Takeaways from Kansas State’s frustrating loss to Iowa State in blizzard conditions
Here’s the first thing you need to know about Kansas State’s 42-35 loss to Iowa State on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — a snowman, wearing a purple hat and black sunglasses, watched every play of Farmageddon action from the front row.
K-State students built the extra fan as several inches of white powder fell upon them as they waited for this Big 12 rivalry to begin.
Then they were treated to a rarity in college football. The brave souls in attendance got to watch a snow game, the first in Manhattan since 2000.
The weather was the real star of this game. It snowed for so long that you couldn’t see numbers on the turf or the Powercat logo at midfield. Workers used leaf blowers to clear snow off yardage lines and hash marks during timeouts. This was football in a blizzard.
Surprisingly, those conditions did little to slow either team on offense. The Wildcats methodically moved the ball up and down the field with a number of sustained drives and ran a school record 102 plays for 497 yards. The Cyclones scored on a slew of explosive plays that featured one long run after the next from Abu Sama and 230 passing yards from Rocco Becht.
Neither team was bothered by the elements, which it made it a fun and competitive game.
Unfortunately for the home team, the conditions seemed to favor Iowa State. The Cyclones were happy to play in the cold and looked faster than the Wildcats on both sides of the ball as they trudged through inches of slush and scored the game’s decisive touchdown on an 82-yard pass from Becht to Jaylin Noel with 8 minutes, 4 seconds remaining.
“It’s really disappointing to end the way we did for those seniors,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said. “They’ve put so much into this program, they’ve put so much into their time here and they’ve invested so much.”
K-State had an opportunity to force overtime or win in the final moments, but a fourth-down pass from Will Howard to Phillip Brooks fell incomplete in the end zone with 49 seconds to go. Howard slammed his helmet into the snow in frustration and Iowa State was able to run out the clock.
The loss will dampen what was otherwise a successful regular season for the Wildcats (8-4, 6-3 Big 12). Losing to a rival like the Cyclones (7-5, 6-3 Big 12) is never fun.
K-State will now wait to find out its bowl destination, with the Pop-Tarts Bowl in Orlando and the Texas Bowl in Houston standing out as possibilities.
Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:
Going out on a low note
A win over Iowa State would have made this a memorable regular season for K-State.
Amazing? No. But a success all the same.
The Wildcats would have tied both Oklahoma and Oklahoma State for second in the Big 12 standings. They would have only missed out on the Big 12 championship game because of tiebreaker rules. They would have been a lock for one of the better bowl games in the conference. They also would have gone undefeated at home for the first time since 2012.
Interestingly, K-State players said it didn’t bother them in the slightest that they were eliminated from conference title contention before kickoff on Saturday afternoon. But they did put pressure on themselves to close out a perfect season at home.
“We had the opportunity to go undefeated here at home, which would have been really cool,” K-State center Hayden Gillum said. “That hasn’t been done in a while. I’m grateful for all the fans that came out and supported us. I know that wasn’t easy today. That makes this a tough feeling.”
Furthermore, the Wildcats could have been in position to win 10 games had they defeated Iowa State.
None of that can happen after this loss.
The Wildcats have to settle for 8-4 and accept whatever bowl game still wants them.
Ben Sinnott went out with a bang
He is technically only a junior, but this was senior day for Ben Sinnott. The talented K-State tight end has accepted an invitation to participate in the Senior Bowl after the conclusion of this season, which means he intends to forgo his final year of college eligibility and turn pro.
Even though he could change his mind, and he said Saturday night there is still a chance he could decide to return to Manhattan for one more year, this felt like the end of an era for him.
This was his opportunity to say goodbye to the fans who have cheered him on throughout his career with the Wildcats. And he took advantage.
Sinnott looked like an All-American as he caught 10 passes for 136 yards and one touchdown.
“He’s a dude and he’s unguardable,” Howard said. “I’m telling you, he’s special. He is somebody that I will cherish for the rest of my life, the relationship that we have on and off the field. He had a special night, and I’m so happy for him because he is able to go out there and do the things that he does. It didn’t even feel like he had that many yards. He was just catching routine balls and then running people over for a bunch of yards.”
The Wildcats made him a big part of their offense, with quarterback Will Howard targeting him 13 times. He threw the ball to Sinnott on screen passes and deep throws. They all seemed to work.
Sinnott has been one of the best tight ends in the Big 12 this season. He might have been the best tight end in the country on Saturday. There was nothing that Iowa State could do to stop him.
He said he was eager to play on Saturday, because he grew up playing hockey and never gets bothered by the cold.
“I played hockey for 15 years and I’m from Iowa. It’s nothing to me,” Sinnott said. “I was excited about the weather. I knew it was going to be a memorable one.”
All or nothing for Iowa State
The Cyclones did one of two things when they possessed the ball on Saturday night.
They either scored a touchdown immediately with an explosive play that left the Wildcats out of sorts on defense ... or they punted. They were the definition of all or nothing. Seriously, they finished with 10 first downs (compared to 32 by K-State) and didn’t run a single play from within the red zone.
Iowa State scored more points (42) than it ran plays (35).
Its quick-strike scores were impressive. Running back Abu Sama was a one-man wrecking crew on his long runs. He escaped for touchdown runs of 60, 71 and 77 yards against a K-State defense that simply could not bring him to the ground. He finished with 276 yards and three touchdowns on just 16 touches.
“There was a guy named Breece Hall here and David Montgomery, that were pretty good,” Iowa State coach Matt Campbell said. “Breece Hall was pretty good as a true freshman. This guy’s pretty good. He’s gotten better every week. I think that’s the thing, he’s powerful and he’s special. I thought he was obviously exceptional tonight.”
Becht also connected with his receivers for touchdown passes of 82, 79 and 33 yards.
The Cyclones became the first FBS team this season with four touchdowns of 70-plus yards in a game. No team had more than two in a game before Saturday.
Atrocious tackling from the K-State defense
Give credit to Matt Campbell’s team for finding ways to score with so many explosive plays. But Iowa State got some favors from a leaky K-State defense.
The Wildcats missed one tackle after the next when the Cyclones got the ball to their playmakers in space.
“We can’t give up big plays like we gave up, and that was the difference tonight,” Klieman said. “We run 102 plays, they run 35. We have it for 42 minutes, they have it for 18. You shouldn’t lose a football game like that. But we did because we did not tackle and we did not make plays across the board on defense, and it’s a shame.”
K-State’s tackling was so bad that as many as six players could have been credited with missed tackled on some of Iowa State’s most explosive plays.
On one touchdown run from Sama, K-State put forth so little effort trying to tackle him that cornerback Will Lee appeared to give him a speed boost into the end zone by nudging him forward from behind rather than driving him to the ground.
Later, Iowa State receiver Jaylin Noel somehow meandered his way past half a dozen would-be tacklers for an 82-yard score up the sideline when it appeared as though K-State was in good position to stop him for a short gain on third down.
This was a day that Klieman and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman will want to forget.
