Kansas State Wildcats: Good, Bad, Ugly VS Texas

The Kansas State Wildcats added yet another win to their record to keep themselves at the top of the Big 12 standings. The Wildcats shut down the Texas Longhorns on homecoming 23-0 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

K-State was off to a very slow start before eventually making enough plays in front of another sellout crowd. The defense got their first shutout in quite some time led by Dante Barnett, who was named Big 12 defensive player of the week

Quarterback Jake Waters was saving himself a little bit after being nicked up last week in Norman and the offense was not the same as it has been in games past. K-State will look to continue to improve this Saturday night against Oklahoma State. Before then let’s take a look inside at what was good, bad, and ugly against the Longhorns.

Final Score: Kansas State 23, Texas 0.

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Good: Freshman kicker Matthew McCrane when called upon got the job done in the Homecoming game. McCrane went 3 for 3 on the day and still remains perfect after taking Jack Cantele’s spot after his poor performance in the Auburn game.

Who knows if McCrane misses any of those that it would be a different ball game especially with the offense struggling for awhile.

The freshman’s performance was good enough to be named to the Lou Groza Award for this week. That’s huge coming to the fact that K-State has been down in this area of the team, big boost.

Bad: I already kind of mentioned that K-State’s offense went of to a slow start in this one. In most of the Wildcats wins so far in 2014, K-State has scored 30 or more. Here against Texas only 23 points was put on the scoreboard.

With Jake Waters still a bit sore from last week’s Oklahoma game, it might become a concern because of the tough Big 12 conference opponents coming up in TCU, West Virginia, and Baylor. Let’s not forget about Oklahoma State even though they have loss their last two games.

Ugly: Back to Kansas State’s offense again… Focusing more on the red zone. The game could have been more than it was if the Cats converted touchdowns in the redzone. McCrane was big, but the offense could be better.

Kansas State had to waste two timeouts trying to get the right play call in the first quarter versus the Longhorns.

Everyone know that saying “You have to score touchdowns, not field goals.” Fortunately, the defense stepped up at home like they have done all season. K-State cannot afford to let up offensively if they want to have a chance at the Big 12 title.

Next up is the Oklahoma State Cowboys on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kansas. The Wildcats can’t sleep on this game if they want to continue to be looked at as a threat in the Big 12 and in the NCAA.