MANHATTAN, Kan. - Kansas State put together its best football in a month and sent its senior class out in style with a dominant 41-15 victory over Cincinnati in the first meeting between the teams as Big 12 Conference members.
DJ Giddens rushed for 143 yards and two touchdowns and Avery Johnson threw for 147 yards and two touchdowns to go along with 72 rushing yards and one score as the Wildcats, 8-3 overall and 5-3 in the Big 12, reached eight wins for a fourth-straight season for the first time since 2011-14. It is also the longest active streak in the Big 12.
"An inspired win by our guys. Proud of our whole team and seniors for responding to the adversity we've had and for coming out with great energy," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "We started fast, the defense really made them one-dimensional early on, and then we did some really good things."
Coming off a pair of costly losses, the frustrated Wildcats rolled up their sleeves and went to work, striking early and often against Cincinnati, 5-6 and 3-5, which suffered a fourth consecutive loss after starting the season with a 5-2 record.
K-State out-gained Cincinnati, 428-374, behind a rushing attack that churned out 281 yards and averaged a whopping 7.0 yards on 40 rushing attempts. K-State enjoyed its seventh game of 200-plus rushing yards this season, most in the Big 12.
Klieman said prior to kickoff that Johnson would run the ball -- and Johnson did just that from the game's first snap. Johnson kept the football and raced around the right side of the line for a season-high 34-yard gain, igniting the 20th consecutive sellout crowd of 50,988, and setting the tone for a special night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
"It set the tone that we're not going to back down and we're going to go right at you," Johnson said. "Those guys opened a hole for me, and we got an explosive and that definitely settled me down a little bit."
Johnson then found wide receiver Tre Spivey, who lowered his shoulder for a 12-yard gain, and then Johnson raced through the middle of the line for a 21-yard touchdown run. It was the first time K-State had scored a touchdown on its first possession since against Oklahoma State on September 28.
"It was important for us to start fast," Klieman said. "When you're able to rush the football things open up."
Things progressed from there as Chris Tennant went on to make a pair of field goals from 28 and 32 yards and Wildcats produced two more touchdowns. The first score came on a sensational 32-yard touchdown run by Giddens, who spun out of a tackle by linebacker Antwan Peek and rumbled into the end zone for a 20-0 lead.
After Cincinnati made a 42-yard field goal, the Wildcats stalled, giving the ball back to the Bearcats. But Brendan Mott, the Big 12 sack leader, intercepted Brendan Sorsby and returned the ball 16 yards to the Cincinnati 6-yard line.
"I've never gotten (an interception) before and, man, it was awesome," said Mott, one of 14 seniors recognized prior to kickoff. "I only returned it 16 yards and I was gassed. But that was a super-cool experience."
After the game, Mott, who had four tackles, half a sack and his first career interception, returned to the field for a moment of reflection.
"It's been a long six years, a long journey, a lot of ups and downs, and I just wanted to go out there one last time after the game and soak it all in, take it in," Mott said. "It was a special moment for me and something I'll remember for the rest of my life."
Two plays after Mott's interception, Johnson rolled to his right and completed a 6-yard touchdown pass to Spivey, who was running left to right in the back of the end zone. The Wildcats took a commanding 27-3 lead into halftime.
"I know Avery trusts me that if he throws me the ball, I'm going to come down with it," said Spivey, who had a career-high five catches for 63 yards and his first-career touchdown. "Having that level of trust is huge."
And K-State had plenty of trust in its defense. Cincinnati was just 3-for-12 on third down and 0-for-5 on fourth downs. It was the first time the Wildcats shut out an opponent on at least five fourth-down attempts since at least 2012.
The Wildcats forced a turnover on downs on two of the Bearcats' first four possessions, and then again on three of their final five drives to end the game. Three times the Wildcats manufactured points following a turnover on downs.
"It was really special. We just stayed the course one play at a time and guys executed when it mattered," said senior linebacker Austin Moore, who had five tackles. "No one was worried about messing up or anything like that. Guys just wanted to be the ones to make the plays. Everyone locked into the details and made plays."
It wasn't until midway through the third quarter that the Bearcats finally reached the end zone on their best drive of the game. Mixing the run with the pass, Sorsby drove the Bearcats 80 yards in 11 plays, catching Tony Johnson for a nine-yard score after he bobbled the ball in the end zone with 4:54 left in the third quarter. The two-point conversion was no good and K-State led 27-9.
Sorsby completed 21-of-39 passes for 200 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. Tony Johnson had eight catches for 52 yards and two touchdowns. Corey Kiner had 15 carries for 140 yards.
"We could never get anything going offensively," Cincinnati head coach Scott Satterfield said. "Tonight was obviously our worst night with fourth downs, but we couldn't even keep drives going."
K-State struck again, this time on an 11-play, 73-yard drive that featured a 14-yard completion to Spivey on fourth-and-13 to set up another Giddens touchdown. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Giddens took the handoff, turned the corner, and darted down the K-State sideline, muscling past safety Jiquan Sanks and cornerback Ormani Arnold as he slipped past the front pylon.
Giddens, a junior, has 13 100-yard rushing performances, which ranks third in school history. His career rushing total of 3,015 makes him just one of three players in school history to eclipse the 3,000-yard mark. He currently averages 6.65 yards per carry, which is on pace to shatter the single-season record of 6.49 yards per carry set by Darren Sproles in 2003.
"As an offensive lineman, having DJ potentially break that record, we take a lot of pride in that," senior left guard Hadley Panzer said. "People might say he wouldn't average that without the offensive line, but we wouldn't average that without DJ. We do a lot for DJ, but DJ does a lot for us."
After Cincinnati was unable to move the ball and turned the ball over on downs at the 50, the Wildcats went to work again, including five carries by Joe Jackson. Facing fourth-and-2, Johnson rolled out and swung a pass to Will Swanson, who was wide open for an 8-yard score.
Johnson's 19 touchdown passes are most in school history by a sophomore, passing Josh Freeman's total of 18 touchdown passes in 2007.
"Man, I'm a competitor, I love to win, and I don't take wins for granted," Johnson said. "I'm really happy to get back in the win column. Losing sucks."