Thursday, September 18th was the start of the fourth week of the NCAA FB regular season. The No. 5 Auburn Tigers played the Kansas State Wildcats and the Tigers were favored in the game. When the game ended at the Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kansas, Auburn beat Kansas State 20-14 and are now undefeated at 3-0, and the Wildcats now 2-1.
The Kansas State Wildcats held the Auburn Tigers rushing game in check for most of the game, but the Tigers were able overcome that by going to their passing game. The Auburn QB Marshall passed for 231 yards and two touchdowns with 1 interception. The Tiger defense forced three turnovers as the Kansas State Wildcats missed three field goals which could have easily change the final score of the game.
The game stats were close as the Tigers had 22 first downs with 359 total yards (2 touchdowns and 2 FGs), 231 yards passing and 128 rushing yards, with 6 penalties for 46 yards and 1 interception while the Wildcats had 20 first downs with 285 total yards (2 touchdowns), 245 passing yards, 40 rushing yards, no penalties with 3 turnovers (1 fumble and 2 interceptions) and 3 missed field goals.
The Wildcat QB Waters passed for 245 yards and he was intercepted twice and carried the ball 11 times for -7 yards.
The Kansas State offense was the least productive, as they scored the least total points in all of their games over the last three seasons.
The game remained close as late in the fourth the Wildcats were up 14-13 and then Auburn QB Marshall passed to WR Williams went 39 yards and gave them a first down and RB Jones ran in from 1 yard out in a drive that went for 80 yards in 15 plays with a duration of 5:34 minutes and the go ahead TD. This was the first road win that was their first non conference win on the road with a ranked team since they beat FSU back in 1984 in Tallahassee.
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder is a very experienced college football coach said, “His team made a ton of mistakes the resulted in the outcome of the, and with a great team like Auburn you can’t make that amount of mistakes.” Some of those were, a dropped TD catch in the end zone that resulted in an interception, losing the ball from a fumble and the missed field goals.
The two turnovers that were very costly for the Wildcats when in their own side of the field fumbled the ball and the Tigers recovered, then four plays later Carlson kicked a 34 yard field goal to give Auburn the lead 3-0. The more costly second turnover was on the Auburn 2 yard line and the Wildcats had 2nd and goal their QB Water threw a pass that bounced off his receivers shoulder pads into the end zone and was intercepted, thus rather than having a quick and easy TD they were intercepted.
For the Wildcat fan,s the game ended as a very disappointing game and for those that bet on college football at a sportbook or a local bookmaker, it’s time that the Wildcats regroup. So watch the odds change in Week 5 on Saturday September 27th 2014.