No. 18 Mississippi State Rushes Past K-State, 31-10

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State Wildcats fell to No. 18 Mississippi State Bulldogs, 31-10, in front of 49,784 fans at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Saturday, as Mississippi State rushed for 384 total yards, including 211 yards from sophomore running back Kylin Hill to hand K-State its first defeat of the season.

The Wildcats (1-1, 0-0 Big 12) were limited to 213 yards on offense, including a 23-yard touchdown strike from sophomore quarterback Skylar Thompson to junior wide receiver Dalton Schoen in the third quarter to mark the sole K-State touchdown. Redshirt freshman defensive end Wyatt Hubert set up the score with his first-career interception and the first interception of the season for the Wildcats.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After connecting on four field goals a week ago in the first half against South Dakota, sophomore place kicker Blake Lynch picked up where he left off on Saturday, scoring the first points of the game for the Wildcats on a field goal from 26-yards out. The Lynch field goal matched the preceding Mississippi State drive, as the score was knotted 3-3 after two offensive series for each team.

On their third offensive possession of the game, the Bulldogs found the end zone on a 16-yard strike from senior quarterback Nick Fitzgerald to Hill. Mississippi State led 10-3 with 14:20 left in the second quarter.

Mississippi State expanded their first-half lead with a three-play, 65-yard drive before halftime, capped off by a 28-yard touchdown rush from Hill. The Bulldogs entered the half-time break with a 17-3 lead, led by 261 yards of total offense.

In the second half, the Bulldogs found more success on the ground, as Hill found a gap and rushed for 52 yards to the K-State 13 yard-line. Mississippi State would later convert on the red-zone possession, as Fitzgerald completed a 13-yard pass to redshirt freshman wide receiver Austin Williams to bring the score to 24-3.

Later in the third quarter, Hubert came up with the team's first interception of the season on a deflected pass in the flat, giving the Wildcats an opportunity in Mississippi State territory. On the next play from scrimmage, Thompson lofted a pass to Schoen, who caught the ball in the back of the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown to bring the score to 24-10 with 2:20 remaining in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, Mississippi State increased their lead to 31-10 with a 16-yard rush from Hill for his second touchdown of the game. The Wildcats would go on to suffer their first loss of the season, as the Bulldogs came out victorious, 31-10.

OFFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Dalton Schoen – The junior wide receiver led the Wildcats in receiving on Saturday, bringing in two passes for 34 yards and a touchdown. Schoen's touchdown in the third quarter came from 23 yards out, giving the Wildcats their first touchdown of the game.

DEFENSIVE PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Wyatt Hubert – The redshirt freshman defensive end came up with his first-career interception and first interception of the season for the Wildcats, after Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald dumped a short pass in the flat, which was deflected and collected by Hubert. Hubert's interception led to the first touchdown of the day for the Wildcats.

Walter Neil Jr. – Following a career-high four tackles a week ago against South Dakota, the sophomore defensive back led the Wildcats by tallying six tackles, including five individual tackles on Saturday to set a new career-high, while also adding a pass break-up.

SPECIAL TEAMS STARS OF THE GAME
Duke Shelley – The senior return man returned four kicks for 109 yards on Saturday, garnering the most all-purpose yards for K-State in the game.

STAT OF THE GAME
384 – The rushing tally by Mississippi State on Saturday are the most against K-State since October 7, 2010, when Nebraska rushed for 451 yards. Mississippi State was led by two rushers, Hill and Fitzgerald, who each rushed for over 100 yards, the first time the Wildcats allowed two opponent rushers for over 100 yards since 2015.

SEASON RECORD UPDATE
K-State 1-1 (0-0 Big 12)
No. 18 Mississippi State 2-0 (0-0 SEC)

WHAT'S NEXT
K-State hosts UTSA Roadrunners on September 15 at 3 p.m. CT at Bill Snyder Family Stadium for Fort Riley Day. The game will air on FSN and will commemorate K-State's partnership with Fort Riley.

POSTGAME QUOTES
BILL SNYDER, K-STATE HEAD COACH
On whether this was from Mississippi State being a good team or K-State struggling...
"Well, it's more of the latter. I wouldn't take anything away from Mississippi State because they are a very fine football team, but as I've said so many times, it's not about who we line up and play, it's about us. We just haven't played as well as we're capable of. I thought there was some promise up until maybe the last 5-6 minutes or so in the ballgame. I saw some things, maybe things you don't see but I saw some things that tell me that maybe we're making some headway in areas that had been an issue for us, but we didn't finish the game that way."

On offensive struggles…
"Obviously, you just look at the numbers. I mean, in the first three quarters of each ball game, in those six quarters we've gotten six points on the board. And that was in the last two and a half minutes of the third quarter today. So we're not starting very well but that period of start time is lasting a long time. And then to only end up with seven points on the board, and we got the seven points because the defense got the turnover and the offense went on and got a short field to get the touchdown. So not very productive."

On offensive line play...
"Well the main thing, I say the main thing but I'll have to see the film again because it varies from player to player, but more than anything it's just being a little more stronger and more forceful in the initial phase of our protection so that we don't get so much push. When you get on your heels and you get pushed back - a lot of the problems we had throwing the football was just the fact that we did have pressure on him and the quarterback really couldn't see out. You've got big guys in front of you, (Montez) Sweat looks like he's seven-feet tall. I know he's not that tall but he sure looks that way. But they get tall on you, and the closer they get, the less you can see and that created some problems for us. We had a number of throws that went into the ground. You saw throws that were just errant. You saw some throws where we had wide open receivers and you threw the ball in the wrong place. And part of it, not all of it, but part of it is just not being able to see out, so we've got to do a better job. Would I say our pass protection's not capable? No, I think they're quite capable, but by the same token, we've got to be able to do it. We're just a little soft right now."

On being surprised at the blitz packages from Mississippi State…
"I wasn't surprised by the blitzes, I was surprised at our reaction to them, which wasn't as productive. I haven't seen the tape, so there might be something out there that I hadn't seen, but based on what I did see, they were identical to what we had seen. We didn't know they were coming all the time, but we knew most of them were coming. I thought we had executed very well during the course of the week, especially on Wednesday and Thursday, against the blitzes, but it didn't happen that often today."

On the secondary...
"It was 357 yards or whatever it was, it was probably displeasing and there were a lot of reasons for that. I thought we defended well against most of the deeper throws, that was pleasing to me, or I was happy that we did. I think it was some of the underneath throws, they had some crossing routes - which is not anything we haven't seen and worked on, just the execution against them was not very good. Consequently, when you go back and look, I'm going to guess they were 8-out-of-12 on third down. They got a lot of third down plays on those little dinks that we didn't defend well."

WYATT HUBERT, K-STATE REDSHIRT FRESHMAN DEFENSIVE END
On the running game of Mississippi State...
"It was definitely the quarterback draw, we just couldn't stop the run. They were running it on second and third down and we were anticipating the pass too much. We just weren't being disciplined on our zone reads. We knew that the quarterback had the ability to run, so we prepared for the quarterback run and the running back run. We were just undisciplined and we weren't gap sound."

On the struggles of the defense…
"We lost that game not because they were better but because we were just really undisciplined. The four up front and the linebackers were having trouble and we couldn't all get on the same page. That hurt the secondary and that hurt the defense as a whole."

On the play of the secondary…
"I think the secondary played great, we just have to get more pressure on the quarterback."

On the size of Mississippi State's offensive line…
"We anticipated a bigger offensive line, but at the end of the day they really weren't much bigger than anything we play against every week. I don't think that was a factor in anything at all."

On the tough start to the season…
"It sucks. We're not doing what we're supposed to be doing and we're not playing to our ability. That is very frustrating. It's very tough right now. "

ALEX DELTON, K-STATE JUNIOR QUARTERBACK
On the struggles of the offense to score...
"We only put one touchdown on the board, you don't win games doing that. It's frustrating. We don't have consistency in our offense. That's a lot on us as quarterbacks and we got to be better, and we got to be better to lead this offense."

On the effect of Mississippi State's rush…
"They had a really good pass rush. Those d-lineman and the linebackers, they got after us pretty quick and put our offensive lineman in a tough spot. A lot of the stuff we prepared for and we just didn't execute it today."

REGGIE WALKER, K-STATE JUNIOR DEFENSIVE END
On what he is taking from this game…
"We've got to fix some stuff on our defense, fit better, tackle better, stuff like that."

On confidence…
"I wouldn't say it hurt our confidence. We know what we did wrong, we hurt ourselves more than anything. I feel that we have to go back to the drawing board on Monday and get it fixed."

On Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald…
"He is a great running quarterback. He found those holes and he hit them. He's hard to stop"

On improvement from last week…
"We did improve from last week, but were not perfect and they did execute on what we did wrong."

DA'QUAN PATTON, K-STATE REDSHIRT JUNIOR LINEBACKER
On the biggest issues with the run defense…
"I felt like we weren't sound in our responsibilities and what we needed to do."

On Hubert's interception in the third quarter…
"It was very big. It made a momentum swing for us and got the sideline excited."

On the team's confidence…
"I don't think it hurts our confidence by any means. We did a lot of great things tonight. There are a lot of things that we can build off off. I think we can take those things that we did do well and keep that confidence that we do have."

On things to work on…
"Just being sound and knowing what we need to do. Eliminating mental errors."

On things the defense did well…
"We came out strong. We had great effort on the ball, no one let up."

On the physicality of Mississippi State…
"They were physical, we were physical as well. It was great to experience a physical team like that. They came with it every play, it was a dog fight."

JOE MOORHEAD, MISSISSIPPI STATE HEAD COACH
Opening statement...
"I am very pleased. It was a great non-conference win against a quality opponent. I have the utmost respect for Coach Snyder and his program. We knew it was going to be a physical game and one where they were not going to beat themselves. We knew it was going to be a tremendous challenge. To walk out of here with our first power-5, non-conference win since 1995, it is a great accomplishment for our team. We did some very positive things in all three phases. We need to be a little bit better with the penalties - I think we had 11, so we need to clean that up. The physicality showed on both sides of the ball rushing for almost 400 yards. We held down the team that prides itself in running the ball pretty well, and lastly attention to detail. In a margin of error lead against an opposing team like Kansas State it is very small. We executed with more precision today than we did against Stephen F. Austin. I am very pleased. I am excited to get out of here with a win and to be 2-0."

On Kylin Hill and the offensive physicality…
"It starts with the guys up front. I thought Coach (Marcus) Johnson's group did a great job blocking, that includes the tight ends and Coach (Mark) Hudspeth. They did a great job creating vertical and horizontal movement at the line of scrimmage. Some of the things they do with who we are reading and throwing the ball and kind of slowing them down at the second level. Hill certainly runs with his tremendous physicality. He runs behind his pads and also has that second gear to take it the distance."

On Nick Fitzgerald's performance…
"At the beginning of the game I think he was a little amped up. He had some throws that were there and had an overthrow to Osirus (Mitchell). He had Austin (Williams) early in the endzone which was the same play he completed later in the game. He made some very good throws. He did some great things by improvisation when it broke down by scrambling. Much like last week, we have to work to continue to maintain our productivity and explosiveness while increasing our efficiency and completion percentage."

On rushing offense…
"In a game like this, just looking back with people asking questions what the offense is going to be, you want it to be 50-50, but when it gets to a point where one phase of the game is taking over and performing very well we will continue to ride it out."

On penalties…
"They all stand out but certainly the targeting penalty for Jonathan (Abram) hurts for this game and the next. Having the offsides that took us out of a third-and-one and a delay of game that took points off the board on a field goal. Those are the things that do not get you until they get you. They kind of get crossed over but same thing as last week we cannot accept them in victory or defeat."

On playing Kansas State's offensive line…
"We did very well. We talked for a very long time about not just our starters but also the guys that fill the roles through there, and there was very little drop off. To be able to do that with the rest of the guys, it gave some of the effect to a very experienced and talented offensive line particularly left tackle."

NICK FITZGERALD, MISSISSIPPI STATE SENIOR QUARTERBACK
On being back on the field...
"It felt great. It is always good to go out there and finally get to reap the rewards of all the hard work that you have put in with your teammates all offseason, since this past January. It was amazing to get out there."

On running the ball early…
"I think even after the first scramble and first hit I was kind of back into it. I thought I was going to be a lot more nervous before the game than I was. I was confident and felt good about it. I think we just played."

On his accuracy…
"They played a very good and technically sound defense. They are not going to be out of position. They are going to cover you well. They did a good job covering. I just have to put the ball in better places and hit some of the deep shots that I overthrew. That is just going to come with more working with my teammates and we are going to get that going. We are going to get that accuracy going."

On the run-heavy offense…
"I think it just kind of came down to me not throwing the ball well. Our offensive line did an incredible job creating holes and running was working so that is what we did."

JEFFERY SIMMONS, MISSISSIPPI STATE JUNIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE
On having something to prove today…
"I was watching film and (Dalton) Risner, a preseason All-American, was pretty good. We came out with a purpose. We were talking about it all week. We were not worried about all of the hype with him. Honestly, we just came to play our ball today. We have big, aggressive guys so we came to play our ball."

On having their way with K-State's offensive line…
"Like I said, we blocked it out. We were hearing about it and our coaches were talking about it. We know they had a talented offensive line so we came out with a purpose. The play all started on the defensive line for us today."

ERROLL THOMPSON, MISSISSIPPI STATE SOPHOMORE LINEBACKER
On his interception…
"I just read off his eyes and marked my landmark and my depth and direction with the quarterback's eyes and broke on it."

KYLIN HILL, MISSISSIPPI STATE SOPHOMORE RUNNING BACK
On his game today…
"It's crazy. It's a dream come true. I don't even know how many yards I had, but the team just kept telling me to keep running. My offensive line did a terrific job. They played unbelievable."

On Nick Fitzgerald and his impact…
"It was big, having (Fitzgerald) back. You have to respect him. He's a great overall player, a great guy and he has NFL talent."

On getting better as the game went on…
"It was just playing football. I'm so used to the game. It's football. Once you get used to the game speed, it's just the game you played all your life."

Next Event

Team Stats

Eric Gallon II

Alex Delton

Players Mentioned

Wyatt Hubert

Blake Lynch

Dalton Schoen

Duke Shelley