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6 BIG 12
Kansas State Wildcats
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas State quarterback Carson Coffman passes under pressure from Nebraska defensive tackle Baker Steinkuhler.
Weak running game prevents Wildcat win
BY ASHLEY DUNKAK Kansas State University
The Wildcats used senior running back Daniel Thomas on eight of 10 plays to start their first drive of the game, only to turn the ball over on downs and then allow Nebraska to score on its first possession.
Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez and running backs Roy Helu, Jr., and Rex Burkhead combined for 188 yards. Martinez scored both the Hiskers' rushing touchdowns in the first half, including a 35-yard spurt into the end zone. Both times, he walked in. Senior running back Daniel Thomas had only 45 yards on 16 carries, putting his average at slightly under three yards per rush. Senior running back William Powell had one rush for six yards; sophomore fullback Braden Wilson had one for one, and senior quarterback Carson Coffman contributed zero net yards on four carries. The Wildcats had more yards passing than they did rushing in the first half.
In the second quarter, K-State shot itself in the foot with penalties. On the drive on which Martinez eventually burst out for that 35-yard touchdown run, the Wildcats had two offsides penalties: one that Nebraska declined to keep its 16-yard gain on that play, and another that nullified a tackle for negative seven yards by sophomore defensive end Brandon Harold.
K-State defensive end Antonio Felder said in a press conference that the Wildcats had to stop big plays when they played Nebraska. They did the exact opposite, allowing touchdowns of 35 yards, 80 yards, 68 yards and 79 yards in the third quarter alone. In the fourth quarter, Wildcats finally managed to get into the end zone, but only on fourth down after having first and goal at the Nebraska oneyard line. Snyder had a frank assessment of the game.
the game. "We didn't run the ball very well, we didn't throw it extremely well, we didn't play defense against the run or the pass very well," he said.
A M Texas A&M Aggies
First-half strength carries A&M through the game
ARLINGTON, Texas — Ryan Mallett got off to a great start, looking right at home in an NFL stadium. He might've gone home awfully disappointed, though, if Tramain Thomas didn't snatched an interception in the end zone on the game's final play. Mallett threw three touchdown passes in the first half, but failed to build on it and No. 11 Arkansas ended up needing to hold on for a 24-17 victory over Texas A&M at Boys Stadium on Saturday.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
He did, and the Razor-backs (4-1) came away with a much-needed win between a home loss to No. 1 Alabama and a trip to No. 8 Auburn.
"I tried to knock it down against Georgia and they almost caught it, so I had it in my mindset that I was going up to get the ball." Thomas said.
Arkansas had several chances to put the game away early, between leading 21-7 with 53 seconds left in the first half and recovering three fumbles inside the Aggies' 40-yard line. They just couldn't do it. They got only one field goal out of the turnovers, missing another and botching a fake. Mallett was bottled up by a defense that took away his deep routes. A&M (3-2) sacked him three times; hed gone down only six all season. One came from Von Miller, who led the nation with 17 last season but had been shut out so far this season. The Aggies only had five sacks coming in.
"We're not used to not executing like that," Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino said. "They put a lot of pressure on you with their different looks. They threw a couple spin looks in, where they look like they were bringing up one side and brought it the other."
"Regardless of people saying, 'Well, you played a good game,' we can't accept that."
"Regardless of people saying, 'Well, you
The Aggies were coming off a tough loss, too, a wild game at Oklahoma State blown by five turnovers. A&M wound up giving the ball away four times — the fourth straight game that happened. Yet quarterback Jerrod Johnson squeezed in enough big plays to keep things interesting all the way to the end.
played a good game,'we can't accept that," Aggies coach Mike Sherman said.
On the final drive, Johnson converted a third-and-10 and a fourth-and-14. A pass interference penalty put A&M on the Arkansas 39 with 6 seconds left, setting up the dramatic last play. He was aiming for Jeff Fuller, which only made sense. Fuller caught eight passes for 154 yards, including a 69-yarder and a 31-yard touchdown.
MIKE SHERMAN
Texas A&M Coach
Johnson finished 15 of 40 for 212 yards. John came in with eight interceptions in his last six quarters. His only interception
this time was on the final play.
"I'd be lying to say that he didn't internalize a little pressure on himself to make sure he didn't have any miscues with the football, but it didn't take away his aggressiveness," Sherman said. "He read things very well and made good decisions and made
some big-time throws."
But not of Mallett's caliber. Built like a prototype NFL quarterback, he played like it, too, at first — opening the game with an 80-yard drive, capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass to loe Adams, then bouncing back from an interception to hit Cobi Hamilton on a 71-yard touchdown pass that was so well done it could become the centerpiece of his Heisman Trophy promotional campaign. Whatever adjustments A&M made after that, Arkansas was unable to figure them out.
Mallett threw for 132 yards in the first quarter, then just 178 the rest of the game. His total of 310 marked the fifth time he's cracked 300 this season, already tying the full-season record he set last year. He completed 27 of 38 passes.
Knile Davis ran for a career-high 82 yards, including a 45-yard burst on the opening drive. Broderick Green added 58 yards, but the SEC's worst rushing attack never scared A&M enough to loosen up the passing lanes for Mallett. This is the second game in a 10-year series between these schools at the stadium built by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, an Arkansas alum. His Razorbacks won 47-19 last year.
THE WAVE OCTOBER 13,2010
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN