View From The Press Box: First Half Nightmare Extinguishes #16 K-State’s Playoff Hopes

The Kansas State Wildcats saw their hopes of reaching the Big 12 Championship Game and the College Football Playoffs dashed after a 24-14 loss to Arizona State. K-State fell behind 21-o in the first half after two turnovers, and a late rally fell short as they dropped their second straight game and fell to 7-3 overall, 4-3 in the Big 12.

580 Sports Talk’s Dan Lucero was at the game and has these observations from his seat in the press box:

1. I have no idea how K-State came out of the locker room looking like that. After a bad loss and a bye week, and with a home game for the first time in three weeks, I expected some fire and energy from the Wildcats in a challenging game with so much still to play for this season. Instead, K-State turned the ball over on their second offensive play, got bullied at the line of scrimmage, committed killer penalties, missed tackles, botched another snap on a kick, and generally looked unprepared in the first 30 minutes, and faced a 24-0 deficit before their first possession of the second half as a result. That was the last thing I would have expected from a team coached by Chris Klieman.
2. The offense simply isn’t functional enough right now. You can blame the playcalling if you want – it is unimaginative at times, and befuddling at others, for certain – but the offensive line’s severe regression over the last four games has made it all but impossible for K-State to run the ball on early downs, and they’re in difficult second and third down situations as a result. And while the Wildcats did try to get Avery Johnson involved in the running game tonight, the results of those plays shows that something is pretty clearly not 100% physically with the sophomore signal caller. He did not have the same kind of burst and ability to get to the edge and turn the corner that we have seen in the past. There were some bright spots in the second half, particularly Tre Spivey’s emergence, but you don’t win a lot of games with 14 points.
3. I don’t want to pile on the K-State snapper, but that’s 10 points that bad snaps on kicks have cost the Wildcats in the last two games. We took Randen Plattner for granted, didn’t we? For a program that’s prided itself on being Special Teams U over the years, they’ve had some breakdowns in that third phase of the game the last two seasons, and the snap yips have been particularly galling.
4. Third downs were killer tonight. K-State’s defense has been good on third down this season, limiting opponents to just 37% conversion on the money down. But Arizona State repeatedly kept the sticks moving on third downs, going 9-for-12 in the first three quarters. A big part of their success was getting into short third downs, but there were three crucial third-and-long conversions that helped the Sun Devils play keep-away from K-State in the second half.
5. Cam Skattebo and Jordyn Tyson are really freaking good. Trying to tackle Skattebo, even as he deals with a shoulder injury, is like trying to bring down a rhinoceros. K-State’s rush defense, typically solid, did well to rally to the ball and held him to just 2.9 yards per carry, but Skattebo kept the chains moving with second effort throughout the game. Tyson, meanwhile, had the first two TDs of the night for the Sun Devils, soundly beating single coverage, and ended up with 12 receptions for 176 yards. Arizona State is not 8-2 by accident – they are well-coached, Sam Leavitt appears to be the real deal at QB, and they have other star skill players.
6. You only get one ‘Murphy’s Law’ game per season. K-State already spent theirs in their meltdown in Provo against BYU. If you keep having them, it’s not ‘Murphy’s Law’, it’s just who you are. And this is who this K-State team is – one that is capable of playing well but equally capable of some really bad, undisciplined football. It was six minutes of game time against BYU, it was one quarter against Houston, and it was one half tonight, but it’s starting to add up. And for the second straight year, a promising season looks like it might be skidding to an unsatisfying conclusion, leaving Klieman with some questions to answer about whether or not K-State is still on the upward trajectory that felt possible after their 2022 Big 12 title.

Watch Dan’s Instant Reaction video from Manhattan here: