BOULDER, Colo. – Kansas State saw another valiant performance by a quarterback come up just short on the road, as junior Blake Barnett threw the first three touchdowns of his career, but Colorado quarterback Isaac Wilson hit tight end Charlie Wilson with an 11-yard scoring toss in overtime and the Wildcats suffered a 27-24 loss in the extra period at Folsom Field.
Starting a third consecutive game with a different quarterback, and one week after fifth-year senior Jacob Knuth on sprained ankles led K-State in a 28-17 loss at Arizona State, the Wildcats handed sophomore Dillon Duff his first career start against Colorado, before Barnett took over late in the first quarter and went the rest of the way, giving the Wildcats their best chance of winning a road game this season.
After Colorado held K-State to a 25-yard field goal from Luis Rodriguez for a 24-21 lead to start off the overtime period, the Buffaloes ended things when Wilson found Williams through a seam up the middle of the K-State defense for an 11-yard game-ending score that dropped K-State to 4-4 overall and 1-4 in the Big 12 Conference, after previously suffering road losses at Cincinnati (31-26) and at Arizona State (28-17). Colorado, 3-5 and 1-4, halted the second-longest active losing streak in the FBS at five consecutive losses and earned its first win overall since September 12.
“It’s a tough one, obviously,” K-State head coach Collin Klein said. “I’m proud of their guts. They competed and believed we were going to find a way to win. We like learning lessons the hard way right now and it’s unfortunate because there are opportunities all over there that we have to take advantage of and play better, and that starts with us as a staff.”
K-State, which had won five of its last seven meetings against Colorado for its best seven-year stretch in the series since between 1997 and 2003, played catchup on the scoreboard on Saturday until its field goal in overtime.
But K-State had a shot as Barnett, who had previously only rushed the football four times, came into the game late in the first quarter and completed 18-of-28 passes for 224 yards and three touchdowns to go along with 16 carries for 40 yards.
A 28-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Josh Manning tied the score at 7-7 heading into halftime. A 33-yard touchdown pass to tight end Linkon Cure — the first touchdown catch of Cure’s career — made it 14-14 late in the third quarter. Then an 8-yard jump pass to tight end Garrett Oakley just over the goal line knotted it at 21-21.
It was the first action of the season for Barnett, who like Duff, fought through an injury that kept him off the field in previous games.
“He’s been in attack mode,” Klein said. “Coming off the injury, he hasn’t practiced a whole lot, so to have that type of gutsy performance and to play the way he did to give us chances down the field like he did with three touchdown passes, I’m incredibly proud of him, and I’m just tore up that we couldn’t get over the hump for him.” Tied at 21-21 with 2 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter, the K-State offense took the field and appeared ready to attempt a two-point conversion to win the game in regulation — a decision that Klein changed when Colorado called a timeout and altered its defensive look.
“We had a play that we really liked and felt good about,” Klein said. “They called timeout and readjusted their alignment. We had the ball in the left middle there and just didn’t feel good about the two other ones from that position in that moment. Talking as a staff, we said, ‘We have to keep playing this thing."”
K-State went on offense first in the first overtime and opted to play on the north side of the field closest to K-State fans and away from the Colorado student section.
On first-and-1o at the 25-yard line, running back Rodney Fields Jr. gained 1 yard. Barnett followed that with a 5-yard run. On third-and-4, Barnett threw a brilliant 6-yard pass to Oakley for a first down to the 7-yard line. On first down, Fields ran for 6 yards. Then Barnett threw an incompletion to Salley in the end zone. Then Barnett saw his pass in the corner of the end zone slide off the hands of Tibbs.
Instead of going for a touchdown on fourth down, K-State relied on the leg of Rodriguez, who put K-State ahead 24-21 on a 25-yard field goal after missing his previous two field-goal attempts in the game.
“Fourth-and-five inside the 10, we were close to a couple chances at the end zone there,” Klein said, “and then defense had held up for a couple possessions, so we were just continuing to play.”
Things didn’t turn out how Klein and K-State so badly wanted, as Williams skated up the middle of the end zone with the ball in his hands to secure the win for the Buffaloes.
It was quite a journey on Saturday, as Colorado reached the scoreboard first with a 2-yard run by Richard Young with 1:42 left in the first quarter capped a six-play, 60-yard drive for a 7-0 lead.Barnett entered the game with 15 seconds remaining in the first quarter and rushed to his right for 9 yards to the Colorado 36-yard line, giving K-State its only first down of the first quarter.
K-State got the ball to the Colorado 31-yard line, but Rodriguez saw his 49-yard field goal sail wide right, as the national leader in field-goal accuracy missed his first field goal of the season.
Just when it appeared Colorado might capitalize, K-State safety Logan Bartley darted downfield teamed with cornerback Kaleb Patterson to knock the ball from the grasp of DeKalon Taylor at the 2-yard line, and the ball rolled out of bounds for a turnover that gave K-State possession at the 20-yard line.
That gave Barnett and K-State another chance, and a chance is all the Wildcats needed in driving down the field.
Facing second-and-8 at the Colorado 28-yard line, Barnett stayed in the pocket and from the left hash threw the ball and found Manning on a left-to-right crossing route. Manning turned upfield, and he got a block from wide receiver Jaron Tibbs that sprang him to the outside and into the end zone. The 28-yard touchdown connection to Manning ended an 11-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 7:07 and tied the game at 7-7 with 2:25 left until halftime.
Colorado gained momentum late in an otherwise quiet third quarter when JaQuail Smith bounced to the outside and offensive tackle Leon Bell blocked cornerback Michael Graham and raced down the left sideline for a 47-yard score for a 14-7 lead.
“It’s those simple things that we aren’t doing right now,” Klein said. “There’s rhythm on those first three third downs, there’s some missed blocking schemes and missed assignments there, but I’m proud of how they competed.
“We have to do the little things a lot better.” Banged-up Barnett got K-State going quickly on a four-play, 75-yard drive. On the drive’s third play, Barnett connected with Cure for a 25-yard gain to the K-State 34-yard line. On the next play, on an over route and through the fingertips of a linebacker, Barnett’s pass found Cure at the 15-yard line. Upon catching the ball, Cure turned and rumbled and plowed over three defenders and past the corner pylon for his first-career touchdown with 2:14 left in the third quarter to knot it at 14-14.
The energy continued for the Colorado offense as it went on a 96-yard drive in 10 plays, including a final 22-yard run by Richard Young for a 21-14 advantage with 12:27 to go. It marked the fifth running play of 10-plus yards by the Buffaloes, who also had four pass plays of 15-plus yards in the game.
K-State tried to match Colorado’s tempo with a 12-play, 50-yard drive. Facing third-and-9, Barnett ran toward the right and kept his head up to find Oakley with a touch pass as the senior tight end ran left to right for 11 yards to the Colorado 39. Although K-State crept to the 20, the Wildcats were called for a delay of game on fourth-and-4, which moved the ball back to the 25. However, Rodriguez’s 43-yard field goal attempt sailed wide left with 6:52 left.
The Wildcats’ final chance came with 55 seconds to go. First, Barnett hit Manning for a 23-yard gain, then he hit Manning for five yards, then Barnett found Tibbs downfield and Tibbs stepped out of bounds at the 3-yard line after a 31-yard gain with 30 seconds left.
On first-and-goal, Barnett was unable to gain any yardage and was ruled in bounds with 9 seconds to go. On third-and-goal, K-State took a delay-of-game penalty to the 8-yard line. Finally, Barnett threw a jump pass to a wide-open Oakley inside the end zone to make it 21-20 with 2 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Rodriguez’s extra-point tied it at 21-21.
Then came the excruciating ending to another road trip for the Wildcats.
“We have to focus on getting better and on the things that are actually constructive and a part of that,” Klein said. “We have to channel some of that competitive energy that they showed in this game earlier and obviously we have to do a better job as a staff at getting them going.”
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