As K-State Football nightmares go, Skylar Thompson lying on the turf at Bill Snyder Family Stadium was near the top of the list.

In a different season, that might have been the story of K-State’s matchup with Texas Tech on Saturday. Instead, the 31-21 win over the Red Raiders was about a K-State team that has shown it doesn’t matter what players are on the field, the resiliency of the Wildcats won’t change.

At one point, a true freshman quarterback was handing the ball off to a true freshman running back, who was protected by a true freshman left tackle. It just didn’t matter for K-State.

“We played a lot of true freshmen today,” head coach Chris Klieman said. “That excites me, it excites that class, it excites any young player that says, ‘Boy I can play right away and have a chance and compete on the highest stage’. TJ Smith played as a true freshman. Deuce (Vaughn), Carver (Willis), Will (Howard), Tee (Denson) played some snaps. It’s fun to watch. These kids are hungry.”

Deuce Vaughn played a huge role for the Wildcats on Saturday, with 113 rushing yards and two touchdowns. In the first three games of his college career, the freshman has gone from an electric change-of-pace option to the focal point of a K-State running back committee.

He continued to do damage out of the backfield against Texas Tech, effectively hitting a walk-off with a 70-yard touchdown catch that put K-State up 10 points with just over two minutes to go.

K-State heads to Fort Worth, Tex. this Saturday to battle TCU. Kickoff is at 3 pm with pregame coverage at 1 pm on Sports Radio 1150 KSAL.

Voice of the Wildcats Wyatt Thompson hopped on In The Zone for the latest installment of “Wildcat Weekly.”

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