SE: Ertz Ends Comeback Season with MVP Performance

HOUSTON — A year after sporting a knee brace and pain beyond injury, Jesse Ertz donned a black cowboy hat and a big smile.

The K-State quarterback was on top of a stage as the MVP of the Texas Bowl, minutes after being on top of his game in the Wildcats’ 33-28 victory against Texas A&M on Wednesday night.

“It’s incredible,” said Ertz, who tore his ACL in the first series of the 2015 season, “just from where I was last year to this year, to be on the field the whole season and play with my friends.”

A year after helplessly watching his teammates end the season with a loss, Ertz guided this team to its eighth bowl victory in program history and its fourth season with at least nine wins in the last six years.

He capped it by going 14-for-20 through the air for 195 yards — his second-most of the season — while also tallying 67 on the ground against the Aggies to make him the third K-State quarterback in program history to eclipse 1,000 yards rushing in a season.

“I’m very happy for that man. I worked with him in the winter, summer, spending late hours in the indoor practice facility,” sophomore receiver Dominique Heath said of Ertz, who finished the season with the third-most rushing yards (1,012) by a K-State quarterback and the ninth-most overall. “To see him finally have success, I’m very excited for him.”

Ertz, who finished the season with the 10th-best season for total offense (2,767) in program history, ignited K-State’s victory with his arm.

To start the Wildcats’ second offensive possession, Ertz hit Byron Pringle in stride down the sideline for a 79-yard touchdown pass — the second-longest pass in K-State bowl history, behind only Michael Bishop’s 88-yard pass to Darnell McDonald in the 1998 Alamo Bowl.

“When you go back and look at that play, you see the ball couldn’t have been thrown any better,” K-State head coach Bill Snyder said. “Had it not been thrown exactly as it was, it’s probably an incomplete pass.”

“Jesse was great,” added Pringle, who totaled 107 receiving yards to become the first K-State receiver to hit the century mark in consecutive games since Tyler Lockett ended his career with five-straight such games in 2014. “We’re just communicating, game planning, in practice we know what’s going on so when something isn’t right, we know which way to go with the ball.”

Ertz, who recorded a pair of touchdowns on the ground, threw a stiff arm before trotting in from five yards out for his first to put K-State up 13-7. His second was a sneak to cap a 10-play, 66-yard drive to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 33-21 in the fourth quarter.

“There’s no better feeling than a long drive where you can kill the clock, 10 plays and you punch it in,” Ertz said. “There’s going to be momentum plays and you can just feel it in those moments, we feel like the next one we’re putting it in, and that was a good moment for us.”

The game seemed to be one big moment after another for Ertz.

After going 9-of-11 through the air in the first half, including completing seven straight at one point, the run game opened up for the junior in the final two quarters. Ertz collected 52 of his rushing yards in the second half, with 44 of them coming on the Wildcats’ final scoring drive.

“He’s always an animal,” junior linebacker Elijah Lee said. “Whenever you can play behind him and you know he’s got your back like you have his back, anything is possible.”

“The sky’s the limit,” running back Justin Silmon added of Ertz’s potential. “Ever since last season, unfortunately he got hurt, but Jesse’s been improving every day, working hard every day and he’s a great leader, so as long as he keeps doing the things he’s doing now, it’ll just take him up to a higher level.

“He can be as great as he wants to be.”

The Wildcats feel the same way about their potential moving forward.

Like Ertz, plenty of unknowns, which stemmed from inexperience, factored into K-State’s 3-3 start to the season. With time, the Wildcats’ talent paired daily improvement helped maximize the team’s potential for a 9-4 final record.

“I think from the start it was a work in progress. We knew we had pieces, a lot of talent and things to work with, it was just a matter of getting experience and getting the wrinkles worked out, getting people going, getting confidence, and that’s what you saw throughout the season,” Ertz said. “We just got more consistent. To have so many experienced guys, you’re going to have a more productive offseason. Everyone already knows what to expect and there’s not really any question marks looming as far as what a real game is like. I think it’s really beneficial heading into next season.”

While this team eclipsed the most underclassmen starters for a Snyder-coached team by 34, the 77-year-old head coach made sure to point out that returning a bulk of players guarantees nothing.

“I just visited with our players a moment ago, and it’s so easy to take that for granted and say, ‘Hey, you got a lot guys coming back, therefore you’re going to be good.’ It doesn’t work that way,” Snyder said. “It’s new dynamics every single year, regardless of who you have coming back or who you don’t have coming back. All the pieces have to fit and everybody has to work to do it. It’s so easy to say you’re going to be a good football team, but as I said to them, ‘That’s up to you. Nobody is going to gift you that. You have to make it happen.’”

Fortunately, K-State’s captain quarterback has his team excited to get back to work.

“Week to week, every game he’s gotten better. The game started slowing down for him, you can see he’s getting some swagger on the field and he’s starting to take more control of the offense,” said Heath, who had a 52-yard touchdown run against Texas A&M to set a K-State bowl-game record. “The sky is the limit next season. Everybody’s got some games under their belt, everybody has a year under their belt, so come this winter and this summer, everybody has to put in the time, put in the work.”

Kansas State University Athletics

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