Wildcats officially out of Big 12 race after drubbing by Sun Devils

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Wildcats are searching for answers after suffering their first home loss of the season, and it’s going to start with taking some accountability from everyone, especially the head coach.

Arizona State stormed into Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and raised several eyebrows around the Big 12 with a 24-14 victory over Kansas State. The Wildcats came out flat, didn’t play with any urgency and now they’re on the outside looking in on the Big 12 race.

No one is handling the loss harder than Coach Chris Klieman, who’s taking full responsibility for Kansas State’s lackluster performance. After all, the Sun Devils dominated in the trenches and led the Wildcats in first downs, plays, third down conversions and time of possession. Not to mention Arizona State never trailed the entire night.

“For everything that happens in this building with regard to football, that’s on me and I’ve got to do a better job of getting those kids ready to play,” Klieman said. “I thought we had a good week of practice, but maybe it was fool’s gold, because we didn’t come out very fast, turned the ball over right away, got behind quickly and just couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

Although Kansas State (7-3) led in total offense and yards per play, three turnovers were too costly to overcome. The Sun Devils came out on fire. Arizona State’s defense intercepted Avery Johnson’s pass on the second play of the game. Quarterback Sam Leavitt marched the Sun Devils right down the field, and they scored a touchdown on their opening drive.

Kansas State struggled with Arizona State’s tempo, and the defense couldn’t get off the field on third downs. Within a blink of an eye, the Wildcats found themselves down 21-0 at halftime, and Klieman could hear boos from the 51,880 fans in attendance.

The drama didn’t stop there for Kansas State though. The Sun Devils extended their lead 24-0 early in the third quarter, and fans started to leave the venue. Leavitt used the Wildcats secondary for target practice, and had three touchdown tosses in the first half. Wideout Jordyn Tyson was a mismatch out in space, and stretched the field on Kansas State’s defense. Klieman thought he was the best wide receiver his defense has faced this season, and it’s tough to argue with that when Tyson ended up with 12 catches for 176 yards and two touchdowns.

It was a head-scratcher to Klieman that team captain, and linebacker Austin Moore couldn’t rally the defense to get more stops, and he felt bad for the players by not making the necessary adjustments.

“I’ll take ownership of this one, and you know, Austin Moore is not gonna let me do that, but I’m going to take it because the whole program is on me,” he said. “I didn’t do a good enough job with the game plans, and I didn’t do a good enough job with the players.”

The offense didn’t fare much better. Johnson could never get into a rhythm, and Arizona State’s defense kept him in the pocket, and forced the young signal-caller to throw the ball. He completed 24 of his 40 passes for 258 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. The offense didn’t get on the scoreboard until late in the third quarter.

Running back DJ Giddens was the lone bright spot for the offense, and he finished with 133 yards on the ground. Giddens also averaged a jaw-dropping, 9.5 yards per carry, but it wasn’t enough because he didn’t get much help from the supporting cast. Wideout Jayce Brown led the Wildcats with five receptions, and Dante Cephas generated a team-high, 65 receiving yards.

The defense did a solid job containing dynamic rusher Can Skattebo, and he only averaged 2.9 yards on 25 carries. However, there were several missed tackles and blown coverage throughout the evening. Safety VJ Payne tallied a game-high, 11 tackles, and broke up two passes. Moore recorded 10 stops, and linebacker Desmond Purnell added seven, including two for loss and a sack.

Special Teams were definitely an issue for Klieman’s squad. The Wildcats had two bad snaps on field goal attempts, and kicker Chris Tennant missed a 36-yarder that would’ve made it a one-score game late in the fourth quarter. It was nothing Klieman could do to stop the bleeding, and he felt awful for his seniors.

“I’m frustrated and I’m hurting for those guys, and I need to do better, because I know why a lot of those guys came out, came back to have an opportunity to compete for a championship,” the 57-year old said. “I let them down.”

Now Kansas State is in a five-way tie for third place with Baylor, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia in the Big 12 standings. All five teams have a 4-3 record in conference play. Klieman and his staff has to take a deep look in the mirror. The team also need some leaders to emerge. There are two games left on the slate for the regular season, and Klieman must do some soul searching to rally his troops. At the end of the day, he just wants his seniors to be happy about their careers once they finally leave the program, and winning can do that.

“I don’t know what the legacy of all those guys is going to be, but I know in my mind, in my heart, I love those kids because they’ve started with me here.”