What went wrong in K-State football’s upset loss at Houston, blown 4th-quarter lead

It’s rare for Kansas State to walk off the field after any football contest feeling like it gave a game away.

But the Wildcats undoubtedly felt that way after a 24-19 loss against the Houston Cougars on Saturday at TDECU Stadium.

Chris Klieman’s team held a 19-10 lead and possessed the ball early in the fourth quarter against an opponent that was struggling to do much of anything on offense in terrible weather. And yet the Wildcats were unable to win.

Most expected the Wildcats to run the ball and clinch the game in that situation.

Things didn’t play out that way. Avery Johnson threw a pair of costly interceptions in the final 11 minutes and the Cougars took advantage with a pair of late touchdowns to pull off an upset.

The first interception came deep in K-State’s own territory and allowed Houston to take over 9 yards away from the end zone. The second interception came with under 2 minutes remaining with the Wildcats trying to score a go-ahead touchdown.

In between, Houston quarterback Zeon Chriss threw a short touchdown pass to Maliq Carr and ran for a 41-yard touchdown to give the Cougars a lead they would not relinquish.

K-State entered this game with a perfect 3-0 record in games that were decided by one score. That changed against Houston.

With the loss, K-State (7-2, 4-2 Big 12) dropped its second conference game. Houston (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) improved to .500 in league play.

K-State is next in action in two weeks against Arizona State. Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Weather played a major factor in this game

This was monsoon football.

Lightning delayed kickoff by 55 minutes at TDECU Stadium, but that was far from the only impact that weather had on this game.

Rain fell on the turf throughout the afternoon, and both teams played in an absolute downpour in the second half.

That made passing and special teams difficult for both sides.

Avery Johnson threw a pair of costly interceptions

K-State was in position to beat Houston by running the ball and punting in the fourth quarter.

The Wildcats could have won this game simply by avoiding mistakes. But a pair of interceptions from Johnson let the Cougars back into the game.

The first one was the most frustrating of the bunch. Johnson didn’t need to be throwing early in the third quarter, but he committed an error that set Houston up with excellent field position.

He finished the day 23-of-39 for 238 yards and a touchdown. The sophomore quarterback had nice moments, but his two interceptions ruined his day and showed his young age.

Right place, right time for K-State defense

The Wildcats have a knack for coming up with big plays at opportune times on defense.

That trend continued on Saturday when the Wildcats jumped on a fumble near midfield in the final minute of the first half.

At the time, Houston was leading 10-9 and threatening to move ahead by more. But instead of Houston adding a field goal or a touchdown before halftime, K-State defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi hit quarterback Zeon Chriss from behind and forced a fumble. Nobody on the field was expecting the ball to pop loose, which allowed K-State linebacker Desmond Purnell to dive on the ground and recover it.

It’s impossible to overstate how important that play was in the flow of this game.

Instead of going into halftime with a deficit, the Wildcats pulled ahead 16-10 when Johnson led K-State on a touchdown drive that was capped by a 7-yard pass to Keagan Johnson.

Neither team wanted to play from behind in a game like this, especially with bad weather looming over the stadium. That turnover allowed K-State to gain momentum and to play from ahead — until the fourth quarter.

Houston may have controlled this game if not for that play.

K-State encountered problems on special teams

The Wildcats were uncharacteristically mediocre in kicking situations against the Cougars.

K-State was unable to connect on an extra point in the second quarter and a long field goal in the third quarter because of poor snaps.

On both plays, K-State holder Simon McClannan was unable to seamlessly catch snaps from long snapper Mason Olguin, which made it impossible for Chris Tennant to even attempt either kick.

McClannan was forced to try and run for yards after the Wildcats botched both field goals attempts.

Weather likely had something to do with those miscues. And Klieman probably regrets not going for it on fourth down when his team was in Houston territory in the third quarter.

Still, it was bizarre to see K-State struggle in that area. It doesn’t happen often.

The Wildcats made a change at long snapper on their next attempt. Andrew Johnson came in and got a good enough snap off to allow Tennant to kick a 47-yarder late in the third quarter.

Kansas State’s running game is in a slump

DJ Giddens is no longer carving up defenses like he was at the beginning of the season.

The talented running back was held to 50 yards on 17 carries against Houston.

His longest run of the day went for 10 yards. His average rush was only 2.9 yards.

That is not a good development for the Wildcats, who are at their best when they are able to lean on a workhorse running back. Defenses are beginning to focus almost exclusively on shutting him down, and the Wildcats have struggled to handle all the extra attention that has come his way.

The Wildcats tried to get the ball to Dylan Edwards more on Saturday. That strategy worked at times, but he only finished with 31 yards on eight carries.