On a day with heavy rain and a nearly hour-long kickoff delay due to thunderstorms, Kansas State suffered two special teams disasters due to bad snaps and the offense simply couldn’t sustain anything when Avery Johnson threw two interceptions – the second led to a late Houston touchdown. That score gave the Cougars the lead as they upset the Wildcats 24-19 at TDECU Stadium in Houston, Texas.

The Wildcat rushing offense was completely bottled all game, with just two carries resulting in double-digit yardage. The passing game was more effective, but Johnson was often off target, throwing too high or too low; multiple passes were downed at the line of scrimmage. As a result, late on, with the lead, the Cats were still under pressure and disaster struck.

During the opening drive, the Cats methodically made their way down the field; a late hit penalty on Houston for picking off Keagan Johnson on a pass that had long since sailed past him helped, but only by distance as that was a first down play. But after a nice run by Avery Johnson set up second and fourth (no goal) of the four, consecutive incompletions necessitated a 23-yard field goal by Chris Tennant to salvage points.

Houston did get a first down on their first drive, but immediately lost yardage on each of the next three plays, including Brendan Mott’s Big 12-leading eighth sack of the season, and punted. In a funny moment, as Houston waited to take the ball down, Ty Bowman snuck in and grabbed it to try to return it; He didn’t get far, but he did get a few yards that K-State otherwise wouldn’t have had.

The Cats still ended up eight yards further back after three terrible plays and had to punt themselves; the back and forth gave the Cougars 12 yards as they took over again at their own 46. On 4th and 2 from the Wildcat 46, Zeon Chriss hit a wide open Joseph Manjack for 45. Donovan Smith came in at quarterback for a goalie and scored , which gave Houston their first points ever against K-State.

Dylan Edwards bobbled the ensuing kickoff, but recovered. Johnson’s first pass was deflected dangerously on the line. Giddens went nowhere, then Johnson punched Giddens in the helmet before he had turned to see the pass; the mistake was compounded by Keagan Johnson being wide open at the sticks. Houston took over at their own 41 after the punt.

On third-and-2 from midfield, Chriss hit Devan Williams for 33 yards. A sack by Austin Moore and Desmond Purnell (with an early assist from VJ Payne) pushed the Cougars back a bit, and three plays later the Cougars had to settle for a 22-yarder by Jack Martin to go up 10-3.

Edwards took the kickoff on the goal line and slipped, but he recovered to reach the 30. On 3rd and 4, Johnson had to scramble and throw the pitch to Giddens incomplete, but a holding penalty on Houston gave the Cats a first down. they desperately needed it. Two more followed, then on 4th and 3 a completion to Garrett Oakley moved the chains again and into the red zone. Another first down catch by Jadon Jackson led to a 2-yard touchdown run for Giddens, but a poor grip led to Tennant’s extra point being blocked, preserving a 14–13 lead for Houston. For his part, Tennant recovered the ball himself, preventing a first and goal.

After a 28-yard run by DJ Butler put Houston in Wildcat territory, Tobi Osunsanmi forced a fumble on which Purnell fell, giving K-State the ball at midfield with 38 seconds left. A Johnson-to-Johnson connection got the Cats back to the 22 with all three timeouts. On third down, a shot to Oakley moved the chains, and K-State and then Houston both called consecutive timeouts with 13 seconds left in the half. Johnson again passed to Johnson for a seven-yard score, allowing K-State to go to the locker room with a 16-10 lead.

Jordan Riley secured a huge sack for a nine-yard loss on third down, dooming Houston’s opening drive of the second half to 3-and-out. The punt hit Bowman to create a free ball, but Edwards covered it up. The Cats moved into Houston territory, but a poor option call cost Johnson five yards, and a bad snap on a 53-yard attempt by Tennant gave Houston possession at their own 45.

A nine-yard gain on 3rd and 10 got Smith back into the game, but he was stuffed on 4th and 1 by Austin Romaine to give the ball back to K-State at their 47, but the drive went nowhere. Houston started again on its own 27. They also did not get going and kicked. K-State took over at their own 15, and – while getting hit from behind – Johnson found Jayce Brown for a 61-yard gain to the 23. A holding call made it 1st and 20, but wet ball trouble forced a field goal attempt. Tennant drilled it from 47 to extend the lead to 19-10.

Houston went 3-and-out, but pinned the Cats at the 10 with a 65-yard punt. Two plays later, Johnson threw a very poor call on a checkdown, resulting in Houston taking possession at the Wildcat 10. Three plays later, Chriss hit Maliq Carr with a one-yard pop pass to close the gap to 19-17, as the rain really started to come down.

Two short runs were followed by a pass to Giddens, who fumbled out of bounds. A bad kick left Houston at their own 30. The Cats made a big third-down stop two plays later, but an offsides penalty on Moore gave the Cougars a first down. An ankle tackle by Mott forced a fourth down three plays later, and Houston elected to punt. The Cats went three-and-out thanks to some terrible miscommunications, giving Houston the ball in midfield.

On the first play, Keenan Garber was called for pass interference. The next time, Chriss broke loose for the first time in the game and ran 41 yards for the lead. But the rain had finally subsided.

A few plays later, Johnson threw another pick at midfield with 1:43 to go and that was basically it. The Cats did force a 3-and-out, but took over at their own 15 with no timeouts and 35 seconds left. Johnson got the Wildcats to the Houston 39 with three seconds left, but his last-ditch drive was knocked out of the back of the end zone.

Johnson was just 23-39 for 238 yards, a touchdown and two picks; he had 60 feet on the ground. Giddens, who came into the game needing 55 yards to reach 1,000, had just 50 on 17 carries. Edwards had 31 out of eight. Keagan Johnson led the team with six catches, good for 76 yards and a score; Giddens caught five balls for just 16, Brown had three for a team-leading 86 yards, Oakley had three for 29, Jackson had two for 24.

The Cats defeated Houston 327-232, but lost the ground game 121-89; neither team broke three yards per carry on the day. Penalties weren’t really a factor, and both teams were terrible on third down, but 1-2 on fourth down. Both teams were 3-3 on red zone opportunities, with K-State winning possession 31-29.

WHAT WE LEARNED

1) The running game was shaken up a bit, but not enough.

Last week we noticed that Giddens had not run outside for weeks. Tonight they did mention a few edge runs, but they were slow developers that went horizontal and nowhere. Giddens still isn’t running off the tackle, and Houston held the Cats to 2.6 yards per carry.

2) Keagan Johnson has finally taken care of himself.

It’s not that he had a great game, but the Iowa transfer was the go-to option when a big scoop was needed, and he usually delivered. It doesn’t seem like he’ll ever be the big time; that’s Brown’s role. But KJ was reliable tonight on a night when that was the case, and so many other offensive players were not, and had the biggest catch of K-State’s last drive.

3) The defense was great for 57 1/2 minutes, and then again for 90 seconds.

That’s all we’ll say.

4) This team has a frustrating tendency that is starting to become apparent.

That tendency: playing at the opponent’s level for three quarters or more. There is no excuse for tonight’s performance. Houston isn’t a bad football team, but it isn’t good either. This match should have been a comfortable win.

5) Bonus: Willie Fritz has our number.

We should have hired him in 2005.

PLAYER OF THE GAME

Well, Tennant is the only one who didn’t do anything wrong today, so he gets it all to himself for the second week in a row.

NEXT

A day off to feel bad about this and maybe not be ranked the whole time, and then Arizona State comes to town.