Grades from Kansas State’s blowout victory against Troy and a look ahead to Missouri

There’s not much to complain about with the Kansas State football team at the moment.

The Wildcats dismantled Troy 42-13 on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. That victory came a week after they beat up on Southeast Missouri State 45-0.

Will Howard has already thrown for a total of 547 yards and five touchdowns, in addition to three rushing scores. The defense, led by Khalid Duke and Austin Moore, has 20 tackles for loss through two games.

No wonder they have won twice by large margins.

It is now time to look back on K-State’s most recent victory by handing out a few awards and grades. Let’s also look ahead to next week’s game against the Missouri Tigers, which could provide a more difficult test for Chris Klieman’s squad.

Play of the game

Will Howard connected with Phillip Brooks for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 10 seconds remaining in the second quarter.

It was more than just a highlight play. That score came at a pivotal moment in the game.

Even though K-State won by nearly 30 points, fans were feeling nervous at the end of the first half. Troy had scored 10 straight points to make the score 14-10 and the Trojans were set to get the ball at the start of the third quarter. They had all the momentum.

At least they did until the Wildcats got aggressive and scored a touchdown just before halftime arrived. Scoring in that situation set K-State up to pull ahead in the second half.

Player of the game

Phillip Brooks gets the nod this week.

Sure, you could also make a strong case for Will Howard (250 yards and three touchdowns passing, 33 yards and two touchdowns rushing) after he turned in another impressive game.

Khalid Duke (three tackles for loss) was also outstanding.

But Brooks did a lot to open things up on offense.

The senior receiver caught seven passes for 94 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a two-yard run near the goal line.

Howard showed tons of confidence in Brooks by targeting him nine times.

Stat of the game

Seventy, as in net rushing yards for the Trojans on 28 attempts.

Take away a 46-yard sprint from Kimani Vidal and Troy averaged less than one yard per carry.

Quote to note

“They’re so well coached and they really don’t make mistakes. We knew that we were going to have to be good on all our small details because they weren’t going to give us anything.” - Troy receiver Chris Lewis.

Grades

Offense: B+. The Wildcats averaged 5.7 yards per play and reached the end zone seven times. It was a good day at the office for them. But the offensive line is not playing up to expectations without Christian Duffie at right tackle. Troy routinely got pressure on Howard via the right side of the line and K-State struggled to run the ball, finishing with 147 yards on 38 carries.

Defense: A. The Trojans got some great play out of their skill players. Chris Lewis and some of their other receivers, in particular, had some impressive catches. But Troy had no answer for K-State’s defensive line. That is why the Wildcats finished with nine tackles for loss and an interception.

Special Teams: A. Chris Tennant had a good day on kickoffs and Brooks turned in some nice returns.

Coaching: A. This type of game has given Klieman issues in the past, as the Wildcats lost to Arkansas State and Tulane in recent years. But they didn’t even flirt with an upset loss on Saturday. Klieman had his team ready to play.

Next up: Missouri Tigers

The Wildcats can start focusing on their first road trip of the season with a game against the Missouri Tigers on deck for next weekend.

K-State opened as a favorite of 3.5 points over Mizzou, which makes sense as the Wildcats have appeared much better than the Tigers in their first two games.

Even though Missouri is off to a 2-0 start, it hasn’t looked impressive. The Tigers beat South Dakota 35-10 in the season-opener and then followed that up with a 23-19 survival against Middle Tennessee State.

Brady Cook completed 14 of 19 passes for 204 yards and two touchdowns against the Blue Raiders, with Luther Burden (eight catches for 117 yards) serving as his favorite target. But MTSU countered with 214 passing yards and two touchdowns from Nicholas Vattiato.

Howard could have a big day against the Mizzou secondary.

Still, beating a SEC team on the road is never easy. K-State can expect to get Missouri’s best shot. Eli Drinkwitz and the Tigers should be motivated to avenge a 40-12 loss from last season in Manhattan. Mizzou is also expecting a sellout crowd at Faurot Field. It’s possible the Tigers looked past the Blue Raiders with such a big game on the horizon.