Five takeaways from Kansas State’s dominant 45-0 victory over SEMO in season opener

Kansas State began the 2023 football season with the type of victory that every team dreams about during training camp.

The Wildcats didn’t just beat Southeast Missouri State on a steamy Saturday night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, they dominated the Redhawks in every way possible on their way to a 45-0 win.

K-State played so well that fans had little reason to stay beyond halftime.

Behind a sensational effort from quarterback Will Howard, the Wildcats plowed their way to 588 yards of offense and six touchdowns, while the Redhawks could only muster 227 yards and no points of any kind.

It was hard to imagine things going much better for the home team. K-State moved the ball at will and made SEMO look very much like an overmatched FCS opponent.

“I thought our guys played really well,” K-State coach Chris Klieman said. “SEMO is a good team and they’re going to win a lot of games. They play hard. We had a couple of hiccups early on, but we kind of got our traction and footing.”

The Wildcats will try to build off this performance in their next game when they play host to Troy on Sept. 9.

Until then, here are some takeaways from K-State’s first game of the year.

Will Howard had a game to remember

Howard quite literally did everything for K-State’s offense in his first game as the team’s unquestioned starter at quarterback.

He threw for two touchdowns. He ran for one touchdown. And he caught a pass for a touchdown.

Did we mention he did all three of those things in the first half?

Howard is believed to be the first player in K-State history to score touchdowns in three different ways during one game.

Only five other players have done it in Big 12 history. It appears he is the first college quarterback to accomplish the feat since Bo Nix did it at Oregon last season against Colorado. On average, it only happens about one time per year, anywhere.

“That is really cool,” Howard said afterward. “I’m glad I was able to do that and we won.”

That will look good on his resume come awards season.

More than that, Howard looked in command. He completed 18 of 26 passes for 297 yards and two touchdowns. He showed a great connection with tight end Ben Sinnott (five catches for 100 yards) and receiver RJ Garcia (five catches for 119 yards and a score) and he was ready when offensive coordinator Collin Klein surprisingly dialed up a trick play in the first half of Game 1.

On the play, Howard gave the ball to running back Treshaun Ward, who cut to his right and then threw the ball back across the field to Howard. From there, he took off running and beat the SEMO defense to the end zone.

“It works all the time in practice,” Klieman said. “So it was kind of fun to see. Treshaun throws the ball really well. So when (offensive coordinator Collin Klein) called it they had been over pursuing so much that I really thought it was going to work. I’ve seen it a lot of times in practice. So I felt comfortable with the call and it was the right time for the call.”

Howard’s lone mistake came when the offensive line allowed a QB pressure and he threw an ugly interception into triple coverage. He said he didn’t do a good enough job reading the defense and put the ball in a bad spot.

He could afford a misfire. Everything else went his way.

K-State created lots of havoc on defense

Any time one team is clearly better than the other it can be difficult to properly judge how the superior squad played on defense.

With that in mind, it might be too early to expect weekly shutouts from K-State.

Still, the Wildcats showed some qualities that will serve them well as the schedule toughens up in future weeks.

For starters, K-State stuffed SEMO for an impressive number of negative plays. It created plenty of havoc. The Wildcats finished the game with 11 tackles for loss. And they came from six different players, with Uso Seumalo, Nate Matlack, Damian Ilalio and Khalid Duke each recording sacks.

Austin Moore led the team with three tackles for loss. Basically, the Wildcats lived in the SEMO backfield.

That led to a grand total of six rushing yards for SEMO.

“The defensive line dominated today at the line of scrimmage,” linebacker Daniel Green said. “When they can can control the line of scrimmage it makes the job easy for everyone else. We held them to negative rushing yards through a lot of the second half. All the credit goes to the defensive line. Those guys are out there putting in work.”

This is the second straight year that K-State has opened the season with a shutout victory over a FCS opponent. It beat South Dakota 34-0 last year.

R.J. Garcia thrived in his new role at WR

Big things seemed on the horizon for R.J. Garcia when the sophomore receiver caught a touchdown pass in the Big 12 championship game last season.

He proved just how much more he is capable of against the Redhawks.

“I can’t say enough about R.J. Garcia,” Klieman said. “He keeps playing better and better and more confident.”

Garcia filled the void left by Malik Knowles as the team’s top receiver and delivered an impressive game that featured five catches for 119 yards and a touchdown. His longest gain went for 44 yards and he had 57 yards after the catch.

He showed off his speed on a long catch-and-run play in the third quarter. And he ran a perfect route for a touchdown from Howard in the second quarter.

It’s possible his production will decline after he starts playing alongside Iowa transfer Keagan Johnson, who did not dress for Saturday’s game. That was believed to be for precautionary reasons as he works to recover from minor injuries.

Avery Johnson makes strong debut as K-State’s backup QB

Is there a quarterback controversy brewing in Manhattan?

Of course not. But Johnson looked fabulous in his college debut. The freshman quarterback from Maize saw action on multiple series in the second half, and he led K-State on a pair of nice drives.

The first resulted in a touchdown when he found the end zone on an eight-yard run. The second ended just short of the end zone when K-State turned the ball over on downs.

Johnson excited the crowd by going 3 of 3 for 55 yards passing and also rushing for 32 yards and a score on five carries.

It’s already clear he has the talent to be a great QB for the Wildcats. Once he gains experience, he could be a problem for Big 12 defenses.

Running backs put on a show in first game without Deuce Vaughn

No Deuce Vaughn. No problem.

The K-State backfield ran over, around and through the SEMO defense for more than 200 rushing yards and three touchdowns.

D.J. Giddens led the way in his first game as a sophomore. The Junction City product rushed for 128 yards on 15 carries, including a long of 43. He showed a mixture of good speed and power when he had the ball.

Florida State transfer Treshaun Ward also showed off his skills, as he finished with 56 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries. He could have had an even bigger day, but he was held just short of the end zone on two different runs.

I suppose he made up for that later on, though, when he threw for a touchdown.