Kansas State Avoids the Biggest Upset of Early College Football Season

The Kansas State Wildcats just avoided what would have been the biggest upset of the early college football season, beating North Dakota 38-35 on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kansas. The Wildcats were one week removed from their Week 0 loss to the Iowa State Cyclones in Ireland. But the Cats returned home as 25.5-point favorites and took the lead with under one minute left to beat the Fighting Hawks by three points.

For Kansas State, it moves the Cats to 1-1 on the season, and most importantly, avoids what would have been a crushing loss for the program, and an embarrassing loss for the entire Big 12 Conference.

North Dakota State Puts Up a Fight

The game was a battle from the start, as the Fighting Hawks took an early 7-3 lead after a five-play, 75-yard drive in the first quarter. But the Cats re-took the lead 10-7 before the end of the first 15 minutes of play. However, North Dakota then put together a 10-play, 80-yard drive to go up 14-10 in the second quarter and took a 21-17 lead into halftime over the Wildcats.

In the second half, the Wildcats appeared to wake up, at least for the third quarter. They scored touchdowns on two-straight drives and forced three three-and-outs to take a 31-21 lead into the fourth quarter. But, the fourth quarter was a completely different story. North Dakota had back-to-back touchdown drives of over 70 yards, with each drive taking nine plays and resulting in the Fighting Hawks taking a 35-31 lead. The final North Dakota touchdown came on a 20-yard touchdown run from Sawyer Seidl with 4:19 to play.

Kansas State had a turnover on downs, but did get the ball back 1:45 to play.

Game-Winning Drive

The Kansas State Wildcats then strung together their strongest drive of the half at the perfect time. 10 plays, 81 yards in 1:03, capped off with Avery Johnson finding Joe Jackson for a six-yard score. The play prior was a 25-yard run down the left sideline for Johnson, which was the biggest, and most important, play of the drive. North Dakota did move to mid-field on their final drive of the game, but it was the K-State defense holding up and ending the game, with the final play of the game ending in a drop by North Dakota, that would have extended the drive.

Kansas State gets set to host Army on Week 2 of the college football season. Army is fresh off an upset of their own, getting shocked by Tarleton State 30-27 on Friday night. K-State vs. Army kicks off at 6:00 p.m. CT on Saturday, September 6th.