In 2022, Oklahoma State marched into Bill Snyder Family Stadium and Kansas State football sent the Cowboys home with shaky hands and a 48-0 beat down. 

Now, two years later, another Pokes pummeling was in store, 42-20 at the hands of the Wildcats backed by their home crowd. 

“Hats off to our crowd for coming to rescue for our guys,” head coach Chris Klieman said. “That crowd was loud. They were into it. Our guys loved playing in front of our home folks.”

Last year in Stillwater, offensive struggles led to an upset by the Cowboys. And last week at BYU, K-State couldn’t overcome its own mistakes. Neither was the case on Saturday. 

Quarterback Avery Johnson tossed a career day with bests in completions and passing yards. The sophomore went 19-of-31 for 259 yards with three passing touchdowns, two more on the ground and an interception. 

“Things aren’t always going to go my way,” Johnson said. “And the biggest thing, especially for me — a young quarterback is, ‘How are you going to respond when adversity hits?’ I did a poor job last week of responding in adverse times. The big focus for this week was not letting any pressure, any of that type of stuff get to me.”

Running back DJ Giddens ran wild against the Cowboys, rushing 15 times for 187 yards and a score. The touchdown run was 66 yards, leading the way to a mark of 12.5 yards per carry. 

“I know there’s only one ball, and we wanted to get it to everybody, but when 31 [has] it in his hands, he’s pretty dang good,” Klieman said. “We talk about all of our guys having a role, the kid’s got a big role. And I think he hears things and he wants to prove a point as well.”

OSU’s star running back Ollie Gordon failed to match Gidden’s performance, tallying 15 carries for 76 yards, falling cold after a hot start. 

“You don’t want to get that guy running downhill at you,” Klieman said. “Or you’re going to have a headache. And I thought we did a good job of [tackling] after those first couple drives.”

The Rundown

On its opening drive, the Wildcats’ offense quickly responded after a grim performance in Provo the week prior. Johnson, who threw two picks in the BYU loss, led his team down ending with an 11-yard touchdown run. 

“[With] how poorly we played last week, we just wanted to come out and just play free and play our game,” Johnson said. “We know what we put on tape last week wasn’t us.”

OSU responded with a field goal as Gordon started to wear down the K-State defense early. Early in the second quarter, Gordon already had over 80 total yards but a missed field goal by the Cowboys kept the Wildcats ahead. 

After the offense impressed in its first drive, the Wildcats’ motor sputtered out with two three-and-outs and Johnson’s interception. OSU cashed in with a 77-yard flea flicker touchdown, taking a lead of 13-7 — which could have been worse for the Wildcats. 

K-State’s offense kicked it back into high gear after Johnson’s interception. The sophomore connected with tight end Garrett Oakley for a 19-yard score. It was Oakley’s first touchdown grab of the season, but the fifth for K-State tight ends this season. 

“The great thing about it is — [the mistake] doesn’t get to [Johnson],” Klieman said. “He doesn’t let it eat him up for the next series of the next series.”

At the time, no wide receiver had caught a touchdown for the ‘Cats — exclusively tight ends and running backs. That changed shortly after.

K-State’s defense fell on a fumbled snap by OSU quarterback Alan Bowman, setting up Johnson to toss fellow sophomore Jayce Brown a 55-yard score — the first touchdown by a K-State receiver in 2024. 

Brown finished the game with 78 yards on four catches as the Wildcat wideouts had their best performances this season. 

“Whenever you can run and pass the ball at a high level — keep defenses on their toes, it’s definitely a big plus,” Johnson said. “It opens up our play calling a bunch.”

After entering the half with a 21-13 lead, K-State ran away with the matchup out of the locker room. 

“We never really loosened up,” Giddens said. “Even going in half time, 0-0 [mindset], we’re still playing like the game [isn’t over].”

K-State racked up 35 unanswered points before a garbage-time touchdown. Giddens, Johnson and a ball-hawk defense took center stage, starting with Gidden’s 66-yard score. 

Redshirt freshman Will Anciaux became the fourth different tight end to score a touchdown this season with a two-yard pop pass from Johnson in the final minutes of the third quarter.  

Johnson took his second scramble to the house in the fourth quarter to cement the dagger into the Cowboys contest. 

In the half, the Wildcats defense forced four punts, two interceptions and a turnover on downs before the late score. Defensive backs Marques Sigle and Jacob Parrish’s thievery of Bowman won K-State the turnover battle.

“Any game you play, you better win the turnover margin, you better win the explosive play battle and you better win the red zone efficiency,” Klieman said. 

The Box

No. 23 Kansas State 42, No. 20 Oklahoma State 20

K-State (3-1) — 7; 14; 14; 7 — 42

OSU (3-1) — 3; 10; 0; 7— 20

Up next

K-State has a bye week to let its bounce-back win set in. Following the week of rest is a trip to Boulder, Colorado to face the Buffaloes for the first time since their departure to the Pac-12. 

Colorado, which rejoined the Big 12 conference this year, started off 3-1 this season with a league win over Baylor. Its Week 4 contest against UCF was ongoing at the time of writing.