Kansas State football’s struggles not limited to quarterback miscues

Chris Klieman knew immediately where the blame would be directed after his Kansas State football team’s first loss.

Same as it usually does, with the coach and the quarterback.

“We can throw everything at myself and Avery (Johnson), which is fine,” Klieman said after an epic meltdown at the end of the first half and start of the second led to a 38-9 blowout loss to Brigham Young late Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. “We’ll take that heat, but we didn’t play well anywhere.”

Sure enough, Johnson had a rough night in his first career loss as the starting quarterback. He completed 15 of 28 passes for just 130 yards, but worse was the fact that his two interceptions led directly to BYU touchdowns during a pivotal stretch in which the Cougars ran off 31 straight points in less than 6½ minutes.

But Johnson’s woes were just part of the problem for the Wildcats, who fell to 3-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12. A BYU fumble return for a touchdown and a 90-yard punt return also contributed to the carnage as the Cougars remained unbeaten at 4-0 and 1-0 in the league.

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“It was kind of stunning to see that, and that’s what we talked about in there,” Klieman said. “We’re going to find out what these guys are made of, because we got embarrassed.

“And that has not happened here, with the exception of the COVID year (in 2020).”

Once things started to go wrong for the Wildcats, it snowballed in a hurry. With 2:10 left, they still led 6-3 after the defense held BYU to a short field goal.

But on the Wildcats’ next possession, DJ Giddens fumbled, and BYU safety Tommy Prassas scooped it up for a 30-yard touchdown. Then Johnson threw his first pick, and two plays later the Cougars were in the end zone again to make it 17-6 with 29 seconds left in the half.

Fast forward to the third quarter, and another Johnson interception set up a two-play, 27-yard drive, and with 10:45 left in the period, Parker Kingston’s 90-yard punt return pushed it to an insurmountable 31-6 BYU advantage.

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“We didn’t play well on defense in the second half. Obviously, we didn’t play well on special teams. Didn’t block very well,” Klieman said. “We didn’t do anything well in that second half, and credit BYU. We told them they weren’t going to beat themselves. We had to beat them, and instead, we beat ourselves.”

As for Johnson, he owned his miscues, even if they were only a part of the problem.

“Just being loose with the football and making bad reads, I guess,” he said of the interceptions. “Just not being in sync, I guess you could say. Just me and the receivers not being on the same page all the time.

“I’ve just got to be better and give them a chance for the football. Cut down on the overthrows. Doing a better job of giving those guys a chance to make those one-on-one contested catches.”

It was the first real career setback for Johnson, the sophomore who came in at 4-0 as starting quarterback, dating back to a most valuable player performance in last year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl. But Klieman made it clear where he stood.

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“We talked at halftime. I knew he was frustrated,” Klieman said. “I love the kid. He’s a competitor. He’s a fighter. He’s going to learn from everything. The offense is going to.

“Again, you can’t put this on Avery. I know it’s easy to do, and people will pile on him, pile on me, and that’s fine. We both can handle it. (But) he’s a winner. He’s hard on himself, I know that. But I’m looking forward to him responding because I know he will. Because he’s that kind of kid, and I just absolutely love him.”

The Wildcats did put up 363 yards total offense to 241 for BYU and ran 24 more plays than the Cougars. But they also had costly red zone penalties on each of their three scoring drives, forcing them to settle for field goals.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot too many times, and you’re got to score touchdowns,” Johnson said. “You’ve got to take care of the football on the road if you want to win, and we didn’t do that tonight.”

Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.