Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.
After a promising start, Murphy’s law was in full effect Saturday night. Under the late-night Provo lights, BYU handed No. 13 Kansas State football an embarrassing 38-9 loss in the two teams’ first matchup as conference foes.
“We got embarrassed and that has not happened [at K-State], with the exception of the COVID year,” head coach Chris Klieman said after the game. “We got embarrassed tonight, we’ve got guys that love K-State and have invested a ton in this program … I’m excited to see how we respond.”
K-State, which dropped to 3-1, had a chance to stay perfect through four games for the first time since 2012.
Early on, the Wildcats had control in all three phases, marching down the field and connecting for two field goals. It was a low-scoring half as K-State led 6-3, but then disaster struck just before the break.
Junior running back DJ Giddens, who had over 400 touches going into the game, committed the first lost fumble of his career. The turnover led to a 30-yard scoop-and-score to put BYU up to a 10-6 lead.
On the ensuing drive, sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson threw the second interception of his young career, setting up BYU to take a 17-6 advantage into halftime.
“Everything was probably in good shape with two minutes left in the first half,” Klieman said. “And then it snowballed and we couldn’t stop it. After that two-minute mark hit, we didn’t play well in any phase.”
With the ball out of halftime, Johnson’s second interception plagued a potential comeback, as two plays later BYU connected for a touchdown and a 24-6 lead.
In need of a momentum-shifting play, K-State punted to BYU and had a chance to recover a live ball, or seemingly at worst be able to stuff the Cougars deep in their own end.
Instead, BYU’s Parker Kingston escaped tacklers for a 90-yard score and a 31-6 lead with 26 minutes of the game clock still to play. The damage was done.
Johnson completed 15-of-28 passes for 130 yards with two interceptions, adding 74 rushing yards on the ground. Giddens had 19 carries for 93 yards and a fumble.
BYU’s quarterback Jake Retzlaff went 15-for-21 for 149 yards and two touchdowns.
BYU, advancing to 4-0, was picked 13th in the Big 12 in the preseason. The Cougars’ victory came in front of 64,201 people — the largest crowd at LaVell Edwards Stadium since 2009.
Up next for K-State is hosting Oklahoma State at 11 a.m. Saturday. The Cowboys, formerly ranked No. 14, face a similar situation as K-State after coming off a loss to Utah in the first week of conference play.