Avery Johnson gives stellar performance in KSU’s win over Tulane
Kansas State quarterback Avery Johnson carries the ball against Tulane Saturday September 19, 2026 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. (Lynn Harrington/stayaliveinpower5)
MANHATTAN, Kan. — After helping the Wildcats notch their third non-conference victory of the season, the quarterback has all of the momentum he needs to dive deep into Big 12 play.
Avery Johnson wowed the crowd of 51,846 with his mobility, responded to early adversity and eventually took over the afternoon as Kansas State defeated Tulane 31-20. It appears Coach Collin Klein is letting Johnson spread his wings behind center, and the signal-caller looks as comfortable as ever in the purple and white.
However, Johnson’s outing didn’t start out ideal. On the Wildcats’ first drive wideout Jaron Tibbs dropped one of Johnson’s passes on a key third down that would’ve put them at the Green Wave’s 40-yard line. A penalty, and poor execution made Kansas State punt on the second possession. Within a blink of an eye the Wildcats found themselves down 7-0, and didn’t score in the first quarter.
Despite being down by a touchdown at home, Johnson never panicked, and the second quarter is when the a light bulb turned on for the offense. On the Wildcats’ third drive of the game, he completed a 33-yard pass to Tibbs. Kansas State even drove the ball all the way down to Tulane’s five-yard line.
However, the Wildcats had to settle for a field goal because of an inaccurate throw from Johnson, and that frustrated him. A fire must’ve lit inside of Johnson, because he led the offense on two touchdown drives. His 66-yard run down the sideline was the best highlight of the afternoon, and eventually punched it in the endzone to give Kansas State a 17-7 lead at halftime.
“Today we didn’t get started as fast as we wanted to, but we never lost faith,” Johnson said. “I think sometimes you just got to feel a team out, and we were kind of adjusting to what they’re going to do on defense.”
Tulane’s defense had no answer for Johnson’s arm, or his legs in the second half, as he turned into a shark that smelled blood in the water. The former four-star prospect led the Wildcats on a 14-play, 75-yard touchdown drive, that took over eight minutes off the clock. Johnson showed great chemistry with Tibbs, and he targeted him 12 times.
Not to mention Johnson made others around him better, which is what great quarterbacks do. The rest of the offense responded to his energy, which included the tight ends. The offensive line opened up holes, and Johnson’s small gains turned into big chunks, which Klein admired.
“Some of that fit structure that I was talking about gave a lot better edges at times, and he (Johnson) was able to take advantage of those,” Klein said. “He did an unbelievable job, and picking his spot as the game went on.”
The Wildcats’ pretty much controlled the line of scrimmage the rest of the game, and Johnson used the Green Wave’s secondary for target practice. Tulane Coach Will Hall watched with disgust, and at times yelled at the officials because his defense failed to contain Johnson.
“He made some crucial, crucial plays, and I thought we got to feel better in the first half,” Hall said. “In the second half, we just
couldn’t find a way to do it right there because he made some big time plays, and when had him corralled one time, he hit the
sideline.”
Once the smoke cleared, Johnson completed 21 of his 28 passes for 227 yards, and rushed for a career-high, 152, to go along with two touchdowns on the ground. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder helped Kansas State rack up 428 yards of total offense. The Wildcats also averaged 6.6 yards per play.
On top of that, Kansas State (3-0) led Tulane in total offense, passing yards, plays, yards per play, first downs, third down conversions and time of possession. Most importantly, Johnson never turned the ball over. There’s no denying that the offense is starting to gel, and appears to be ahead of schedule under Klein’s watch, and that’s how Johnson likes it.
“Once Coach Klein gets a feel for what a defense is going to do, he can kind of exploit it,” the 21-year old said. “So just being patient and continuing to try to make plays, but not getting discouraged as the game goes on.”
Now Kansas State has to switch gears, and get ready for the Big 12 opener on the road at Cincinnati. Johnson expects practice to be intense leading up to the matchup with the Bearcats, and after beating the Green Wave he believes the entire offense is trending up at the right time for the Big 12 gauntlet.
“I was really just grateful for how well we blocked on the perimeter and how well those five upfront did, but it felt really good to be out there and run and have some explosive runs.”
