Final: Kansas State 31 - TCU 12

The Wildcats ran roughshod over the disfigured toads from Dallas 31 - 12 on a fine day in Manhattan, Kansas. The score is not indicative of the distilled dominance displayed by the devastating Kansas State defense. King Felix Anudike-Uzomah ascended the throne and etched his name in the NCAA record book with a 6 sack performance that ties him with Ameer Ismail and Elvis Dunmervil for the most ever in an FBS American football game. To avoid shirking his royal responsibilities, the King also added 2 forced fumbles to his historic performance.

All Hail Felix The Sack King! May his reign be tyrannical for all quarterbacks who oppose him. I suppose I should say something about the rest of the game, although I’m tempted to leave it here so everyone can focus on the important things.

Kansas State scoring a touchdown on their first drive of the game, instead of allowing a touchdown on the first drive of the game was a welcome change. A 41 yard completion to Deuce Vaughn was the highlight and it was capped off by a 4 yard Skylar Thompson touchdown run.

After throwing a bad interception on their next drive, the offense responded with a 42 yard Deuce Vaughn touchdown run on 4th and 1 from the TCU 42 yard line. TCU threw everything they had at the line of scrimmage to prevent the first down, and once Vaughn popped through to the second level, it was all over but the respectful, and non-antagonistic celebration that made both teams feel like something positive was accomplished. No feelings were bruised.

After the defense made its second red zone stand of the game, stopping TCU on 4th down inside the 1 yard line. Our favorite running back was stopped in the end zone for a safety on the subsequent offensive possession. The Wildcats responded on their last drive of the 2nd quarter with an 88 yard march to end the quarter, highlighted by 52 yards worth of receptions by Malik Knowles on two completions. It was capped with a 1 yard Deuce touchdown run.

The defense in the first half was of the bend, but don’t break variety. It gave up yards, but it didn’t give up points. TCU made it inside the 5 yard line twice and came away with 3 points for their trouble. It wasn’t pretty but it was effective.

The third quarter happened, and I think we should just skip over that and move on to the fourth. No one scored.

After the cursed quarter concluded, the offense came back on-line. Skylar found tight end Daniel Imatorbhebhe for a 73 yard touchdown pass on the first play of the 4th quarter. Daniel doesn’t catch many passes, but when he does catch a pass, it tends to cover substantial ground.

The offense ended their efficient day with a soul grinding 13 play, 7 minute 4th quarter drive that concluded in a 42 yard Chris Tennant field goal that ostensibly ended the game. It was true bloody knuckled road grader stuff by the offensive line that saw them move the ball from their 44 to the TCU 24 with 8 straight runs.

TCU scored a garbage touchdown late. Gary Patterson must have some sort of touchdown scored bonus in his contract.

Oh, and did I mention that Felix Anudike-Uzomah dominated the entire second half for the defense, picking up 4 of his 6 sacks and generally terrorizing whichever quarterback was unfortunate enough to take the snap from the TCU center (Max Duggan was mercifully pulled in favor of Chandler Morris in the 2nd half). TCU had no answer for his relentless pass rush, aided by a secondary that kept the Horned Frog receivers from gaining an inch of separation. If you were at Bill Snyder Family Stadium today, consider yourself lucky, you witnessed a bit of college football history.

Outside of Felix playing like Infinity War Thanos, Deuce put up 109 yards on the ground on a paltry 20 carries and graced the end zone with his presence twice. He also pitched 49 receiving yards because that’s just who he is. Skylar went 13/21 for 242 yards 1 touchdown and one interception. Imatorbhebhe led the receiving effort with 90 and a touchdown on 2 receptions. He’s currently averaging 26 yards a reception on the season, and that seems like a good thing.

I would like to give a shout out to Tyrone Howell who was ejected after coming to the aid of Skylar Thompson after yet another team attempted to injure the captain with a dirty hit. Howell was not here for the non-sense, took on two horn frog defenders, and got tossed. He can play on my team any day.

Anyway, K-State is 5-3 on the year, with the Sunflower Showdown on tap for next weekend. Needless to say, you should start saving your money for the Bowl game now, because 6 wins is in the bag.

Happy Halloween...ENJOY THE WIN!