dumbed some of that stuff down, which I think helped us out a lot.”
Perhaps those are issues that can be solved more quickly when K-State returns to action next week at Baylor in another important game that will have Big 12 championship implications.
One way or another, the Wildcats will need to reduce their errors moving forward if they hope to avoid more results like this.
This story was originally published November 5, 2022 at 11:59 PM with the headline "The missed opportunities that doomed Kansas State most during its 34-27 loss to Texas."