Johnson’s 5 TDs Lead No. 23 K-State Past 20th-Ranked Oklahoma State, 42-20

By D. Scott Fritchen

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State spent a week looking to respond after a disappointing first game of its Big 12 Conference season. The 23rd-ranked Wildcats might’ve made a statement on Saturday. Avery Johnson enjoyed a career performance and DJ Giddens rumbled for 187 yards and one touchdown in a 42-20 win over No. 20 Oklahoma State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Both teams entered the game at 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12. K-State was picked second and Oklahoma State third in the Big 12 Preseason Poll.

“It was a statement win,” said K-State head coach Chris Klieman, whose team came off a 38-7 loss at BYU. “What we went through last week, and believe me, we challenged the guys and more importantly, they challenged each other — if this group stays together and plays for each other and keeps the faith when we have some adversity, we’ll come out on the other side of it.

“We have to keep pounding the stone every day and every snap. That’s a good football team we beat convincingly. You’re not going say this is a fluke or anything. We beat a really good football team handily.”

Johnson enjoyed career highs across the board in completing 19-of-31 passes for 259 yards with three touchdowns and one interception while also rushing for 60 yards and two scores for the Wildcats, who scored a season-high point total behind a balanced offensive attack — 259 yards passing and 300 rushing — that featured plenty of Giddens.

While Johnson became the first K-State quarterback since Collin Klein in 2012 to throw for three touchdowns and rush for two more in a Big 12 game, the 6-foot-1, 212-pound Giddens had 15 carries for 187 yards and one touchdown — scoring on a 66-yard run early in the third quarter and in the midst of 35 unanswered points.

“It’s almost there,” Giddens said. “We have a lot more in the tank, though. We have a lot more to prove. We played pretty good.”

Meanwhile, Johnson appeared more comfortable than at any time in his young career. The sophomore completed passes to eight different pass catchers and fired touchdowns to tight end Garrett Oakley (19 yards), wide receiver Jayce Brown (55 yards) and tight end Will Anciaux (two yards), showing off his patience, improvising when necessary, and dashing down the field on designed runs.

“I was so proud with how Avery played today,” Klieman said. “We knew we had some shot plays, and we completed some shot plays. We had some tough, tough catches and throws. He was really on point and really confident.”

K-State has won 11 of the last 14 meetings in Manhattan against Oklahoma State, which has now lost four-straight games against ranked opponents.

The Wildcats held a 559-490 advantage in total offensive yards. Oklahoma State was just 6-for-17 on third down and suffered three giveaways.

“We left some points on the board,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said. “When you play a good football team in a good college football environment on the road, you have to capitalize on those situations, and we didn’t.”

Oklahoma State quarterback Alan Bowman went 26-for-50 for 364 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions while Stribling had seven catches for 157 yards and one touchdown. The Wildcats held 2023 Doak Walker Award winner Ollie Gordon II to 76 yards on 15 carries, including only seven yards on four carries in the second half.

All that mattered to safety Marques Sigle, who had an interception, was that the K-State defense stayed in the fight.

“We’re called Mob for a reason,” Sigle said. “When we go to war, we’re looking to win. Our motto this year is, ‘We’re in a fight.’ You’re either going to take the punch or you’re going to keep punching. That’s what we did. We kept punching.”

K-State scored five of its touchdowns in a span of eight possessions, turning a 13-7 deficit midway through the second quarter to a 42-13 lead early in the fourth quarter.

It was billed as a battle between two historical heavyweights in the Big 12, and this had jabs and uppercuts and a few close-but-no-dice knockouts in the first half, as K-State, on the strength of Johnson’s arm and Giddens’ legs, pushed its way to a 21-13 advantage heading into the locker room.

K-State struck first when Johnson engineered a 14-play, 75-yard drive by throwing the ball before running it himself for an 11-yard touchdown.

After Oklahoma State had to settle for a 35-yard field goal, Bowman dialed up the first dazzling play of the game when the senior quarterback on a flea-flicker found wide receiver De’Zhaun Stribling darting along the Cowboys’ sideline. Bowman was able to handle the blitz, hit Stribling in stride on a crossing route, and the talented wide receiver took the ball into the end zone and the Wildcats trailed 10-7 — a lead that grew to 13-7 on a Logan Ward 31-yard field goal with 7:30 to go in the second quarter.

However, Johnson and Co. served up a couple uppercuts of their own.

First, Giddens exploded down the field for a 37-yard gain and the Wildcats added 15 more yards when he was horsecollared on a tackle. That set up what at the time was Johnson’s best throw of the first half — a 19-yard completion in the end zone to tight end Garrett Oakley to put the Wildcats ahead 14-13.

Bowman and the Cowboys went 4-for-9 on third downs in the first half, including three of 10-plus yards. But facing third-and-4 at the Wildcats’ 22-yard line, Bowman fumbled on a hit from linebacker Desmond Purnell, and Colby McCallister recovered the football at the 31, giving the Wildcats possession.

Four plays later, Johnson reared back and threw a long pass to a wide-open Jayce Brown for a 55-yard touchdown. Taking the ball out of shotgun, Johnson calmly waited in the pocket and found Brown down the right hash on a post route, and Brown was open by 17 yards before trotting into the end zone for a 21-13 lead.

“I haven’t been open like that since high school,” said Brown, who had four catches for 78 yards and one touchdown. “I gave him a good release at the line, and I guess he just fell. I’ll take it.”

K-State outgained Oklahoma State, 289-262, in the first half. K-State, which entered the game averaging 160 passing yards per game, had 176 in the first two quarters.

“We had a great balance,” Johnson said. “Whenever you can run it and pass it at a high level and keep defenses on its toes, it’s definitely a big plus and opens our play calling a bunch. Being able to run the ball so efficiently like we were today and throw the ball at a high level allows us to keep from being one dimensional.”

Early in the third quarter it was Giddens’ time to really shine.

Giddens showed off his breakaway speed when he took a handoff, bulldozed his way through the middle, then came out the other side and sprinted the rest of the way on a 66-yard touchdown run to cap the Wildcats’ first drive of the second half in sizzling style.

From there, Johnson capped a six-play, 73-yard drive by throwing a soft 2-yard jump pass behind the defense to a wide-open Anciaux in the end zone.

“We’ve been talking about it all week,” Johnson said. “Coach (Matt) Wells said either he gets it, or it goes out of the back of the end zone. When you have a big target like that, a guy who played basketball, a guy I played basketball with and against in high school, I knew if I just put the ball up, he would get it.”

Then Johnson finished a nine-play, 80-yard drive by scampering 13 yards into the end zone for his second rushing touchdown and a 42-13 lead with 11:26 left in the game.

“That was one of the most fun moments I’ve had in football, not just college football, but football in general, because we weren’t expecting the Will linebacker on the pressure. If he wouldn’t have pressured, I was probably going to throw it to Dylan Edwards. So, I was going to roll right but I just had this instinct to spin back out of it, and got my eyes outside on the scramble, to try to maybe find Jadon Jackson, and then I gave a pump and cut back and slipped right under for the touchdown.”

The crowd sprang to its feet again. K-State boasted a 17th-consecutive sellout and had plenty to cheer about as the Wildcats responded in resounding fashion.

“We had a phenomenal home crowd again,” Klieman said. “Hats off to our crowd for coming to rescue our guys. That crowd was loud and into it. Our guys love playing in front of our home folks.”

And K-State players love that they have seemingly put everything back in order after an important past week.

“We are the team we think we are,” Sigle said. “We trust ourselves. We knew BYU wasn’t our game and we played bad and put ourselves in a bad position. This game, we put ourselves in a great position. It’s great for our season.”