Kansas State football stays in the fight and delivers knockout blow in overtime
ARLINGTON, Texas — Their starting quarterback got hurt and his backup became a star. Two of their top defensive backs suffered season-ending injuries in back-to-back weeks. Their kicker, who delivered the game-winning field goal, wasn't even supposed to be the kicker.
It's funny how things work out, but then again, that has been Kansas State's season in a nutshell.
Thanks to the Wildcats' ability to, as coach Chris Klieman loves to say, "stay in the fight," they are Big 12 champions.
They had to work overtime to get it done, surviving a fourth-quarter comeback by unbeaten No. 3 TCU and then stonewalling the Horned Frogs on fourth down at the goal line to start the extra session. But that just made Ty Zentner's 31-yard walk-off field goal that much more special, touching off a wild celebration by both players and the thousands of K-State fans who made the pilgrimage to AT&T Stadium.
More:Kansas State football perseveres in overtime, 31-28, on Ty Zentner field goal
Final score: Kansas State 31, TCU 28. Next stop, in all likelihood, New Orleans and the Sugar Bowl.
"The last couple of years, starting in January of 2021, these guys will tell you, our locker room became so close and so tight," Klieman, whose Wildcats improved to 10-3, while TCU fell to 12-1, said. "And I'm telling you that this is about the power of belief and the power of player ownership.
"When you have those two things, I don't think anything will stop you."
Klieman rallied the troops two years ago after the Wildcats suffered through a 4-6 season in 2020, ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. It remains his only losing season since taking over for legendary coach Bill Snyder in December of 2018.
This year, what he referred to as a culture, manifested itself in resilience and determination, first coming off an unexpected home loss to Tulane, and then a few weeks later when they fell to TCU on the road and again in a letdown against Texas.
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On each occasion, the K-State bounced back with an impressive victory, winning on the road against Oklahoma, blowing out Oklahoma State at home, and after the Texas loss manhandling Baylor in Waco. And when the Wildcats needed to win out their last three regular-season games, they took care of business in decisive fashion.
"Whenever I got recruited to come here, coach Klieman said we're going to build a culture that's going to win championships," said junior running back Deuce Vaughn, who rushed for 130 yards and a touchdown on the way to receiving player of the game honors. "(He said) it's going to be a player-led team.
"And we built that. It's just been battling through adversity. The good, the bad and everything that we've been through together has brought us so close together."
Directing the offense was junior Will Howard, who was on his way to a redshirt season when K-State brought in super-senior Adrian Martinez, a four-year starter at quarterback for Nebraska.
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Martinez was solid, starting the first seven games and leading the Wildcats to a 5-1 record. But he went down on the first series of the first TCU game, opening the door for Howard, who led K-State to four first-half touchdowns before a second-half collapse that allowed the Horned Frogs to rally for a 38-28 victory.
Howard led the way in a 48-0 rout of Oklahoma State, but sat again when Martinez returned in a home loss to Texas. Martinez then suffered another injury in the first quarter at Baylor, and it has been all Howard since.
"These guys will tell you, everybody in that locker room has so much confidence in Will Howard," Klieman said. "And Will Howard's a flat winner. He's a competitor. He wanted to play."
Howard, who struggled as a true freshman in 2020 and again last year when thrown into the fire as the backup to Skylar Thompson, has emerged as a confident leader in his third go-round. And the entire team was equal to the task in their biggest game to date under Klieman.
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"We knew it was going to be a fight," said Howard, who completed 18-of-32 passes for 199 yards and two touchdowns. "We felt like we had some punches, and they took some punches, too, and at the end of the day, we knew we were built for it."
So, it turned out, was the defense. While TCU amassed 469 yards total offense, the Wildcats forced two key turnovers, including an end zone interception by cornerback Julius Brents, who was locked in a one-on-one battle with Frogs star receiver Quentin Johnston all game.
K-State was without safeties Kobe Savage and Cincere Mason, who were lost for the season against Baylor and West Virginia, respectively. And starting cornerback Ekow Boye-Doe went down in the first half, leaving true freshmen VJ Payne and Jacob Parrish to see significant action in the biggest game of the year.
The Wildcats' biggest stops came in overtime after quarterback Max Duggan ran for 5 yards on second-and-goal to just short of the end zone. Kendre Miller, who had abused the Wildcats in the first meeting and finished with 110 yards in the rematch, got the ball on third down and was stopped by Khalid Duke. Then on fourth down, Daniel Green and Eli Huggins did the honors, and K-State got the ball at the 25-yard line with a chance to win it.
"I just think that was great execution, just overall by the defense," Green said. "We talked about in situations like that, you just have to bow up.
"And that's what championship games come down to, just somebody making an extra play, especially on defense. I'm so proud of those guys. That's a statement right there."
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football perseveres in Big 12 championship game
