Five key takeaways from Kansas State’s 34-0 season-opening victory over South Dakota

The Kansas State football team won its first game of the season 34-0 against South Dakota on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and the Wildcats pulled off the victory without doing anything fancy.

Chris Klieman’s squad was the definition of methodical as it lit up the scoreboard like a pinball machine in front of 50,469 fans.

The Wildcats ran at will against the Coyotes and finished with 297 rushing yards to go along with four rushing touchdowns. They also scored on a blocked punt (via Seth Porter and Desmond Purnell) and kept South Dakota out of the end zone with some stellar defense.

K-State accomplished all of that while only passing for 96 yards and finishing the game with just a handful of true highlights.

It was an interesting combination. The game felt almost boring at times, but the final score suggested the Wildcats were flawless.

They will try to build on this performance in their next game back at home against Missouri.

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

Mediocre debut for Adrian Martinez

The Nebraska transfer didn’t do all that much in his first game as K-State’s starting quarterback.

He completed 11 of 15 passes for 53 yards and rushed for 39 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Add it all up and he was only responsible for a fraction of the Wildcats’ total production of 392 yards. Martinez averaged just 3.5 yards per pass, which is not usually good enough to win.

Some fans may feel underwhelmed with what he showed them in this game. To be fair, though, he didn’t need to do anything special to lead his team to this victory. The Wildcats won so easily that coaches pulled him at the end of the third quarter and let third-stringer Jake Rubley finish things out.

For perhaps the first time in his college career he looked like a game manager. But he was OK with that.

“If that’s what the game calls for, if that’s what this team needs, then that is what I’m going to be,” Martinez said. “I think we have a lot of playmakers. I don’t need to put the team on my back, per se. I have got to do what the coaches want me to do and what this team needs. Tonight maybe it was a little bit more of a distributor and a game-manager type. But we got the win. That’s what matters.”

Senior receiver Malik Knowles scored on the opening play of the game with a 75-yard run on an end-around handoff. Deuce Vaughn sprinted his way to 126 yards and a touchdown on 8 carries. DJ Giddens also had 57 yards and a rushing touchdown.

Handing the ball to his teammates was an astute strategy for Martinez and offensive coordinator Collin Klein on this night.

Martinez did have one highlight. Midway through the third quarter, he scored his first touchdown in a purple uniform on a 6-yard keeper. His day was done shortly after.

This had to feel like the polar opposite of his time with the Cornhuskers. At Nebraska, Martinez put up dazzling individual stats while his team usually lost. There wasn’t much for him to brag about against the Coyotes, but his team won easily.

Impressive game on the ground

You have to tip your cap to K-State’s offensive line after a game like this.

The Wildcats rushed for 297 yards and scored on exciting touchdown runs of 39 yards and 75 yards.

Knowles got K-State off to a terrific start by scoring the earliest touchdown (10 seconds) in school history. He reached the end zone with his speed, but he also benefited from a beautiful perimeter block from Vaughn. But that came after some solid work from the front five.

Vaughn also had a terrific touchdown in the first quarter. He found himself in space on the right side of the field and made a South Dakota safety look silly on his way to the end zone.

Not to be outdone, redshirt freshman DJ Giddens rushed 16 yards untouched for a touchdown in the third quarter. It’s easy to see why he was chosen as the primary backup to Vaughn.

It was a dominant night on the ground.

“That’s a testament to our offensive line,” Vaughn said. “The way they played tonight, it was one of those things where we didn’t get to our entire playbook. We ran the ball pretty well, to the point where if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. We were able to keep some of those things in the shadows going into next week and keep some plays that we could have ran tonight away from a team like Missouri.”

Several impact players on defense

No defense can shut out its opponent without providing a plethora of thrilling plays.

“It’s really rare in college football,” Klieman said of the shutout, “so we are all really excited about it.”

The Wildcats will enjoy watching replays of tackles and turnovers from this one. Several players made an impact.

Senior safety Cincere Mason tracked a pass perfectly in the second quarter and came up with an interception. Closer to the line of scrimmage, five K-State defenders came up with sacks — Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Eli Huggins, Brendan Mott, Jaylen Pickle and Nate Matlack.

The Coyotes didn’t put up much of a fight on offense. That was to be expected from a FCS team playing on the road against a superior opponent. But the Wildcats took care of business and didn’t allow a single point. That was impressive.

Injury report after Game 1

A number of key defensive players did not dress for Saturday’s game.

The list included two linebackers (Will Honas and Shawn Robinson) and two safeties (Josh Hayes and TJ Smith). It wasn’t immediately clear why they weren’t in uniform. Klieman later said they missed the game with injuries and could return in a week.

On the brighter side of the injury report, linebacker Khalid Duke suited up and started with the defense.

There was one other notable injury on offense. Taylor Poitier, a starting offensive lineman, left the game early with a lower-body injury and was unable to return. His long-term status is not yet known, but it was a frustrating development for him. Poitier missed all of last season with a knee injury. This was his first game back.

Klieman did not have an update on his status after the game.

First sellout crowd since 2019

Convincing fans to return to sporting events has been a struggle for teams all across the country since the coronavirus pandemic began in 2020. But Saturday’s crowd showed that may be changing, at least for the Wildcats.

A capacity crowd of 50,469 showed up for opening kickoff, giving K-State its first home sellout since 2019.

It wasn’t a one-time deal. The Wildcats are also expecting a full crowd for the Missouri game next week.

Martinez was impressed by the crowd in his first home game.

“I had pretty high expectations,” Martinez said. “The guys were telling me, it’s going to be awesome out there, it’s going to be electric. I think we sold out and it was a great atmosphere.”