MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State delivered Arizona a rude welcome to the Big 12 on Friday night.
Even if it won't count in the conference standings.
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Avery Johnson threw two touchdown passes, Dylan Edwards returned a punt 71 yards for a score, and No. 14 Kansas State shut out No. 20 Arizona in the second half of a 31-7 victory in a rare nonconference matchup of new Big 12 rivals rivals.
The loss ended Arizona’s nine-game winning streak, the longest active streak in the Football Bowl Subdivision.
“I don't know what we're trying to prove to everyone else. We're trying to prove to ourselves that we can sustain this and play at a high level,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. “That was a great week of preparation. Now we have to do it again.”
The schools had agreed to the matchup before Arizona left the Pac-12 for the Big 12. With neither able to secure a replacement opponent, Kansas State and Arizona kept the game but without it counting in the race for the league title game.
Good thing for Arizona.
Johnson finished with 156 yards passing and 110 yards rushing, and D.J. Giddens added 86 yards rushing and a score, as Kansas State (3-0) rebounded from a lackluster road with over Tulane with an emphatic victory over the desert Wildcats.
“Everybody wanted to get back on the field,” said Jayce Brown, who had three catches for 60 yards. “We wanted to show everybody what we could do.”
Noah Fifita had 268 yards passing for Arizona (2-1) with an interception. Tetairoa McMillan had 11 catches for 138 yards, but the potential first-round NFL draft pick was unable to turn any of those grabs into a big play or touchdown.
“Those guys just play good football,” Arizona coach Brent Brennan said. “They tackle well. They're in coverage, they do a good job. I give that staff a lot of credit. They have a well-coached football team, their kids play really hard. They're impressive.”
The teams traded grinding, time-consuming touchdown drives to start the game, but otherwise the first 30 minutes was plagued by penalties, mental mistakes and dumbfounding miscues from two teams trying to make a statement.
Arizona failed to cover a poor punt that Edwards returned untouched for a touchdown. On the next drive, Fifita lazily threw over the middle into double coverage and was picked off by Kansas State's Keenan Garber in the end zone.
Johnson made perhaps the most embarrassing gaffe. He was sacked at the Arizona 19 with 24 seconds left in the first half. On the next play, the freshman needed only to step out of bounds to stop the clock and bring on the field-goal team, but he instead reversed field and ran the other way, allowing the clock to expire without the chance for an attempt.
“It is all on me at the end of the first half,” Klieman said. “I should have called timeout. That isn't on the kid."
Kansas State still led 14-7 at the break, and the mistake didn't matter in the end.
The fleet-footed Johnson began to sling it in the second half, leading his team on back-to-back TD drives. The first featured a 48-yard pass to Jayce Brown on third-and-12, setting up Johnson's scoring toss to Brayden Loftin. The next included a 21-yard throw to Loftin before Giddens plowed into the end zone to give Kansas State a 28-7 lead.
Kansas State stuffed Arizona on fourth down a few minutes later, and merely had to run out the fourth quarter.
“(Johnson) is a pretty good player, and he rose up tonight when we needed him,” Klieman said. “He played really good football and was really calm, and made some plays with his feet. Made some plays with his legs. That was a fun performance to watch.”
The takeaway
Arizona might have fared better had it not repeatedly hurt itself with flags. It committed 30 yards worth of penalties on a single drive in the first half, and finished with nine penalties for 74 yards in the game.
Kansas State had something to prove after allowing Tulane to throw for 342 yards and pile up 491 total in last week's 34-27 comeback win. The Wildcats held Arizona to 324 yards of total offense Friday night.
Up next
Arizona: At No. 12 Utah on Sept. 28 in the Wildcats' first true Big 12 game.
Kansas State: At BYU next Saturday night.
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