MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — No. 17 Kansas State knew that West Virginia would try to shut down Big 12 rushing leader DJ Giddens, and that enabled quarterback Avery Johnson to put together a career game.
Johnson threw three touchdown passes in the Wildcats’ 45-18 win over West Virginia on Saturday night, and Kansas State (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) is off to its best start since 2014.
Giddens scored on runs of 1 and 18 yards but was held to a season-low 57 yards, 74 below his average. Johnson picked apart West Virginia’s injury-depleted secondary, finishing 19 of 29 for a career-high 298 yards.
“Avery’s progress as a passer has been phenomenal, and today he was so poised,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. “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 slipped from the grasp of West Virginia defensive lineman Sean Martin and threw an 11-yard pass to Ty Bowman on fourth down to keep a third-quarter drive alive that ended with Johnson finding Garrett Oakley for a 16-yard score.
On Kansas State’s next series, Johnson and Giddens combined on a 53-yard pass play to the West Virginia 1, and Johnson hit tight end Will Anciaux in the end zone for a 31-10 lead, sending Mountaineer fans streaming for the exits.
Giddens was coming off back-to-back games of at least 182 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 credited his coaches for putting together a scheme to find holes in the West Virginia defense, and “it was just me going through progressions and exploiting those.”
The Mountaineers (3-4, 2-2) lost their third game at home and fell to a ranked opponent for the ninth consecutive time.
West Virginia’s Garrett Greene threw two interceptions that led to touchdowns for the second straight week. Marques Sigle stepped in front of a pass and returned it 43 yards for a score to put the Wildcats ahead 17-3 early in the second quarter.
Greene finished 9 of 19 for 85 yards and one TD along with the two interceptions. The Big 12’s top rushing quarterback had 89 yards on the ground. But Greene, West Virginia running back Jahiem White and offensive lineman Wyatt Milum did not play in the second half. Coach Neal Brown said after the game he believed four players sustained head injuries but didn’t link them to anyone specific.
“We’ve got a beat-up locker room, probably the most injuries I can remember in a first half,” Brown said.
West Virginia was limited to 63 total yards in the second half.
Backup quarterback Nicco Marchiol went 6 of 13 for 58 yards and a touchdown in Greene’s absence.
The takeaway
Kansas State: The Wildcats adapted on offense after West Virginia shut down Giddens from the start. Johnson, who also had a 60-yard TD pass in the first quarter to Jadon Jackson in blown coverage, had eight completions of at least 15 yards.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers are 34-33 under Brown, their sixth-year coach. That’s on pace to be the worst six-year stretch under one coach at West Virginia since Gene Corum went 29-30 from 1960-65.
Poll implications
Kansas State could move up a few spots in the AP Top 25 poll after the convincing win.
Up next
Kansas State: Hosts Kansas next Saturday.
West Virginia: Plays at Arizona next Saturday.
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