Bring the Juice

By: D. Scott Fritchen

The postgame locker room celebration following Kansas State's 34-20 win over UCF has since died down after the re-energized Wildcats put together their best game of the season to bounce back to .500 in the Big 12 Conference, but the message from head coach Chris Klieman to his players echoed during practice this week.

"Know why we were successful," Klieman said. "That's the first thing. It's not like some magic potion that all the sudden we played better."

Behind electrifying quarterback Avery Johnson and a healthy running back Dylan Edwards, the Wildcats brought the heat to the tune of 434 total offensive yards, including 266 yards on the ground, while the K-State defense held UCF to 20 points — 19 points under its season average.

There were passing touchdowns, rushing touchdowns, sacks, a pair of interceptions, and tight end Garrett Oakley even broke out a dance in the end zone on a Saturday that seemed to have everything — including season-high energy that helped fuel a potential momentum-shifting win.

"It was pretty big," said Edwards, who had 166 rushing yards and two touchdowns in his first significant action since rushing for 196 yards in the 2024 Rate Bowl. "How we handle it is very important. We can't just be satisfied. We have to expand upon this and build on it to have a good foundation going into the end of the season."

The good vibes for K-State, 2-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12, will be tested when it travels to face Baylor, 3-2 and 1-1, in Saturday's 11:00 a.m. kickoff at McLane Stadium in Waco, Texas — which is expected to feature 90-degree temperatures.

"Now we're on the road to try and do this," Klieman said, "and it's going to be 74 players, and we have to bring the juice together."

Baylor's Sawyer Robertson, a Heisman Trophy candidate who ranks No. 1 in the FBS in quarterback rating, leads the 11^th-best offense in the FBS, as the Bears have largely brought the heat to opponents through five games.

It's almost always been enough.

Robertson threw for 419 yards, but Baylor suffered a season-opening 38-24 home loss to Auburn, then Robertson threw for 440 yards and the Bears bounced back with a 48-45 double-overtime win at No. 17 SMU before posting a 42-7 win over Samford. However, Baylor saw Arizona State nail a walk-off 43-yard field goal in a 27-24 home loss on September 20 — the Bears' last home game. Baylor came back as Robertson threw for 393 yards and accounted for five touchdowns to beat Oklahoma State, 45-27, in Stillwater, Oklahoma, last Saturday.

Robertson is only a part of the problem for defenses. Wide receiver Kobe Prentice ranks sixth in the FBS with five receiving touchdowns. Running back Bryson Washington, who shattered the Baylor freshman record with 1,028 rushing yards last season, currently ranks 10^th in the FBS with 492 total rushing yards, 14^th with 98.4 rushing yards per game, and 23^rd with five rushing touchdowns.

Baylor averages 36.6 points and 504.2 total offensive yards, including 349.4 passing yards and 154.8 rushing yards per game.

"It's big trouble," defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "Aside from the fact that schematically they're really good and don't put themselves into disadvantageous situations, they get the ball where they need to and have a guy who can do that and sees things and they're just really talented at all positions.

"There are no weaknesses. It's been a long week."

A long week, perhaps, in particular, because of K-State's unfortunate propensity to give up explosive plays. UCF put up 404 total offensive yards on K-State, but a majority of those yards came on defensive letdowns that led to large gains.

"It's frustrating because you take a game where you played pretty well defensively and mar it with, by our standard, eight explosive plays," Klanderman said. "If you ran the numbers they had 404 yards of offense, which is way too many, and there were 62 plays for about 80 yards, and eight plays for 320 yards, and that's frustrating."

Although K-State's offense hasn't always necessarily been on fire this season, the Wildcats could have new life with the Johnson-Edwards duo, which outshined the fact that the Wildcats were without top receivers Jayce Brown and Jerand Bradley against the Knights.

"When Dylan is running the ball well, it opens up stuff for me, and when I'm running the ball well, it opens stuff for Dylan," Johnson said. "Just being able to have Dylan back this week really helped us, and it really started to look like the K-State style of offense where we have a running game we can count on and put the ball into the air as well."

Johnson, a junior and native of Wichita, has completed 95-of-152 (62.5%) of his passes for 1,019 yards and eight touchdowns and one interception. He has rushed 37 times for 137 yards and two touchdowns. As his 2025 season statistics keep improving, he continues to ascend up the K-State leaderboard. Against UCF, he became the fifth quarterback in K-State history to reach 4,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career, joining Michael Bishop, Ell Roberson, Collin Klein and Skylar Thompson.

Johnson has been responsible for 54 total touchdowns in his 26 games played to rank ninth in K-State history. His 54 touchdowns are sixth-most among non-seniors in the FBS.

Against UCF, Johnson went 18-of-25 passing for 168 yards and two touchdowns and he added 12 carries for 75 yards.

"It's more reps, more experience, and you saw a couple plays in the game where he wasn't making those plays earlier in the year, which was based on coverage, recognition and how quickly he can decipher," offensive coordinator Matt Wells said of Johnson's progression this season. "But Baylor does a great job, and they can disguise really, really good, and disguise their intentions until the last second."

Baylor head coach Dave Aranda, who is 34-32 in six seasons, possesses a run defense that ranks 114^th in the FBS in allowing 180.2 rushing yards per game. He is cautious of the Wildcats' capabilities to frustrate defenses on the ground — a trademark of past K-State teams.

"They were looking for a spark (against UCF) and they were able to get it in the run game," Aranda said. "Their running back is back, and, obviously, he can create sparks all over the place. Their ability to collect pressures and stunts with their offensive line and get a surge going, and having guys who when there's a seam, they can take it. The run game certainly got going."

As for what has stuck out most about the Wildcats through five games?

"They're improved, and it really speaks highly of Coach Klieman," Aranda said. "Just to see from where they started to where they are now, the tape, when you watch the games in order, they're a much-improved team."

Aranda said that he had "a lot of respect" for Johnson, adding that, "he's improved with every game this year."

"There are throws that you wish (Johnson) wasn't making," Aranda continued. "You wish you didn't see the coverage tilts and you wish he didn't ID and throw it right where it needs to be, but he's doing that. He's a better thrower than you want him to be. He's a big challenge for us."

K-State, which valiantly in a 23-17 loss to Arizona the last time the Wildcats were on the road on September 12, seeks its first win away from Bill Snyder Family Stadium this season.

"The effort that we showed against UCF was a combination of good energy and passion and guys are having a lot of fun," Oakley said. "Baylor is a really good team. We just have to get back to it and be 1-0 this week."

The Wildcats' hope their one-game-season mentality pays dividends as they attempt to take care of business on Saturday.

"We can't be seduced by success," defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi said. "We'd been chasing a win for so long that we can't get that win and fall off. We have to keep going."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jerand Bradley

Jayce Brown

Dylan Edwards

Avery Johnson

Garrett Oakley

Tobi Osunsanmi

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