The Wildcats rushed for a school-record 472 yards, including 293 by Joe Jackson.
Via K-State Athletics
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – Kansas State’s first trip to Salt Lake City turned into Heartbreak City as No. 12 Utah came back again and again and delivered the final blow with a one-yard touchdown run with 56 seconds left for a 51-47 victory, dousing one of the best offensive outputs in K-State history and a historic night by sophomore running back Joe Jackson at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Heavy-underdog K-State, 5-6 overall and 4-4 in the Big 12 Conference, went toe-to-toe against Utah, 9-2 and 6-2, on its Senior Night and in the first-ever meeting between the schools put together an effort that has epitomized the season for this squad.
The Wildcats, whose 47 points were the third-highest scored on the road against a Top 25 opponent in the Big 12 era, fought to the end.
“I’m frustrated like everybody else,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. “I told the guys it’s one of the best efforts I’ve ever seen in college football down as many guys as we are. A lot of people thought we’d come in here and just lay down. They don’t know the character of our team, the kids in that locker room, the coaching staff.
“Our kids were ready to play. We played really good football against the best offense in the Big 12. They were tough to slow down because they come at you in all different directions. We stayed in the fight. We asked the guys, ‘You stay in the dang fight for four quarters.’ And we did.”
Jackson rushed for a K-State-record 293 yards on 24 carries with three touchdowns to power an offense that recorded a school-record 472 rushing yards and five rushing touchdowns, and that totaled 574 total yards of offense — the eighth-best offensive output in school history.
Jackson’s touchdown runs covered 66 yards for a 21-14 lead in the midway second quarter and 80 yards to make it 31-21 just before halftime before his 24-yard run gave the Wildcats a 47-35 lead with 7:00 left in the fourth quarter.
But Avery Johnson’s 2-point conversion pass following Jackson’s score was intercepted by Tao Johnson, and he raced down the entire field and into the opposite end zone for two points for the Utes, making it 47-37. From there, Utah scored the game’s final two scores — a 20-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Devon Dampier to wide receiver Larry Simmons with 2:47 to go before Dampier’s 1-yard touchdown run effectively ended a heartbreaker for K-State.
Utah entered the game outscoring opponents by an average of 25.5 points. It ranked No. 2 in the FBS with 278.4 rushing yards, No. 6 with 41.1 points, and No. 10 with 477.8 total yards of offense. It also ranked No. 10 in allowing just 15.6 points per contest.
Utah had eight wins by at least 25 points, which were the most in the FBS and the most by a Big 12 team since Baylor in 2013.
K-State brushed all that aside while executing one of the most valiant efforts in recent memory.
K-State outgained Utah, 574-551, in total offensive yards, and it outrushed the Utes, 472-292. But K-State was hindered by 10 penalties. Utah, the national leader in red-zone efficiency, scored every time it was inside the redzone. K-State went 4-for-4 inside the red zone as well.
Johnson completed 12-of-23 passes for 102 yards and one touchdown and one interception. Johnson’s 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Oakley to make it 38-35 with 1:48 left in the third quarter gave Johnson 48 career touchdown passes, tying him with Will Howard for the most touchdown passes all-time at K-State.
But there was no beating the rushing output, which was better than any K-State team had ever achieved in a single game.
Running back Antonio Martin Jr. had five carries for 89 yards and one touchdown, and Johnson had 12 carries for 72 yards and one touchdown. Time after time K-State had explosive runs against the Utes’ defense.
“We just got back to running the football,” Klieman said. “We knew we could run the ball against these guys. Nobody had tried it like we were going to try it, and we were committed to it. Our kids believed we were going to run the football. That’s 90% of it is getting the kids to believe that what we’re going to do is going to be successful, and we’re going to punch them in the mouth. We did that. That’s what our plan was.
“We couldn’t deviate from that plan even though we got down 35-31. That offense is electric and with the amount of playmakers they had. We did some things to take some of their other stuff away, but you can’t take everybody away in that offense.”
Utah certainly had trouble taking away Jackson.
Jackson’s 10 carries for 236 yards and two touchdowns keyed the Wildcats’ offensive onslaught en route to a 31-21 halftime lead over the stunned Utes, who surrendered their most points in a game all season — in the first half alone — after entering the game 10th in the FBS in allowing just 15.6 points per game.
K-State outgained Utah, 383-267, in total offensive yards, and the Wildcats’ 348 rushing yards were the most allowed by the Utes since Oregon rushed for 347 yards against them on October 28, 2017.
Meanwhile, Jackson’s 236 rushing yards in the first half marked the most ever by an opposing player at Rice-Eccles Stadium — and there was still one half of football to go.
“We did some different things in the run game that we thought could be successful that people hadn’t tried against them,” Klieman said. “We weren’t going to get into a pass-fade game against these guys because we would’ve gotten smoked. We played a lot of big people and every tight end we had. We blocked well up front. Joe and Antonio ran the ball well. We were just a little bit short.”
Meanwhile, K-State did all it could to slow down one of the top rushing teams in the FBS.
Dampier, a senior quarterback, completed 18-of-33 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns, and he rushed 14 times for 94 yards and two scores. Freshman quarterback Byrd Ficklin had seven carries for 54 yards and three touchdowns. Running back Wayshawn Parker had 19 carries for 100 yards.
“They’re the best rushing offense in our conference, but we didn’t think they were great at throwing the football. We were going to try and make them throw the football, but the problem was we couldn’t get them into enough throwing situations because they’re so successful rushing the ball,” Klieman said.
Utah rushed 50 times for 292 yards (5.8 yards per attempt).
In the end, it came down to the final minutes.
Down by 10 points with under 5 minutes left in the fourth quarter, Utah attempted to quickly operate while working against the game clock. The K-State defense wouldn’t cooperate. But facing fourth-and-1 at the K-State 36-yard line, K-State was called for illegal substitution, giving the Utes a first down with 4:01 remaining. A couple plays later, Dampier was called for intentional grounding, making it third-and-22 at the K-State 44-yard line. Simmons caught a pass for 21 yards and the Utes picked up the first down. On first-and-10 at the K-State 20, Dampier completed a 20-yard touchdown pass to Simmons to cut K-State’s lead to 47-44 with 2:47 remaining.
When K-State was unable to move the football, Utah started at its own 30-yard line and came out of the 2-minute timeout facing third-and-4 at the Utah 36-yard line. Dampier dashed 59 yards to the K-State 2-yard line. VJ Payne pulled down Parker for a 2-yard loss. Dampier rushed three yards. K-State called a timeout with 56 seconds left. Facing second-and-goal near the goal line, Dampier got the ball into the end zone as the Utes took a 51-47 lead with 54 seconds to go.
Starting at the K-State 25-yard line, Johnson threw an incomplete pass to Tibbs, then Johnson underthrew a pass it was intercepted by Lander Barton to seal the game.
“I’m dang proud of those kids,” Klieman said. “We fought our tails off. I know we came up short, but I hope there’s a lot of proud people the way those kids performed.”
K-State now seeks bowl eligibility for a fifth straight year when it hosts Colorado on Senior Day on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
“We’ve got to go out on top with these seniors,” Klieman said. “They’ve won a Big 12 Championship and a ton of football games and have put their heart and soul into this program. I hope everybody shows up to send those guys off.”
