WVU’s second half woes continued this afternoon in Manhattan, KS, as the now 3-5 Mountaineers fell to Kansas State after the Wildcats offense suddenly awoke in the third quarter, scoring 4 straight touchdowns after finding themselves down 12-7 early in the third frame.
K-State’s junior wide receiver Tyler Lockett so much as scorched the Mounties secondary, pulling in 8 for 111 yards in the Wildcats 35-12 win. Kansas State used their 2 QB approach to take advantage of WVU’s defensive confusion, and both Waters and Sams notched 2 passing TD’s each.
After Kansas State took a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 35 yard TD reception by Lockett, Clint Trickett answered with a 47 yard drive over 7 plays, culminating in a 6 yard scrambling TD by the junior QB to bring the score to within one, but the board would remain 7-6 after Lamberts PAT attempt was blocked.
In the 2nd quarter, Trickett hooked up with Ronald Carswell for 50 of his 65 receiving yards in a single play, which set up a Lambert field goal from 21 yards out to take the lead at 9-7 in the locker room at the half.
The Mountaineers managed only 3 more points, off of Josh Lambert’s foot, a 50 yard bomb that was set up by a Kevin White 43 yard catch.
Coach Holgorson replaced Trickett in the 4th quarter with Paul Millard, who didn’t fare any better than his predecessor. Offensive Coordinator Shannon Dawson stated “You’ve got to score touchdowns, and we’ve stressed that and stressed that”, but the adjustments made by the coaching staff couldn’t net anypoints late in the third and through the fourth quarters.
Eerily similar to last week, The Mountaineers found themselves in an excellent position to win the football game, taking a lead into the second half, and even more eerily similar was the defensive meltdown that quickly ensued, giving up 306 yards of total offense in the final 2 frames.
The Mountaineers fell to 1-4 in the conference, while the Wildcats improved their overall record to 3-4 while picking up their first conference victory.
WVU travels to TCU next Saturday in the hopes of quelling their current 3 game skid.
