Offense: A
From the moment he took the field, senior quarterback Jake Waters was in control. He constantly gave the Wildcats scoring opportunities. Whether it was scrambling away from pressure to find an open receiver or darting down the field, Waters was a major asset in K-State’s 45-13 thrashing of Texas Tech.
It was a balanced effort from the Wildcats’ starting signal-caller as he surpassed 100 yards rushing and only had seven incomplete passes. Overall he tallied 24 completions out of 31 attempts while passing for 290 yards. It was the first time that a K-State quarterback had thrown four touchdown passes since Ell Roberson’s performance in the Big 12 Championship on Dec. 6, 2003. He now has 25 career touchdown passes. He also ran for 105 yards and one touchdown, which marks the second 100-yard rushing game of his career.
Other then the third-quarter fumble by sophomore running back Charles Jones, the Wildcat offense played one of their most complete games of the season.
Senior receiver Curry Sexton made several athletic grabs and finished the night with a career-high 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns, which was also a career high. Sexton also pushed his reception streak to 18 straight games, dating back to when he was injured in the 2012 season.
Senior receiver Tyler Lockett garnered his 11th 100-yard receiving record, hauling in 12 receptions for 125 yards and two touchdowns. .
Defense: A-
Besides the two bad drives in which the Wildcats allowed touchdowns, the Wildcats defense had few flaws.
The secondary was all over the Red Raider defense and forced sophomore quarterback Davis Webb into arguably the worst game of his career. The Texas Tech second-year starter highly disheveled, throwing four interceptions overall.
Two Wildcat players, junior safeties Morgan Burns and Travis Green, reeled in two interceptions apiece. This was the first time that the Wildcats had two players record two interceptions in the same game in four seasons, dating back to the Texas game in 2010.
Two weeks after limiting Auburn to a season low 40 rushing yards and a week after allowing only 59 yards to UTEP on the ground, the Wildcats allowed only 56 rushing yards to Texas Tech.
“When we went into the game we felt like we could throw the ball on, not just K-State, on any team,” Red Raider junior receiver Jakeem Grant said. “K-State has a good defense, they capitalize on good plays.”
This season, the Red Raiders have averaged 344 passing yards per game. In this game, however, Davis Webb and company struggled to find cohesiveness. Webb and the Red Raider offense managed to tally 301 passing yards, 77 of which came in the fourth quarter.
Special Teams: Incomplete
Simply put, the special teams saw limited action on the field
The Wildcats punt squad only managed to trot onto the field twice in the high scoring game. In that small sample, the punt coverage team didn’t allow a single yard in returns. Similarly, the Wildcat punt return team also didn’t register a return on the night.
By the Numbers:
221: Consecutive games the K-State has scored
15.5: Career sacks by senior defensive end Ryan Mueller
182: Career victories by head coach Bill Snyder
.715: Winning percentage in Bill Snyder Family Stadium vs. Big 12 opponents (66-26-1)
.847: Winning percentage when scoring first
42: Winning streak when leading at half, second longest streak in nation
