K-State Football finishes 2017 season on a high note

K-State football defeated the UCLA Bruins in the Cactus Bowl on Tuesday night. The 2017 season didn’t go according to plan, but at least it finished on a high note.

The Kansas State Wildcats had their work cut out for them in this year’s Cactus Bowl, but they had a much easier go of it against UCLA without quarterback Josh Rosen in the mix. Rosen is going to be a top five pick if he decides to enter the NFL Draft this year, so the Wildcats certainly dodged a bullet by not having to face him.

K-State put the smackdown on the Bruins by a score of 35-17 and really took over the game in the second half. The defense held UCLA scoreless in the second half and the run game never slowed down once it got hot.

While the quarterback play was a bit sloppy and resulted in freshman Skylar Thompson getting benched after a few rough series, the run game was enough to keep the Cats afloat. KSU totaled 344 rushing yards off of 49 carries and it’s safe to say that UCLA had no answer to the Wildcats’ rushing attack.

Quarterback Alex Delton (who replaced Thompson early in the game) knew that the Bruins couldn’t stop him from running, so he kept at it. He rushed 20 times for 158 yards and had three rushing touchdowns on the evening. Delton also passed for 52 yards and a touchdown off of just seven completions. He didn’t need to throw the ball though because he knew what worked and he stuck to it.