Five takeaways from the Kansas State Wildcats’ last-second road win over Tulane

It wasn’t easy, but the Kansas State football team found a way to outlast Tulane 34-27 on Saturday at Yulman Stadium.

The Wildcats won thanks to a pair of clutch plays on defense that few could have seen coming.

K-State needed all the highlights it could muster after it fell behind 14-3 in the early going and played catchup until the final moments of the afternoon.

They won thanks to a scoop-and-score touchdown from Jack Fabris, of all people, which put the Wildcats ahead for good midway through the fourth quarter. But the game was far from over. K-State didn’t seal the game until VJ Payne came up with an interception in the end zone with Tulane frantically trying to tie things up in the final seconds.

There were questionable calls and unexpected bounces along the way. This was the type of game that could have gone either way, even though the No. 16 Wildcats were favored by nearly 10 points. Tulane (491) amassed significantly more yards than K-State (396). But the Wildcats left New Orleans with an important victory in their first road game of the season.

Next up for K-State is a Friday home game against Arizona.

Until then, here are some takeaways from Saturday’s action:

K-State picked an ideal time to force its first turnover

The Wildcats were unable to force a single turnover in their first game of the season, and it looked like they might not get one in their second game, either.

That was one of the main reasons why K-State looked mediocre during a 41-6 victory over Tennessee-Martin and then fell behind against Tulane.

But things changed in the best possible way for K-State when Austin Romaine swatted the ball away from a scrambling Tulane quarterback Darian Mensah and teammate Jack Fabris was able to scoop up the fumble and return it 60 yards for a touchdown.

It was a game-changing play. Not only did it happen midway through the fourth quarter, but it allowed the Wildcats to take a 34-27 lead.

K-State tends to win games when it scores touchdowns on defense and special teams. It is one of the things the Wildcats have prided themselves on going back to the Bill Snyder era. They got another one of those big plays against Tulane, and it made all the difference.

On the play, several K-State defenders got pressure on Mensah and he chose to retreat and try to make a play rather than simply go down. That allowed Romaine to knock the ball free and K-State to score.

K-State football coach Chris Klieman praised Fabris, a sophomore, for having the football awareness to pick up the ball and then run it in for a touchdown. Many players his age might have simply jumped on the ball.

Payne appropriately ended the game with another turnover in the final moments when Tulane sent the ball into the end zone in an attempt to tie or win the contest.

Kansas State’s secondary struggled mightily against the pass

Credit the Wildcats for winning this game with turnovers. But this was not an afternoon to remember for any K-State defensive back.

The Green Wave had all kinds of success on offense with Mensah throwing to wide open receivers in the middle of the field on play-action passes.

Mensah continually found his targets downfield for explosive plays and finished the day with 342 yards and two touchdowns.

What was most startling about his long passes was how easy they were for him to complete. Tulane receivers kept finding open holes in the K-State defense, which allowed the Green Wave to simply play catch. It’s not supposed to be that easy.

Keenan Garber, Jordan Riley, Marques Sigle, Austin Moore and others all had plays they wish they could have back. But defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman didn’t help matters by sending too many blitzes and dropping into zone coverage in the first half.

The Wildcats were better against the pass in the second half, but Mensah was still able to hit Mario Williams for a gain of 47 yards on a key third-and-21 and then Alex Bauman for a 13-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Heck, it looked like Tulane had sent the game to overtime with another touchdown pass until the play was erased because of offensive pass interference.

This was not an encouraging game for a K-State defense that is about to go up against Arizona and its high-octane passing attack.

Dylan Edwards needs more touches

K-State offensive coordinator Conor Riley probably regrets not putting Dylan Edwards on the field more than he did on Saturday.

Edwards rushed for 54 yards and a touchdown on just four attempts. He also caught a pass. But the vast majority of that production came in the second half.

He barely even played in the first half, with DJ Giddens and Joe Jackson seeing most of the work at running back.

That came as a surprise, seeing as how Edwards scored a pair of touchdowns in his K-State debut last week.

In any case, the Wildcats gave him more opportunities as the game went on, and he took advantage by leading K-State into the red zone on one drive and then scoring a touchdown that tied the score up at 27 in the fourth quarter.

There are plenty of mouths to feed in the K-State backfield, but giving the ball to Edwards is never a bad idea.

Another mixed bag from Avery Johnson

For the second straight week, K-State quarterback Avery Johnson gave fans plenty of good and bad moments.

Let’s start with the good: The sophomore passer came up with a pair of big plays when K-State absolutely had to have them. The first was a 7-yard touchdown pass to Will Swanson that pulled K-State within 14-10 in the first half. On the play, Johnson was flushed out of the pocket and running to his left, but he was able to contort his body in a way where he could throw to his right and deliver a strike to his tight end.

Johnson also found running back DJ Giddens for a 45-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter with the Wildcats facing fourth-and-short at midfield. It was a good play-call from the coaches and an excellent pass from Johnson.

Klieman later said Giddens was supposed to run a shorter route, but he wisely went deep when he saw Tulane’s coverage scheme. Johnson anticipated that change and looked his way the whole time.

Johnson came up with a pair of clutch plays on his way to 181 yards and two touchdowns.

But there were some moments that weren’t so positive. For example, Johnson missed Sterling Lockett when he was streaking open downfield for a potential touchdown. He also failed to connect with Jadon Jackson on a similar play when he was open for a potential first down.

K-State asked him to run the ball eight times and he was only able to gain 40 yards.

There will be plenty for him to learn from after this game.

DJ Giddens is K-State’s most reliable weapon on offense

K-State once again leaned on its starting running back against Tulane and he responded with another big performance.

The junior gained 114 rushing yards on 19 carries and also caught four passes for 63 yards and a touchdown.

Add that onto the 114 yards that Giddens rushed for last week and he is off to a tremendous start to the season.

He was a workhorse runner in the past. Nothing has changed.