K-State freezes Texas Tech

Manhattan, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–For a second straight game, Kansas State found themselves in a must-win situation to keep their bowl chances alive. And for a second straight week, they got the job done. The Wildcat defense was able to slow down the high-flying Texas Tech offense, and force three turnovers, to take home a 21-6 win at a frigid Bill Snyder Family Stadium in front of 47, 287.

Texas Tech scored the first points of the afternoon. They scored on their first two drives, and their first came on a 39-yard field goal by Clayton Hatfield to give them a 3-2 lead with 11:55 left in the first quarter. Their second field goal was a Hatfield 42 yarder to give them a 6-0 lead after the first quarter.

Kansas State would score the remaining points of the game. Their first came with 10:33 left in the first half on a Blake Lynch 20-yard field goal to pull the Wildcats to within 6-3. After a fourth down sack at the Red Raider 48, K-State took the lead for good late in the first half. A seven-play drive was capped off by an eight-yard pass from Skylar Thompson to Malik Knowles to give the Cats a 10-6 halftime lead with the Lynch PAT.

All the points in the second half were scored by the special teams unit. The first came with 9:13 left in the third quarter, when Brock Monty blocked a Dominic Panazzolo punt out of the back of the end zone, giving Kansas State a 12-6 lead. Later in the third quarter, Lynch would knock home a 34-yard field goal with 3:27 left to extend the lead to 15-6.

While K-State missed on a couple touchdowns on incompletions and penalties, they would not come up empty handed on their final two drives. Blake Lynch made it 18-6 with a 41-yard field goal with 10:23 left in the game and capped the scoring with a 22-yard field goal with 3:39 remaining to make the score 21-6. The Wildcat defense forced three turnovers in the second half, and scored nine points off those turnovers.

Skylar Thompson went 17-26 passing for 213 yards with a touchdown and an interception. His leading receiver was Malik Knowles, who caught five passes for 56 yards and a touchdown. Six different players caught at least two passes. Alex Barnes rushed for 136 yards on 32 carries, as the Wildcats finished with 154 yards rushing and 367 yards of offense.

Jett Duffey was 19-27 passing for 150 yards and threw an interception. T.J. Vasher had 69 yards on six catches, while Da’Leon Ward rushed the ball 10 times for 34 yards. Texas Tech finished with 31 yards rushing and had only 187 yards of offense.

Kansas State held Texas Tech without a touchdown for the first time since November 18, 2017 against TCU, and was the first time in the series since November 1, 1997 in a 13-2 win in Lubbock.

Kansas State improves to 5-6 on the year, 3-5 in the Big 12, and will be at Iowa State Saturday night at 6. The Cyclones fell at Texas Saturday night 24-10. Texas Tech also is 5-6 overall, 3-5 in conference play, as they will face 5-6 Baylor Saturday morning at 11 am at AT&T Stadium in Arlington.

Coach Bill Snyder