Arizona State running back Cardae Mack and wide receiver Reed Harris combined for over 300 yards of total offense, and the Sun Devil defense shot down K-State’s own run game on the way to a 28-17 win at Mountain America Stadium in Tempe, Arizona.
With Avery Johnson sidelined due to an injury last week against Kansas, and Brandon White missing due to an undisclosed injury, K-State had trouble maintaining the offense although Knuth did have a good game in relief. The key was Arizona State’s run defense, which stifled the normally potent Wildcat running game.
Once again, Collin Klein opted to receive after winning the toss. The kickoff went out of bounds, giving K-State a good start, and Knuth went 3-4 on a drive which featured a 31-yard run by Fields which got the Cats into the red zone. Knuth picked up 11 with his legs on 3rd-and-11, then two plays later hit Jaron Tibbs from seven yards out to give the Wildcats the opening lead.
The Sun Devils came out firing. Mikey Keene completed 51-yard pass to Reed Harris on their first play, and three plays later Cardae Mack ran it in from nine yards out to equalize. The Cats went 3-and-out on three straight passes, but then forced a punt from midfield which was downed inside the one-yard line.
On third down, the Cats were stopped six inches short at the ten and had to punt. Zashon Rich got badly beaten on another 39-yard connection between Keene and Harris, but the defense forced a 4th-down attempt at the one. Mack scored, however, putting the Sun Devils up 14-7.
Both teams traded punts, and K-State got inside the five thanks to a pass interference call and a big completion from Knuth to Derrick Salley, but had to settle for a 22-yard Luis Rodriguez field goal. Three straight punts led to Arizona State in the two-minute drill, and Logan Bartley nearly had himself a pick-six before Keene went down on the field after Darien Whitaker was blocked into his ankle. That brought the Devils’ original starting quarterback Cutter Boley into the game, who was sacked by Jordan Allen to end the half.
Jayden Bryant sacked Boley to cap a 3-and-out to start the second half, but the Cats also went 3-and-out. Simon McClannan’s punt pinned the Sun Devils at the three, and they went 3-and-out again, having to punt from the end zone. Sterling Lockett fielded it at the Arizona State 48 and made it to the 21 on the return. A few plays later, Knuth rambled in untouched from 10 yards out, and the Wildcats were back in from 17-14.
The defense forced a third straight 3-and-out, and a penalty on the punt gave the Cats the ball at midfield. A few plays later, disaster almost happened as Knuth fumbled while being sacked, but Ryan Howard covered it up. That let to a 3rd-and-18, and after a completion to Linkon Cure and a 4th-and-12. Klein chose to go for it, and Knuth almost managed to get it with his legs but tripped four yards short and turned the ball over on downs.
Arizona State benched Boley again and put third-stringer Jake Fette in the game. Mack broke through for a 30-yard run, and the third quarter ended with the Devils in the red zone. On the first play of the final quarter, Mack scored from 12 yards out and the Cats trailed 21-17.
The Cats got into Sun Devil territory, but the Arizona State defense harried Knuth relentlessly and K-State was unable to convert a 4th-and-2. The defense responded with their fourth 3-and-out of the half, but Arizona State returned the favor. A 63-yard punt by McClannan which would have pinned the Devils at their five, but an illegal formation forced a re-kick and a 30-yard swing in field position. Another big run by Mack and another big catch by Reed Harris got the Sun Devils down to the 11; after an incompletion, Mack scored his fourth touchdown of the day and Arizona State had a 28-17 lead.
On 4th-and-5 on the ensuing drive, Knuth was sacked for a huge loss, giving Arizona State the ball at the Wildcat 20. On 4th-and-5, JoJo Scott picked Fette off in the end zone… but was called for defensive holding, giving the Sun Devils a first down at the 7 and for all intents and purposes ended the game. The Cats did get a stop at the 1, but were left with only 1:45 to go and a 99-yard field to navigate. They did not.
For Arizona State, Mack had 159 yards on 26 carries with four touchdowns, while Harris had 147 yards on six catches (24.5 ypc).
Knuth was 26-41 for 194 yards and a score, and added 19 yards and a touchdown on 9 carries (but in real numbers it was 41 yards). Fields had 36 yards on 10 carries, Joe Jackson had 17 on 9. Terrible. Tibbs led the receivers with 9 catches for 57 yards and a touchdown. Josh Manning also had 57 yards on 7 catches, Salley had 6 for 63, and Cure caught three balls for 21 yards.
Arizona State outgained the cats 359-278, in the air 212-194, and on the ground 147-84. Both teams were a miserable 4-15 on third down; the Sun Devils were 1-2 on fourth, while the Cats were 0-4. Penalties victimized Arizona State far more harshly, 4 for 50 yards compared to 3 for just 18 against K-State. The Cats had a six-minute advantage in time of possession; there were no turnovers.
What We Learned
1) Cutter Boley is bad.
Yeah, this isn’t a thing we learned about K-State, but good lord, we have to mention it. He ate two sacks he didn’t need to eat and had a passer rating of 31.8 in 80% of a quarter. Brutal. And this guy started six games for the Devils?!
2) This is the worst K-State run defense in recent memory.
This is just an off-the-cuff observation, no historical stats consulted. But we’re used to seeing the secondary be questionable while the run defense was solid. It’s the other way around now. Eye-test wise, the run defense hasn’t looked this dreadful since that horrific nightmare in the snow against the Cyclones.
3) Jacob Knuth isn’t bad!
Knuth made a couple of bad decisions, and was fortunate to escape them, but for being forced into action he had a really good game. He threw the ball well, both on paper and on the eye test. The problem…
4) Arizona State shut down the run game.
Fields had a 31-yard run on the first drive of the game. Subtract that and the Cats had 51 yards on 31 carries, and you’re all good enough at math to understand that. Even with that run, K-State averaged 2.6 yards a carry.
5) Set aside any dreams about this being anything but a rebuild year.
It’s hard to say what a loss in a game without your starting quarterback really means. Johnson’s absence may well have been what caused the run game to be ineffective. The inability to sustain drives caused by that ineffectiveness may have affected the defense. But this team does have problems, and the reality is that a lower-tier bowl is about all we can expect at this point. There’s at least one more loss on the schedule.
Players of the Game
Jacob Knuth is the obvious answer on offense, while we’re going with Jordan Allen on defense. Allen had two sacks, and that’ll do.
Next
Halloween. At Colorado, 1:00 kickoff. Hope for treats, not tricks.