No. 17 Kansas State knew that West Virginia would try to stop Big 12 rushing leader DJ Giddens, which allowed quarterback Avery Johnson to have a standout game.
Johnson threw three touchdown passes in the Wildcats’ 45-18 victory over West Virginia on Saturday night, and Kansas State (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) is having its best start since 2014.
Giddens scored on runs of 1 and 18 yards but was limited to a season-low 57 yards, which is 74 yards below his average. Johnson took advantage of West Virginia’s injury-plagued secondary, completing 19 of 29 passes for a career-high 298 yards.
“Avery’s progress as a passer has been phenomenal, and today he was so poised,” said Kansas State coach Chris Klieman. “The kid’s calm. He’s patient. And he understands things and he liked our game plan.
He’s not getting antsy in the pocket. He’s staying in there and it’s fun to see, especially when we were struggling to rush the football.”
Johnson escaped from West Virginia defensive lineman Sean Martin and completed an 11-yard pass to Ty Bowman on fourth down, keeping a third-quarter drive alive that ended with Johnson finding Garrett Oakley for a 16-yard touchdown.
On Kansas State’s next possession, Johnson and Giddens connected on a 53-yard pass play to bring the ball to the West Virginia 1-yard line, and then Johnson threw a touchdown pass to tight end Will Anciaux, making the score 31-10 and causing many Mountaineer fans to leave early.
Giddens had just come off two games with at least 182 rushing yards. “West Virginia had to respect that, and they loaded the box tonight and said ‘DJ wasn’t going to beat us,’” Johnson said.
“And our receivers and tight ends stepped up and made big plays for me.” Johnson also thanked his coaches for creating a plan to find weaknesses in the West Virginia defense, saying, “it was just me going through progressions and exploiting those.”
The Mountaineers (3-4, 2-2) lost their third home game and fell to a ranked opponent for the ninth time in a row.
West Virginia’s Garrett Greene threw two interceptions that led to touchdowns for the second week in a row. Marques Sigle intercepted a pass and returned it 43 yards for a touchdown, giving the Wildcats a 17-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Greene finished 9 of 19 for 85 yards, one touchdown, and two interceptions. The Big 12’s leading rushing quarterback also gained 89 yards on the ground.
However, Greene, running back Jahiem White, and offensive lineman Wyatt Milum did not play in the second half. Coach Neal Brown mentioned after the game that he thought four players had head injuries but didn’t specify how they occurred.
“We’ve got a beat-up locker room, probably the most injuries I can remember in a first half,” Brown said. West Virginia managed only 63 total yards in the second half.
Backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol completed 6 of 13 passes for 58 yards and a touchdown in Greene’s absence.
