Kansas State Football: Sloppy performance leads to upset loss in week 1

Kansas State football couldn’t get out of their own way in the 35-31 loss on Saturday afternoon.

Well… That wasn’t the way Kansas State football fans envisioned their 2020 season beginning.

The fact of the matter is that Arkansas State had nothing to lose and it showed. They made mistakes, but later made Kansas State pay, while Kansas State simply just made mistakes and didn’t execute when they needed to the most.

Blake Lynch missed two field goals, which would have proved to be the difference in this one. Skylar Thompson also overthrew a number of receivers and one throw would have been an easy six points for the Wildcats. K-State also had 8 penalties, which proved costly.

Those are the kind of mistakes K-State couldn’t make against a feisty Sun Belt opponent who is prone to putting up points.

Kansas State football allowed Arkansas State to put up 489 total yards of offense.

This was an Arkansas State offense who was giving 2 different quarterbacks a chance to run the offense and both put up decent numbers against K-State. Logan Bonner got most of the reps and threw for over 200 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception while Layne Hatcher threw for a little over 60 yards, but had 2 touchdowns on the afternoon.

Thompson, meanwhile, played well, but as mentioned above, overshot a few of his targets. He finished the day with 259 yards through the air and 2 touchdowns while rushing for just 7 yards.

The problem with this game wasn’t just the mistakes, but that Kansas State didn’t look like the typical Kansas State teams we’re used to seeing. They only rushed for 91 yards (but did have 2 touchdowns, which is promising) and Deuce Vaughn was good, but should have had more than just the 12 carries he was given.

The defense was atrocious, surrendering nearly 500 yards of offense. They made big plays in the first half, but that wasn’t the case in the second half and it cost the Wildcats a week 1 win, as they allowed the Red Wolves to score in the final minute of the game.

This wasn’t the start that Kansas State was hoping for, but it’s a long season. Fans knew Arkansas State was going to be a problem and the Sun Belt was running roughshod in college football on Saturday, so this loss isn’t the worst on the scoreboard from the weekend.

It’s also worth noting that this is the first action any of these Wildcats have had in a long time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were bound to be struggles and Arkansas State already had a game under their belts, which gave them an advantage here.

Still, it’s a disappointing start to Chris Klieman’s second year at the helm in Manhattan and this team has a lot to work on between now and their next game, which just so happens to come against Oklahoma in 2 weeks. Ugh.