By Colin McGuigan
nr/rv/rv K-State vs. Rutgers
Date: Thursday, December 26, 2024
Kickoff: 3:30 p.m. MST/4:30 p.m. CT
Location: Phoenix, Ariz.
Stadium: Chase Field (39,056)
Series: Rutgers Leads, 1-0
TV: ESPN (watch)
Wes Durham (Play-by-Play)
Tom Luginbill (Analyst)
Dana Boyle (Sidelines)
Radio: K-State Sports Network; k-statesports.com (Listen) – SXM Ch. 84
Wyatt Thompson (Play-by-Play)
Stan Weber (Analyst)
Matt Walters (Sidelines)
National Radio: ESPN Radio – SXM Ch. 80
Jorge Sedano (Play-by-Play)
Taylor McGargue (Analyst)
Big 12 Radio on TuneIn
X Updates: @KStateFB and @KStateStatsInfo
BOWL PREVIEW
Coming off an 8-4 regular season, Kansas State will be in search of its third-straight year with nine or more wins and its second-straight bowl victory as the Wildcats face Rutgers in the Rate Bowl on Thursday, December 26 inside Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. The game, which kicks off at 3:30 p.m. MST (4:30 p.m. CT), will be shown to a national audience on ESPN.
The Rate Bowl marks the 26th bowl game all-time for the Wildcats, who are advancing to a bowl for a fifth time in six years under head coach Chris Klieman. This is the eighth time K-State will play in a bowl game in Arizona, including the fifth in what is now known as the Rate Bowl.
K-State is looking for its fifth bowl victory in its last seven tries for the first time in school history. In fact, the Wildcats’ 4-2 bowl record since 2017 is tied for the third best among current Big 12 programs.
The Wildcats are playing a Big Ten team in a bowl game for the fifth time in school history and the first since the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl (an earlier iteration of the Rate Bowl) when K-State defeated Michigan, 31-14.
A LOOK AT THE WILDCATS
K-State is the only team in the Big 12 to collect at least eight wins in a four-season stretch and one of just nine Power 4 programs to claim that feat. A win in the Rate Bowl would give the Wildcats at least nine wins in each of the last three seasons and join Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon in that regard.
The Wildcats are looking to bounce back from a 1-3 mark in November after beginning the year at 7-1 and ranking as high as No. 16 in the Associated Press Top 25. Key victories this season included a win at Tulane, which resided in the top 25 for a majority of the season, wins against teams ranked No. 20 at the time (Arizona and Oklahoma State), handing Colorado its only home loss of the season and defeating in-state rival Kansas for the 16th-straight season, which is tied for the longest active winning streak among uninterrupted series.
The Wildcats are led on offense by sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson, who is looking to become the first signal caller in school history to lead the Wildcats to a bowl victory in each of his first two seasons. The top dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2023, Johnson is one of only two Power 4 quarterbacks – the other being Alabama’s Jalen Milroe – to enter bowl season with at least 2,500 passing yards and 525 rushing yards during the regular season. A native of Wichita, Kansas, Johnson is also one of just six Power 4 quarterbacks and one of two in the Big 12 to record at least 22 touchdown passes and six rushing touchdowns.
Johnson’s favorite target this season has been sophomore wide receiver Jayce Brown, who has hauled in 42 receptions for 763 yards and five touchdowns. His receiving yardage total is the most by a Wildcat since Tyler Lockett in 2014, while it ranks second in school history among sophomores. He has tallied 18.17 yards per reception this season to rank eighth nationally and tops in the Big 12 among players with at least 40 receptions. His career 17.4 yards per catch currently ranks sixth in school history.
The Wildcats were led on the ground throughout the regular season by DJ Giddens, a Doak Walker Award semifinalist who set the school record with 6.55 yards per carry this year and enters bowl season ranked ninth 12th nationally with 1,343 yards. However, Giddens announced he is entering the NFL Draft and will not participate in the bowl. That opens the door for sophomore Dylan Edwards and redshirt freshman Joe Jackson, who have combined for 527 rushing yards and four touchdowns this season.
Kansas State is one of only three Power 4 schools to enter bowl season ranked in the top 25 nationally in both rushing offense and rushing defense, the latter ranking 22nd nationally and tops in the Big 12 by surrendering only 114.9 rushing yards per game, which is the lowest allowed by the Wildcats since 2009 (105.4). K-State is also looking to put together its fourth-straight season allowing less than 22.0 points per game, which would be its longest streak since doing so 13-straight years from 1991-2003.
K-State’s leading tackler is sophomore Austin Romaine, who has 89 tackles this season to rank ninth in the Big 12. He is looking to become K-State’s first player with 100 tackles in a season since Elijah Lee had 118 stops in 2016.
The 2024 Rate Bowl will also be the final game for a pair of sixth-year seniors in defensive end Brendan Mott and linebacker Austin Moore. Mott was named the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year, K-State’s conference-leading sixth Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year accolade since the award was introduced following the 2006 season, two more than the next closest school (Texas – 4). Moore enters the final game of his career with a team-best 39-consecutive starts since the beginning of 2022, and he has totaled 229 career tackles, including 30.5 tackles for loss.
A LOOK AT THE SCARLET KNIGHTS
Rutgers finished the regular season winning three of its final four games after winning its first four of the season before dropping all four contests in the month of October. The early-season portion of Rutgers’ scheduled included two wins in six days at Virginia Tech and at home against Washington in the Big Ten opener. Its three wins in the final four games including a pair of road wins – at Maryland (31-17) and at Michigan State (41-14).
The Scarlet Knights are seeing consecutive bowl victories for the first time since 2006 through 2009, a streak that began with a win over K-State in the 2006 Texas Bowl.
Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis has attempted every pass for Rutgers this season, going 199-of-363 through the air for 2,459 yards and 17 touchdowns. The Scarlet Knights as led in the ground game by Kyle Monangai with 1,279 yards and 13 touchdowns on 256 carries. Wide receiver Dymere Miller has a team-high 731 receiving yards and four touchdowns on 57 catches.
Linebacker Dariel Djabome has a team-best 102 tackles and also paces the squad with 7.0 tackles for loss. Jordan Walker has a team-best 4.0 sacks, while Shaquan Loyal has two interceptions.
TEAM NOTES
WILDCATS HEADED TO RATE BOWL
• Coming off an 8-4 regular season, Kansas State earned its 26th bowl berth all time and fifth under head coach Chris Klieman as the Wildcats will face Rutgers in the Rate Bowl on Thursday, December 26, inside Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona.
• Of K-State’s 26 total bowl appearances all-time, 24 of those have come since 1993.
• The Wildcats hold an 11-14 record in bowl games and are looking to win their fifth bowl game in their last seven appearances for the first time in school history.
• In fact, over the first 20 years of the Big 12 era (1996-2015), Kansas State went 5-10 (.333) in bowl games, the worst mark by any current conference member in that span. Since then, the Wildcats have gone 4-2 (.667) in bowl games, which is tied for third-best among current Big 12 teams.
• K-State has traveled to bowl games in nine different states with Arizona (5-Copper/Insight/Buffalo Wild Wings/Cactus/Rate, 3-Fiesta) and Texas (3-Cotton, 3-Texas, 2-Alamo) being the most frequent destinations.
K-STATE IN ARIZONA
• This year marks the eighth time K-State will play in an Arizona bowl, including the fourth time since the 2012 season.
• The Wildcats hold a 4-3 all-time record in Arizona bowl games, including each of the last two trips – a 31-14 victory over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and a 35-17 win over UCLA in the 2017 Cactus Bowl.
• This is the fifth time K-State will play in what is now known as the Rate Bowl as it also played in the game in 1993 (known as Copper Bowl and played in Tucson, Arizona), 2001 (Insight.com Bowl), 2013 (Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl) and 2017 (Cactus Bowl).
CATS AND SCARLET KNIGHTS
• The 2024 Rate Bowl represents the second all-time meeting between Kansas State and Rutgers.
• The first meeting between the two programs also came in a bowl game as the Scarlet Knights earned a 34-10 win in the inaugural Texas Bowl in 2006.
K-STATE AND THE BIG TEN
• Kansas State will be playing its 134th game all-time against current members of the Big Ten, but it will be just the 31st against conference members when in the Big Ten at the time of the matchup.
• K-State holds a 25-105-3 all-time record against current members of the Big Ten but a 6-23-1 mark against the conference when taking out previous matchups against Nebraska, Oregon, Rutgers, UCLA and USC when they were members of other conferences.
• This is the fifth time in school history that Kansas State will face a Big Ten team in a bowl game with the last being a 31-14 victory over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, which was also the last time overall that the Wildcats faced a Big Ten foe. The other three times were losses to Wisconsin in the 1982 Independence Bowl, Purdue in the 1998 Alamo Bowl and Ohio State in the 2004 (post-2003 season) Fiesta Bowl.
BOWLING AGAIN
• In an era of college football where over 80 teams play in the postseason each year, K-State is one of just 16 Power 4 schools to advance to a bowl in 13 of the last 15 years.
• The Wildcats are one of only three Big 12 teams to accomplish the feat, joining BYU and Oklahoma State.
• Since 1993, Kansas State has advanced to 25 bowl games, which is tied for 16th nationally and ranks second among current Big 12 teams.
AMONG THE NATION’S BEST
• K-State has a total of 230 victories since 1996, which ranks 22nd nationally.
• Among active Big 12 teams, the Wildcats rank fourth behind BYU (238), TCU (237) and Utah (233).
• Over the last 15 seasons – including 2024 – the Wildcats have won at least seven games on 13 occasions.
EIGHT IS GREAT…
• K-State has now won at least eight games in each of the last four seasons. It is the Wildcats’ longest streak since doing so over the 2011 (10), 2012 (11), 2013 (8) and 2014 (9) seasons.
• The Wildcats are tied for fifth in the country with their four-straight seasons of at least eight wins and are one of only nine programs to accomplish the feat.
• K-State has 35 wins since 2021, which is tied for 17th nationally and ranks first among active Big 12 teams.
… BUT NINE WOULD BE DIVINE
• Kansas State is looking for its ninth win of the season in the 2024 Rate Bowl.
• It would be the third-straight season the Wildcats won at least nine games, which hasn’t happened since doing so every year from 1993 through 2000.
• K-State would join Alabama, Clemson, Georgia, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oregon as the only teams in the nation to win at least nine games each of the last three seasons.
• Kansas State has produced 17 seasons with at least nine wins: 1910 (10), 1993 (9), 1994 (9), 1995 (10), 1996 (9), 1997 (11), 1998 (11), 1999 (11), 2000 (11), 2002 (11), 2003 (11), 2011 (10), 2012 (11), 2014 (9), 2016 (9), 2022 (9) and 2023 (9).
A WINNING TRADITION
• Kansas State has totaled 144 Big 12 victories since the conference’s formation in 1996, which stands as the most among current Big 12 programs.
• The Cats are also second among active Big 12 members in winning percentage since non-divisional play began in 2011. They sit at 59.5% (75-51), trailing only Oklahoma State (61.1%; 77-49).
• During that stretch, the Wildcats are 42-21 (66.7%) at home in Big 12 play and 33-30 (52.4%) on the road.
REGULARLY IN THE AP POLL
• K-State fell out of the Associated Press Top 25 toward the end of the 2024 season after being ranked in each of the first 12 polls.
• It was the first time K-State had been ranked in the first 12 AP polls of a season since appearing in all 17 polls in 2014.
• K-State has been ranked in the AP Top 25 on 243 occasions since 1993, the most among current Big 12 teams and ranked 22nd nationally.
NOCTURNAL CATS
• Kansas State is thankful for playing in an afternoon bowl game as it played in nine night game during the 2024 season, including six that kicked off after 7 p.m. local time.
• It was the most night games in a season since the 2012 season saw the Wildcats also play in nine night games, but one of those was the Fiesta Bowl.
• This season marked the first time the Wildcats played nine night games during the regular season in the Big 12 era (1996).
NEW OPPONENTS
• K-State only played four opponents from last year’s schedule – Houston, Iowa State, Kansas and Oklahoma State – in 2024.
• It was the fewest amount of carryover opponents from one year to the next since only three rematches from 1918 to 1919.
• Additionally, with the addition of Rutgers to the 2024 schedule for the Rate Bowl, over half of the Wildcats’ schedule is against teams in which they have not faced in at least 10 years, if ever. Those were UT Martin (First Meeting), Arizona (1978), BYU (1997), Colorado (2010), Arizona State (2002), Cincinnati (1996) and Rutgers (2006).
A TRACK RECORD OF WINNING
• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman holds a 119-41 career record, as his 74.4% career winning percentage ranks fourth among current FBS coaches that have led programs for at least 10 seasons. He is also one of just 17 current Power 4 head coaches with at least 100 career victories.
• Klieman, who is 47-28 since arriving at K-State, has led the Cats to five victories over teams ranked in the top 10 of the AP Top 25, the most of any active Big 12 program since 2019.
CARDIAC CATS
• Kansas State earned three come-from-behind wins this season when trailing in the fourth quarter, tied for the third most in the country (Duke and Illinois with four apiece).
• The Wildcats’ three wins this season when trailing in the fourth quarter are the most since 2015 when the Wildcats also had three (Louisiana Tech, Iowa State, West Virginia).
• In Week 2 at Tulane, K-State rallied from a 20-10 halftime deficit to take a 34-27 win, which included a Dylan Edwards touchdown run and a Jack Fabris fumble return to erase a seven-point fourth-quarter deficit.
• On October 12, K-State trailed, 28-24, at Colorado before the game-winning 50-yard touchdown pass from Avery Johnson to Jayce Brown with 2:14 left.
• K-State trailed Kansas, 27-26, on October 26 until Chris Tennant’s 51-yard field goal with 1:42 left sparked a K-State win.
• Of K-State’s three one-possession victories this year, two were on the road. One of those was at Colorado, which finished 23rd in the final College Football Playoff Top 25 and was the Buffaloes’ only home loss this season.
CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation’s best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 25-plus seasons as it has 135 since 1999, nine more than the next closest team (Alabama – 126).
• K-State has recorded four non-offensive scores this season, its most since also recording four in 2020.
• The four non-offensive TDs this year are: a Ty Bowman blocked punt against UT Martin that was returned for a score by Colby McCalister, a 60-yard fumble return by Jack Fabris at Tulane, a 71-yard punt return by Dylan Edwards against Arizona, and a 43-yard interception return by Marques Sigle at West Virginia.
FILL THE BILL
• With Kansas State selling out its entire six-game home slate this season, the Wildcats will enter next season with a streak of 20-consecutive sellouts dating back to the beginning of 2022.
• Kansas State is one of only three schools in the nation to rank in the top 20 of percentage of capacity filled each of the last 10 seasons, joining Ohio State and Oklahoma.
• K-State finished the regular season ranked 10th nationally by filling its stadium to 103.07% capacity.
OFFENSIVE NOTES
GROUND AND POUND
• K-State enters bowl season ranking 18th nationally by averaging 204.5 rushing yards per game, while the Cats are fourth in the country by averaging 5.86 rushing yards per carry.
• The Cats are in line to set the school record in the latter category as the current record for rushing yards per carry is 5.27 in 2016.
• The average is driven by 85 rushes of at least 10 yards to rank 11th in the nation, while K-State’s 29 rushing plays of 20 or more yards this season are tied for sixth.
• The Cats have rushed for at least 200 yards in seven games this year, the most in the Big 12. The Wildcats have matched last year’s total with one game left to play.
TOTAL OFFENSE
• K-State has totaled at least 375 yards of offense in 31 of the last 39 games dating back to the beginning of the 2022 season, including nine of 12 games this season.
• During that stretch, the Cats held a 10-game streak against Big 12 foes with 375 or more yards, the longest in school history.
RED ZONE SUCCESS
• Although the Wildcats enter bowl season ranked 56th nationally in red zone offense, K-State has had a history of red zone success under Chris Klieman.
• Through the 2024 regular season, the Wildcats rank first among current Big 12 programs by scoring on 89.8% (265-of-295) of their overall red-zone trips since 2019 with 198 touchdowns (67.1%).
• Last season, the Cats ranked second nationally by finding paydirt on 78.5% of their red-zone possessions (51-of-65), and they narrowly finished behind Oregon State by 0.11%. K-State would have led the nation last year had the Cats not been in the red zone when taking a knee to close out the Pop-Tarts Bowl win.
RED ZONE THREATS
• Kansas State’s tight end unit has combined for 12 touchdown receptions this year, which is tied for the most in the nation entering bowl season.
• The 12 touchdowns have come from four different players in Garrett Oakley with four, Will Anciaux and Will Swanson each with three, while Brayden Loftin has two.
OFFENSIVE LINE STEPPED UP
• Although the offensive line lost four starters from a year, the current group had a solid regular season. In addition to its rushing rankings, K-State also enters bowl season ranked seventh nationally and second in the Big 12 in sacks allowed (0.92 sacks per game), while they are 13th in the country and second in the Big 12 in tackles for loss allowed (3.92 TFLs per game).
• This will mark the sixth-straight season the Wildcats will surrender fewer than 2.0 sacks per game, the longest streak by K-State since sacks became an official NCAA statistic in 1985.
OL ACCOLADES
• Three Wildcats picked up All-Big 12 honors from the league’s coaches following the regular season as center Sam Hecht and left tackle Easton Kilty each earned second-team accolades, while left guard Hadley Panzer was an honorable mention pick. Additionally, Kilty earned votes for the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year award.
• Under offensive line coach Conor Riley, who is in his first season as the program’s offensive coordinator, the Wildcats have produced at least three All-Big 12 offensive linemen in five of his six seasons.
A GREAT START
• Quarterback Avery Johnson has started 13 career games under center with the Wildcats going 9-4 in those games. Included in those victories are three wins over ranked teams – No. 19 NC State in the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl in addition to No. 20 Arizona and No. 20 Oklahoma State this season – while the Wildcats were the only team to win at Colorado this season, which finished 23rd in the final College Football Playoff Top 25.
• Johnson’s nine victories as a starting quarterback are already tied for the 12th most by a Wildcat since 1990, while his 69.2% winning percentage ranks seventh among signal callers with at least 10 starts.
BY AIR AND GROUND
• Quarterback Avery Johnson was the top dual-threat quarterback in the Class of 2023, and he has put that on display during his true sophomore season as he is one of only four quarterbacks nationally with at least 2,500 passing yards and 525 rushing yards.
• The other players to hit those marks during the regular season were Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, New Mexico’s Devon Dampier and Washington State’s John Mateer.
• If he were to stay at his current averages, Johnson would end the season as just the 15th quarterback in Big 12 history and just the second K-State quarterback ever with at least 2,700 passing yards and 575 rushing yards. The other Wildcat to hit those marks was Michael Bishop in 1998.
MULTIPLE TDs
• Avery Johnson is one of six Power 4 quarterbacks and one of two in the Big 12 to throw at least 22 touchdown passes and rush for at least six scores entering bowl season.
• His 28 touchdowns responsible for this season rank 10th in school history and are the most ever by a sophomore.
• Johnson threw for three touchdowns and rushed for two others in K-State’s 42-20 victory over No. 20 Oklahoma State en route to Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week honors.
• He was the first K-State signal caller to have at least three passing touchdowns and two rushing touchdowns in a conference game since Collin Klein at West Virginia in 2012.
MULTIPLE 1,000-YARD SEASONS
• Running back DJ Giddens, who has declared for the NFL Draft and will not play in the Rate Bowl, notched his second-straight season with 1,000 rushing yards, finishing his junior campaign with 1,343 rushing yards to rank seventh in school history overall and fourth among juniors.
• He is just the fourth player in school history with multiple 1,000-yard seasons, joining Darren Sproles (2002, 2003, 2004), Daniel Thomas (2009, 2010) and Deuce Vaughn (2021, 2022).
GIDDENS GETTING IT DONE
• Running back DJ Giddens, a semifinalist for the 2024 Doak Walker Award, enters bowl season ranked 12th nationally with 1,343 rushing yards, while he is also ninth with 1,601 scrimmage yards when adding in his 258 receiving yards.
• A native of Junction City, Kansas, Giddens broke the school record with 6.55 rushing yards per carry this season, just ahead of Darren Sproles’ mark of 6.49 yards per carry in 2003.
• Giddens’ high average is due to the fact that he enters bowl season tied for second nationally in rushes of at least 30 yards (10), ranked fourth in rushes of at least 20 yards (17) and tied for sixth in rushes of at least 40 yards (5).
A NEW OPPORTUNITY
• With a void at starting running back for the Rate Bowl, it gives an opportunity for sophomore Dylan Edwards and redshirt freshman Joe Jackson to receive plenty of carries against Rutgers.
• Edwards, a native of Derby, Kansas, and transfer from Colorado, has 671 rushing yards and four touchdowns over his two-year career, including a 350-yard, three-touchdown effort this season. He also had 405 career receiving yards and five scores.
• Jackson, a product of Haines City, Florida, rushed 32 times for 177 yards and a touchdown during his first full season on the field after playing in two games a year ago, including the 2023 Pop-Tarts Bowl.
GOING’ DEEP
• Sophomore wide receiver Jayce Brown has shown a propensity of long receptions as he enters bowl season ranking 25th nationally and third in the Big 12 by averaging 18.17 receiving yards per catch.
• However, his ranking skyrockets to eighth in the country and tops in the Big 12 among those with at least 40 receptions this season.
• Brown enters bowl season tied for second nationally with seven receptions of at least 40 yards, and he is sixth in the country with four catches of at least 50 yards. Both of those marks are the most by a Wildcat since at least 2015.
• Brown also ranks second in school history among sophomores with 763 receiving yards and third with five touchdown catches, while he needs three catches overall to tie for fifth in school history.
LEADER OF THE PACK
• Sophomore tight end Garrett Oakley, an All-Big 12 Second Team selection by the league’s coaches, leads the K-State tight ends with four receiving touchdowns this year.
• His scoring total this year is tied for the third most in school history by a tight end, while he enters bowl season tied for fourth among Big 12 tight ends.
DEFENSIVE NOTES
LIMITED POINTS PER GAME
• Since the K-State defense switched from a four-man front to a 3-3-5 alignment at the beginning of the 2021 season (52 games), the Cats are allowing just 21.4 points per game, which ranks 21st nationally and third among current Big 12 teams.
• Additionally, the Wildcats have allowed 126 offensive touchdowns over that time, which is tied for 22nd in the nation.
• The Wildcats have finished each of the three previous seasons by allowing less than 22.0 points per game, their longest streak since going 13-straight years from 1991 through 2003.
• Since head coach Chris Klieman‘s first year of 2019, the Wildcats have held 42 of their 54 Big 12 opponents under their season average at the time it faces the Wildcats.
STINGY AGAINST THE RUN
• K-State enters bowl season ranking 23rd in the country and tops in the Big 12 by allowing only 114.9 rushing yards per game.
• The Wildcats are one of three Power 4 schools to enter bowl season ranked in the top 25 nationally in both rushing offense and rushing defense, joining Penn State and Tennessee.
• The current average is the lowest allowed by the Wildcats since a 105.4-yard average in 2009.
NONE OVER 200
• With one game left, this is the first time since 2016 that Kansas State did not allow a 200-yard rushing game.
• It is also the second-straight season the Cats limited six opponents to 125 rushing yards or less.
• One of those contests was a -29-yard effort at Colorado, which was the second fewest rushing yards allowed by an FBS team this season, the fewest allowed in a Big 12 game since 2006 and the fourth fewest allowed by any team in the nation over the last seven seasons.
BEHIND THE LINE
• K-State enters bowl season ranked 31st nationally and second in the Big 12 with 2.58 sacks per game, while it is 33rd in the country and third in the conference with 6.5 tackles for loss per game.
• The Wildcats have tallied at least 4.0 tackles for loss in eight games this year – including 11 TFLs in each of the first two contests – while they have at least two sacks in six contests – including a season-high six at Colorado.
HIGH SACK YARDAGE
• Kansas State’s 31 sacks this season have resulted in 233 lost yardage, which is tied for 13th in the nation and tops the Big 12 entering bowl season.
• It is the most by the Wildcats since 2003 (345) and tied for the fifth most by a K-State team since 1996.
• K-State’s six sacks at Colorado resulted in 74 yards of loss, the fourth-most ever by a Big 12 team in a conference game and second most by a Big 12 team in any game since 2012.
• It was the most sack yardage accumulated by the Wildcats in a single game since at least 1995. Their previous best over that timeframe was 72 yards against Baylor in 2002.
OFF THE EDGE
• Sixth-year senior Brendan Mott has made the most of his final year, winning the Big 12 Defensive Lineman of the Year award and picking up All-Big 12 First Team honors from the league’s coaches.
• A native of Iowa City, Iowa, Mott enters bowl season ranking 20th nationally and first in the Big 12 with 0.71 sacks per game. Additionally, he is tied for fourth in the Big 12 with 11.5 total tackles for loss.
• A former walk-on, Mott needs 2.0 sacks to enter the school’s top-10 list for a single season. His 8.5 sacks this season are the most since current Kansas City Chief Felix Anudike-Uzomah also had 8.5 in 2022.
• Mott’s 8.5 sacks have resulted in 55 lost yards, as no Wildcat has had more in a season since Jordan Willis in 2016 (84 yards).
ROMAINE LEADS THE WAY
• Sophomore Austin Romaine, an All-Big 12 Second Team selection, leads the Wildcats and enters bowl season ranking ninth in the Big 12 with 89 tackles (7.42 per game). He is looking to become the first Wildcat with at least 90 tackles in a season since Jayd Kirby had 99 in 2017, which is also the last time K-State played in the Rate Bowl (then known as the Cactus Bowl).
• A native of Hillsboro, Missouri, Romaine had two sacks at Tulane, the second of which caused a fumble that was returned for a 60-yard, game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.
• It was his first of two forced fumbles this season that led directly to the game-winning points, as he had one against Kansas prior to the game-winning field goal.
SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• The Wildcats continue to lead the nation in total return touchdowns since 2005 with 62, which is 22 more than the next closest team in Alabama (40) and 28 more than the next closest Big 12 programs, Oklahoma State and TCU (34).
• Of the 62 total returns, a nation-leading 31 are on kickoff returns, and the next closest team is Houston with 21.
• The 2023 season marked the first time since 2004 in which the Wildcats did not score via a kickoff or punt return, but the Wildcats got off the schneid with a blocked punt that was returned for a score against UT Martin and a 71-yard punt return touchdown against Arizona.
SEVEN STRAIGHT
• K-State has blocked a punt in seven-straight seasons, tied for the longest streak in the nation with San Diego State.
• Oregon and Iowa State are tied for third at five-straight years.
DEFENSE ON KICK RETURNS
• K-State has not allowed a kickoff return for a touchdown since the 2013 season, going the last 150 games and 442 returns without allowing its opponent to find paydirt.
• The streak is the longest among the active Big 12 teams, 266 more than the next closest team (Arizona State – 176).
• Since K-State allowed its last kickoff-return touchdown, the Wildcats have scored 14 of their own.
TEANNANT FROM DEEP
• Senior Chris Tennant connected on a game-winning 51-yard field goal against Kansas with 1:42 left in the game, sending the Wildcats to a 29-27 victory.
• It was the longest game-winning field goal with under two minutes remaining in regulation in school history.
• Tennant, who had another field goal earlier in the fourth quarter, earned Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors for the first time in his career.
• A native of Shawnee, Kansas, Tennent now has three career field goals of 50 or more yards to rank fifth in school history. He also ranks in the top 10 in school history for a career in extra points made (3rd; 136) and attempted (3rd; 140), field goals made (4th; 41) and attempted (4th; 56), kick scoring (4th; 259) and extra point percentage (5th; 97.1%).
How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Football, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team’s social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
