MANHATTAN — Down by nine and facing fourth-and-7 in Texas Tech territory , Kansas State football still had somewhat of a pulse against one of the best teams in the country.
Despite all of the mistakes the Wildcats had made leading up to that point , they still had a chance at pulling off a season-defining upset.
Avery Johnson dropped back to pass and found an open Garrett Oakley , to whom he threw a catchable ball. As happened far too often during Saturday afternoon's contest , the ball hit the ground, eliminating another Kansas State opportunity.
The game spiraled from there, with No. 13 Texas Tech emerging with a 43-20 win in the Big 12 matchup on Nov. 1 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Kansas State turned the ball over five times and dropped far too many passes even to give themselves a chance.
"There were some things that you can't have happen against a really good team like that," K-State coach Chris Klieman said.
Turnovers were a killer for the Wildcats, who lost all three of their fumbles, while Avery Johnson threw two interceptions. Twenty of the Red Raiders ' points came off said giveaways, which included a defensive score with under five minutes remaining.
K-State led for much of the first half and had chances to extend its lead, but an uncharacteristically poor game from Jayce Brown saw him drop passes that could have turned into points, and he had a costly fumble deep in Wildcats territory.
When the Wildcats tried to answer after halftime to Texas Tech's five-point lead, tight end Garrett Oakley was close to advancing a well-designed playcall into Red Raiders territory before the ball was punched out from behind.
Both fumbles were forced by Texas Tech star linebacker Jacob Rodriguez .
"I don't think I've ever had a game with this many turnovers," Johnson said. "We knew coming into this week that they were going to punch, so we emphasized it a lot and talked about a cross-grip and getting two hands on the ball through traffic."
Johnson's first interception came on the first play following Kansas State intercepting Texas Tech's Behren Morton in Wildcats territory early in the game. His second followed a scoop-and-score when the Red Raiders' top-ranked pass rush got to him for the second time.
Kansas State's offense couldn't find any rhythm outside of a few explosive plays. Johnson finished 16-33 for 199 yards, a touchdown, and his two picks. He also rushed for 88 yards and two scores, when other K-State running backs combined for 38 yards.
"That's probably the best defense I've faced in three years in college," Johnson said.
Texas Tech was as good as advertised, but Kansas State will leave a loss for the fifth time this season, wondering "what could have been." The Wildcats entered Saturday with four losses by a combined 13 points, and they had opportunities to win each of them.
Despite a 23-point loss, which was within nine points until the final five minutes, Kansas State left another game kicking itself, knowing it hadn't given itself much of a chance.
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_ , contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football didn't give itself a chance vs Texas Tech defense
