MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No.
17 Kansas State knew that West Virginia would try to shut down Big 12 rushing leader DJ Giddens, and that enabled quarterback Avery Johnson to put together a career game. Johnson threw three touchdown passes in the Wildcats' 45-18 win over West Virginia on Saturday night, and Kansas State (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) is off to its best start since 2014. Giddens scored on runs of 1 and 18 yards but was held to a season-low 57 yards, 74 below his average.
Johnson picked apart West Virginia's injury-depleted secondary, finishing 19 of 29 for a career-high 298 yards. "Avery's progress as a passer has been phenomenal, and today he was so poised," Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said. "The kid's calm.
He's patient. And he understands things and he liked our game plan. He's not getting antsy in the pocket.
He's staying in there and it's fun to see, especially when we were struggling to rush the football." Johnson slipped from the grasp of West Virginia defensive lineman Sean Martin and threw an 11-yard pass to Ty Bowman on fourth down to keep a third-quarter drive alive that ended with Johnson finding Garrett Oakley for a 16-yard score. On Kansas State's next series, Johnson and Giddens combined on a 53-yard pass play to the West Virginia 1, and Johnson hit tight end Will Anciaux in the end zone for a 31-10 lead, sending Mountaineer fans streaming for the exits.
Giddens was coming off back-to-back games of at least 182 yards. "West Virginia had to respect that and th.
