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MANHATTAN — As Kansas State football nears the midway point of its regular season this weekend, one clear trend has emerged.
The Wildcats have unapologetically hitched their wagon on offense to the running game and in particular DJ Giddens.
“Our identity is (No.) 31 right now,” coach Chris Klieman said of Giddens, the Wildcats’ junior running back, who through the first five weeks has run for 604 yards and ranks seventh nationally with 120.8 yards per game and eighth with 7.3 yards per carry. “And as he goes, it opens up everything else.”
Take K-State’s 42-20 bounce-back victory two weeks ago against then No. 20-ranked Oklahoma State, in which sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson passed for a career-high 259 yards and three touchdowns, plus rushed for 60 yards and two more scores. All the while, the powerful 6-foot-1, 212-pound Giddens was punishing the Cowboys’ defense to the tune of 187 yards on just 15 carries, including a pivotal 66-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that gave the Wildcats a 28-13 advantage.
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Kansas State running back DJ Giddens pulls away from Oklahoma State’s defenders on the way to a 66-yard touchdown during their Sept. 28 game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Giddens ran for 187 yards in the Wildcats’ 42-20 victory.
With the dominating performance against Oklahoma State, No. 19-ranked K-State is now 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12, heading into Saturday’s 9:15 p.m. central road game at Colorado (4-1, 2-0).
As a team, the Wildcats are seventh nationally and second in the Big 12 in rushing, averaging 252.2 yards on the ground. And they’re just outside the top 50 in total offense despite ranking No….
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/kansas-state-footballs-offense-hangs-125921970.html
Author : The Topeka Capital-Journal
Publish date : 2024-10-09 12:59:21
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