Five takeaways from Kansas State’s blowout victory against Cincinnati on senior day

Smiles.

They returned to Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday when the Kansas State football team demolished Cincinnati 41-15 in its final home game of the season.

This was a much-needed victory for the Wildcats. Not just because it snapped a two-game losing streak and kept them alive in the Big 12 championship race, but also because it gave them something to celebrate for the first time in nearly a month. Seriously, K-State players hadn’t enjoyed a jubilant locker room since all the way back on Oct. 26 when they beat rival Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown.

“When Coach Klieman walked in the locker room, we got really excited,” K-State linebacker Austin Moore said. “After what we have gone through the past month I think it was a really good win, especially for our seniors.”

The Wildcats had much to feel happy about after this result.

K-State played one of its best games of the season and dominated Cincinnati in every phase.

“That was an inspired win by our guys,” Klieman said. “This was an important win for a lot of reasons.”

Avery Johnson set the tone early by running for a touchdown on K-State’s opening drive. The sophomore quarterback used his legs and showed off his dual-threat capabilities more than usual. He finished with 147 yards and two touchdowns as a passer to go along with 72 yards and a touchdown as a runner.

That helped open up running lanes for DJ Giddens on his way to 147 yards and two scores.

But K-State won this game with more than just offense. Its defense was also exceptional. The Bearcats struggled to move the ball and night against the Wildcats and their stingy defensive line. Brendan Mott had an interception and the Wildcats had nine tackles for loss.

The Wildcats (8-3, 5-3 Big 12) are next in action at Iowa State.

Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Kansas State can still win the Big 12

Here’s what the Wildcats need to reach the Big 12 championship game as they sit one game behind Arizona State, BYU, Colorado and Iowa State in the conference standings.

• A win next weekend at Iowa State

• And losses by two or more of the other first-place teams

K-State may also need Kansas to beat Baylor, depending on how things shake out at the top of the standings. But the Wildcats have no shot without the above two circumstances coming true.

It’s difficult to know exactly how every scenario will be sorted out, but it appears that K-State would be well-positioned to win a tiebreaker if it involves several teams with three conference losses because it played one of the hardest schedules in the league.

K-State has a path to Arlington, Texas. It will be cheering hard for Arizona against Arizona State, Houston against BYU and Oklahoma State against Colorado before it takes the field against Iowa State.

The Wildcats could head into Farmaggedon with something meaningful to play for.

Good things happen when Avery Johnson runs the ball

Here’s how badly Klieman wanted to see Johnson run the ball this week: He openly talked about how he was going to encourage his quarterback to “cut it loose” as a runner heading into this game.

He wanted Johnson to make plays with his legs against the Bearcats, and he didn’t care who knew it.

Turns out, K-State didn’t need the element of surprise to run for big yards behind Johnson. The speedster from Wichita took off on several designed runs and finished the day with 72 yards and a touchdown on 10 carries.

Johnson let everyone know what was coming when he took off for a 34-yard run on his first snap. A few plays later he scored on a 21-yard keeper.

K-State has played it safe with Johnson at times this season, opting to use him more as a passer than a runner. There was even one game in which he didn’t see a single carry.

But the Wildcats are at their best when he isn’t afraid to run for first downs. This game proved exactly that, just in case anyone forgot.

K-State made field goals look easy again

Field goals have been an adventure for the Wildcats in recent games.

Longsnapper Mason Olguin and holder Simon McClannan have struggled to connect and put the ball in a position for Chris Tennant to kick the ball through the uprights. K-State botched a pair of field goal attempts in each of their past two games.

But the Wildcats didn’t have any problems in that area on Saturday. Tennant drilled both of his attempts, from 28 and 32 yards.

Both kicks were routine. Good snaps, good holds, good kicks.

DJ Giddens delivered his best game in weeks

Many stellar running backs play in the Big 12.

DJ Giddens reminded us that he is one of them in this game. The junior from Junction City had his best game in nearly two months, as he rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns on just 15 carries. He also caught three passes for 39 yards.

Cincinnati had no answers for him.

K-State offensive coordinator Conor Riley did a nice job getting his star player the ball on runs that allowed him to bounce to the outside and make defenders miss in space.

Giddens now has 1,271 yards and seven touchdowns on the season.

Memorable moment on senior day

No one on the K-State football roster had a better highlight than Brendan Mott.

The senior defensive end got his hands up and intercepted a screen pass late in the second quarter and nearly returned the pick for a touchdown. The Wildcats capitalized with a score a few moments later.

It was the first interception of his career. And it came in his final game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. It’s hard to beat that.