Analysis and grades from Kansas State’s loss at BYU, plus a look at Oklahoma State

If you only look at certain parts of the box score from Saturday’s football game between Kansas State and BYU you might think the Wildcats left LaVell Edwards Stadium with a meaningful victory.

K-State beat BYU in terms of yardage gained, 363-241. That is a significant margin.

The Wildcats also had more first downs than the Cougars and won time of possession by more than six minutes. Those are good stats, too.

But none of that mattered after Chris Klieman’s team lost three turnovers and allowed BYU to score a pair of touchdowns that didn’t come on offense.

Not only did BYU win, it turned the game into a 38-9 blowout.

A day later, it is now time to look back on the action and hand out a few awards and grades. We also look ahead to next week’s game against Oklahoma State.

Play of the game

It’s fair to wonder how much differently things may have gone had K-State running back DJ Giddens not lost a fumble late in the second quarter.

The Wildcats were leading 6-3 at the time and they were attempting to take a two-score lead before halftime. Instead, they fell behind when Giddens lost the ball on an outside run and BYU defender Tommy Prassas picked it up for a scoop-and-score touchdown.

BYU suddenly had momentum, and it took advantage. The Cougars dominated the rest of the way.

Stat of the game

There aren’t any good K-State candidates to choose from, so let’s go with a BYU player.

Harrison Taggart, a sophomore linebacker, led all defenders with 10 tackles. He also grabbed an interception. He was the leader of a defensive unit that held the Wildcats without a touchdown.

Quote to note

“I still believe in this team and I know what we are capable of. We didn’t play like ourselves at all tonight. But with the new (playoff) rules everything is in front of us.” - K-State linebacker Austin Moore.

K-State football grades

Offense: D. The Wildcats could have put the pressure on the Cougars by capitalizing on a pair of early drives, but they were unable to do so. K-State opened the night with a 12-play drive and then followed that up with a 16-play drive. Sounds good, right? Well, both drives ended with field goals. BYU never had to sweat a big deficit. Avery Johnson showed his age while throwing two interceptions. Giddens coughed up a rare and costly fumble. The Wildcats need to find a way to open up their passing game.

Defense: B. K-State allowed just 241 yards. Problem was, BYU started three of its drives inside K-State territory and scored touchdowns on all three.

Special Teams: C. This was a day to forget for Special Teams U. It was embarrassing for everyone involved when the Cougars scored on a 90-yard punt return touchdown. But Chris Tennant did score all nine of K-State’s points. So it wasn’t all bad.

Coaching: D. Chris Klieman and his coaching staff didn’t know how to stop the bleeding when things started going bad for the Wildcats late in the second quarter. They let this game slip away in a matter of minutes.

Next up: Oklahoma State

Many were hoping that next week’s football game between K-State and Oklahoma State would be a heavyweight battle for first place in the Big 12 standings.

Unfortunately, BYU and Utah prevented that from happening.

K-State lost at BYU on Saturday. Utah went into Oklahoma State and gave the Cowboys their first loss of the season.

Now this vintage Big Eight matchup looks more like a game for survival. The winning team will feel like it is right back in the Big 12 race. The losing team will feel like it has been eliminated from contention.

Things are never that cut and dry, of course. But it will be hard for any team to reach the conference championship game after starting 0-2 in league play.

Oklahoma State has some issues to sort out before it arrives at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday. The Cowboys struggled mightily on offense against Utah and Mike Gundy decided to bench quarterback Alan Bowman for parts of the game before he led a rally that was too little and too late in a 22-19 loss.

But the Pokes looked strong on defense.

They will try to bounce back against K-State.