PHOENIX — Kansas State football dramatically earned its desert dessert on Thursday, completing a 17-point comeback to beat Rutgers 44-41 in the 2024 Rate Bowl.

“A great win, great resolve by our guys,” head coach Chris Klieman said. “In a bowl game when you get down 34-17, it’s easy to throw in the towel, but not this crew. It was really important for them to finish out strong, get these seniors a win, get a ninth win, as well as catapult us into 2025.”

Running back Dylan Edwards, taking the reins of the running game, sprinted for the game-winning touchdown with four minutes remaining. The sophomore collected 196 rushing yards and three total touchdowns, earning offensive MVP honors in his debut as a starter. 

“We’ve got a lot of good football players coming back, including the guy to my right in Dylan,” Klieman said. “I’m just so proud of our guys for having that resolve and continuing to fight.”

After allowing six straight possessions of scoring, the K-State defense settled in late and forced stops on five of the final six drives. Senior linebacker Austin Moore was named defensive MVP.

Much to the surprise of the bookmakers, who had the game total at a line of 51.5, the product was an offensive shootout. After struggling defensively and trailing by 17 in the third quarter, K-State cut its deficit to five late before Edwards’ heroics and the defense settling down. 

“We’re just so thrilled with finding a way to get stops on defense, which we struggled at,” Klieman said. “Then capitalizing with some big-time plays offensively. Then getting the big stop at the end.”

K-State finished the season at 9-4, including a 5-4 mark in Big 12 play. In its nation-high fifth appearance in the Rate Bowl, K-State improved its record in the game’s history to 4-1. In the 2017 Cactus Bowl — one of the former names of the contest — K-State also trailed double-digits against UCLA before winning 35-17. 

K-State joined Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon as the only teams in the nation to win at least nine games in each of the last three seasons.

This was the only bowl contest between the Big Ten and the Big 12. The Scarlet Knights (7-6) recorded a 4-5 mark against their conference slate, which avoided top teams in Oregon, Ohio State, Penn State and Indiana. 

Rutgers was without its star running back Kyle Monangai, who declared for the next level. Still, Antwan Raymond led its efforts with 113 yards and three touchdowns on the ground.

New-look backfield

With junior DJ Giddens declaring for the NFL Draft, K-State’s running back tandem of Edwards and freshman Joe Jackson took over the run game. 

It felt really good [to be the main guy],” Edwards said. “I played the whole season. It wasn’t like I was waiting for my time. I was just trying to do my job and my part for this team. I guess you could say I had more of a job to do today. As long as I stay focused and do what I was supposed to do, we were going to come out and be successful.”

Edwards was off to the races to begin the contest, setting a new career-high of rushing yards in the first quarter with 63 yards.

After breaking away for a 53-yard run early, the speedy sophomore jump-started the K-State offense with his long run of 65 yards on a much-needed score in the third quarter. Then, again in the fourth, Edwards notched a 36-yard score to ultimately win K-State the game.

To go along with his near-200 yards on the ground and average of 10.9 yards per carry, Edwards collected 27 receiving yards including a passing touchdown.

“I just tried to do my job to the best of my ability,” Edwards said. “We worked on these plays for the past two weeks, just trying to do my job. And that’s what I did today.”

Jackson stepped up as the No. 2 back, racking up 50 yards on seven carries and three catches for 37 yards, including a nine-yard receiving touchdown. K-State ran for 347 yards as a team.

“I think they were really good up front, and we needed to get those guys spread out and utilize ourspeed and space, and that’s what we were able to do,” Klieman said. 

Johnson’s first year as starter

The Wildcats’ sophomore slinger put the finishing touches on an impressive debut season as the starting quarterback.

With his three passing touchdowns, Avery Johnson passed Will Howard (2023) and Ell Roberson (2003) for most touchdown passes in a season at K-State, with 25 passing touchdowns. 

“It’s special,” Johnson said on the milestone. “I’m going to try to come back and find things that I need to work on in the offseason. I left a lot of touchdowns out there today this season, so just continuing to grow and be a better passer so I can set the record again next year.”

In the Rate Bowl, Johnson went 15-of-30 in the air for 195 yards, three pass touchdowns and an interception. On the ground, he added 57 yards and a fourth total touchdown. 

Curse broken

Wearing an alternate look of white helmets and white pants, the Wildcats ended a streak of six straight losses in alternate uniforms, including four under Klieman. 

Klieman exclaimed during the Wildcats’ trophy presentation, “The curse of the alternate uniforms is dead.”

Now, K-State could turn different uniforms more often as players and fans have desired in recent years. Senior Marques Sigle was excited to go out with a win in his final game while wearing the new look.

“We’ve always wanted to, we’ve been wanting to wear those outfits and switch it up a little bit [over] the past year,” he said. “So to finally do that and get a win, to break that curse was huge.”

The play-by-play

K-State forced an opening three-and-out by the Scarlet Knights’ offense, but its success stopping their march early was limited there.

After K-State settled for a field goal on its first drive, Rutgers responded with a long 13-play touchdown drive and led 7-3 at the end of the first quarter. 

Johnson and Edwards both put the Wildcats back into the endzone during the second quarter, relieving the K-State defense, which could not stop the Scarlet Knights. 

Despite also missing its star running back, Rutgers’ offense finished the half scoring on each of its final five possessions. The Scarlet Knights had 170 passing yards and 150 rushing yards to lead 27-17 at halftime. 

K-State’s troubles continued immediately out of the break, going 3-and-out and failing to score for the third consecutive time. Rutgers took advantage and extended its lead to 34-17.

The Wildcats bounced back, finally forcing two defense stops with a punt and interception. K-State cashed in each time with a 65-yard one-play rushing touchdown by Edwards and Garrett Oakley receiving touchdown.

“We just needed the momentum to flip,” Klieman said. “Once it did, you could tell our sideline had all the energy. And then [Rutgers] was starting to struggle a little bit.”

After a special teams mistake and chasing points on two-point attempts, K-State quickly found itself still trailing by double-digits with a Rutgers touchdown moving its lead back to 41-29.

A needed touchdown drive, ending in Johnson’s record-breaking touchdown pass to Jackson, cut the deficit back to five points before Edwards’ final feats. The defense finished the game with two consecutive stops, including the most important last drive, allowing K-State to drain the final seconds.

“Then putting the ball in Avery’s [Johnson] hand and saying: You’ve got to get three carries. You’ve got to get a first down. It was big for us,” Klieman said.

Up next

After another offseason of the ever-changing transfer portal and NIL world, K-State will resume game action on a different continent.

K-State will open the 2025 season against Iowa State at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic Aug. 23, 2025, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.