Five K-State takeaways from the Wildcats’ 40-12 football victory over Missouri Tigers

The Kansas State football team didn’t allow bad weather to dampen its biggest nonconference game of the season.

K-State stayed focused throughout a rainy Saturday afternoon and defeated Missouri 40-12 in a Big 12/SEC contest that was delayed more than an hour by lightning.

The Wildcats raced to a 20-3 lead at halftime and never looked back on their way to a 2-0 record. They will try to build off this result in their next game against Tulane.

Here are a few key takeaways from Saturday’s action:

Big day for Phillip Brooks

This game was personal for Phillip Brooks. The senior K-State receiver grew up in Lee’s Summit and never got much of a recruiting look from the Tigers. For that reason, he said he circled this game on the schedule.

His motivation showed.

Brooks torched Missouri on a punt return in the second half when he raced up the left sideline for a 75-yard touchdown. He also caught three passes for 57 yards and nearly found the end zone at the end of a 28-yard grab in the first quarter.

Add it all up, and it was an encouraging bounce-back effort from Brooks. He led all K-State receivers in catches and yards as a junior but he was curiously only targeted once and didn’t grab a single pass in last week’s opener against South Dakota. Brooks made a big impact in this one.

“They were my dream school coming out of high school, but things didn’t work out,” he said. “So it was sort of circled on my calendar and I was glad to be able to make a play.”

It will be interesting to see if teams continue punting to Brooks in future games. He hasn’t seen many opportunities as a return man since he notched a pair of touchdown returns against Kansas as a junior. This was a reminder of what he is capable of in the open field.

This is also the second straight game in which K-State has scored on a punt. Seth Porter blocked a punt and Desmond Purnell returned the loose ball for a touchdown against South Dakota. The label of Special Teams U isn’t leaving K-State anytime soon.

Playmakers on defense

The Wildcats validated their shutout victory over South Dakota by once again looking dominant on defense against the Tigers.

K-State held Missouri to 222 yards and didn’t allow the Tigers to reach the end zone until the final play. Heck, they didn’t even make it into the red zone until garbage time. Their only two other scores came on field goals of 40-plus yards.

Joe Klanderman’s unit made things difficult on the visiting team all day long. The Wildcats were are their best in the turnover department, finishing the game with four interceptions.

The best one of the afternoon came from Kobe Savage, who has already proven to be a significant junior-college addition. He came up with a pick when Missouri appeared to have a receiver open downfield, but Savage came sprinting in and grabbed a pass from Brady Cook before it could reach its intended target.

K-State’s next two interceptions came on tipped balls that fell into the hands of Nick Allen and Daniel Green. Then Cincere Mason joined the party.

Also of note: the Wildcats ended four straight Missouri drives with those interceptions.

Adrian Martinez improved, but he was far from perfect

Martinez threw for 54 yards while leading K-State on a 75-yard touchdown drive at the start of the game, which was significant for the quarterback, considering he he passed for just 53 yards total in Game 1.

He also zoomed past the Missouri defense for a 16-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

Those were highlight moments for the Nebraska transfer. But he couldn’t keep the good vibes going. He went on to complete 9 of 20 passes for 101 yards. That means he averaged less than 5.1 yards per pass for the second straight game. Martinez also finished with 52 yards on the ground.

“I’m proud of the way we came out and attacked it from the jump and how we sustained it,” Martinez said. “Offensively, we hit some roadblocks and I think we got in our own way a couple of times, but we found a way to get it done.”

Perhaps the drop off in production can be explained by rain as the game went on. The Wildcats were also winning easily, and the game plan was simply not to make a mistake.

It was a step in the right direction, but K-State fans are still waiting to see more flashes from a guy who amassed more than 10,000 yards while he was with the Huskers.

Offense left something to be desired

Well, other than Deuce Vaughn.

The junior running back eclipsed the century mark and found the end zone for the eighth consecutive game by rushing for 145 yards and two touchdowns. But much of his production came on a single drive in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats struggled to keep Missouri defenders away from him the rest of the day.

Brooks and Martinez were the only two other skill players who contributed much of anything.

K-State finished the game with 334 yards of offense and had to settle for field goals (three) too often. The Wildcats also had to punt more (four times on Saturday) than anyone in purple would have liked.

The Wildcats scored touchdowns on their first two drives and then fell short of the end zone on their next seven possessions. They turned up the heat in the fourth quarter for two more touchdowns in garbage time, but that might not have been so easy to do in a closer game.

It’s hard to complain too much about the offense after a blowout victory like this. On the positive side, K-State did an excellent job before Anthony Frias lost a fumble late in the fourth quarter. Still, the Wildcats could have easily hung 60 on the Tigers with a better performance.

SEC! SEC! SEC!

The Wildcats aren’t afraid of the SEC.

K-State has won three consecutive games against teams from that conference and earned some extra bragging rights for the Big 12 on Saturday.

Another fun stat: Chris Klieman is 3-0 against the SEC.

The Wildcats are clearly proud of those accomplishments.

“The landscape of college football is changing,” Klieman said. “I know one thing. Kansas State wants to be a part of the haves, and wins like this I think elevate you as part of the haves. You ask those kids in that locker room. We have got a lot of guys with a chip on their shoulder down there, because we think we have the potential to be a good football team and continue to improve.

“But this was no question a huge win. We talked about it extensively this week, how big this game would be.”

The winning streak began in his first season as K-State’s coach, on the road against Mississippi State, and continued in the Texas Bowl last season when K-State destroyed LSU 42-20.

And Saturday’s game against Missouri was another no-doubter. Too bad there isn’t another SEC opponent on any of K-State’s future schedules. The Wildcats won’t have another chance against the SEC anytime soon unless it happens in a bowl matchup.