Energy. Urgency. Physicality.
That’s what this pack of Wildcats did. While scoring didn’t happen until the second quarter, Kansas State battled against the TCU Horned Frogs in many aspects of the game.
“You have to play your best football every, every day,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. “I thought we played well in all three phases at times, and there’s always going to be things that we’ve got to be better at and work out. But we came out with energy, urgency, and physicality. We did some really good things.”
Offensive and defensive were in synch for the ‘Cats, leading to a 41-28 win over TCU. Quarterback Avery Johnson threw 16-of-26 passes for 198 yards, with two of those throws finding the hands of tight end Garrett Oakley, along with wide receiver Jerand Bradley.
“I think Oak[ley] is one of the best tight ends in the Big 12, if not the country,” Klieman said. “Garret has such a great big body, he does really well after the catch, and he runs good routes. Ryan Lackey told me that when we came into the locker room, we honored Oak, that kid’s a really good football player, and he uses his body so well.”
With his touchdowns for the night, Oakley now holds the record for most touchdown catches by a tight end in K-State history with 11 in his career.
“If you told me that when I first got here, I don’t think I’d ever believe you,” Oakley said. “This is a process team and just coming into work every day putting my head down, and going to work is kind of what brought me to this moment.”
Following the marvelous start of the offense, the defense reciprocated. Early in the second quarter, Wesley Fair had a 15-yard fumble recovery for a 14-7 lead, along with Des Purnell, who had a 25-yard interception return, making the score 21-7.
The only other time a K-State linebacker recorded two interceptions in a game was back in 2015 when Elijah Lee made the stat against TCU.
“It was huge,” Purnell said. “In the offense, we were just going, we’re just battling back and forth. It was really close, tight, knit game, and we just needed a big play to happen. And fortunately, it was just me.”
Purnell led K-State to a 21-7 lead, along with boosting the energy of the Bill. Purnell raced in and sacked TCU quarterback Josh Hoover at the TCU15 on the first down. With 10:28 remaining in the third quarter, Purnell found himself reading Hoover’s eyes and, without hesitation, cut in front of the ball, snagging and running it in for a pick-six and a 14-point edge for the Wildcats.
Since the Wildcats’ matchup with Baylor in 2023, K-State had not scored two defensive touchdowns in a single game. K-State has now led the FBS in non-offensive touchdowns since 1999 with 138.
While the energy and physicality were seen heavily in the first half, the commotion of the game was left for the second half.
At halftime, the Wildcats were up 14-7, but was quickly heightened to 28-7 after a 17-yard touchdown pass from Johnson to Oakley towards the end of the third quarter.
Joe Jackson was another key offensive player for the Wildcats. Jackson had a career-high 27 carries for 110 rushing yards.
“We came out after halftime and had to be physical, and beat up on them, and drove it down the field,” Jackson said. “It felt good. The guys up front grinded it out for sure.”
With 2:06 left in the third, TCU answered back with a 75-yard drive, as Hoover found Chase Curtis for a 2-yard touchdown pass to close the gap 28-14.
Even with the Wildcats’ lead, the team wasn’t content. In the middle of the fourth quarter, Jerand Bradley completed a 12-yard pass from Johnson, extending the lead to 35-14.
Soon after, TCU responded with an 85-yard touchdown pass, closing in on the ‘Cats 35-21. After that, Purnell showed up and meant business once more. At 7:23 in the fourth, Purnell made another interception for a 21-yard return.
“Desmond was just reading the quarterback,” safety Gunner Maldonado said. “It’s hard to find linebackers who can really move in their zone and break on the ball. And that’s what he did twice today. Almost got a third one too.”
The final phase was to watch the clock run out of time and wait for the prolonged win.
“We’ve got more in us,” Klieman said. “I know we can play better in all three phases, if we play with the energy, the physicality, the urgency that a lot of us have seen over the last three weeks, this football team can do some really good things.”
