Saturday's contest in Manhattan presents ASU's toughest road game this season since No. 16 Kansas State has plenty of weapons in its arsenal. Let’s examine ASU's upcoming opponent.
Kansas State Offense
Following the transfer of Second-Team All-Big 12 quarterback Will Howard to Ohio State this past offseason, Kansas State needed a replacement at QB1 and found a skilled athlete in true sophomore Avery Johnson.
Last season, Johnson showed quite a bit of promise behind Howard as he threw for 479 yards with five touchdowns and no interceptions, along with 296 net rushing yards with seven scores. In all, Johnson appeared in eight games with two starts as a true freshman in 2023.
In 2024, as the team’s full-time starter, Johnson has emerged as one of the more dynamic young quarterbacks in the Big 12. He’s completed 60.96% of his passes for an average of 210.22 passing yards per game, 17 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, along with 391 net rushing yards with four touchdowns.
Johnson has three games this year with at least 250 passing yards, including a college career-high of 298 against West Virginia. He’s also rushed for at least 60 yards on four occasions, including a college career-best 110 against Arizona.
As a runner, Johnson ranks second among Big-12 quarterbacks in rushing yards and is tied for third in rushing touchdowns among Big-12 quarterbacks.
In what seems like a broken record statement in the Big 12, ASU will again face a nationally elite running back at Kansas State, this time in the form of DJ Giddens.
Giddens, a 6-1 212-pound redshirt junior who has spent his whole college career with K-State, almost assuredly will surpass the 1,000-yard mark for the season on Saturday as he’s accumulated 995 yards on 162 carries (6.1 avg.) with five touchdowns in nine games.
He has five 100-yard games this season, but his last outing was his poorest in nearly a full year, as he totaled just 50 yards on 17 carries against Houston on Nov. 2. The last time Giddens had below 50 rushing yards in a game was his 22 yards on nine carries against Texas on Nov. 4, 2023.
Statistically, on a national scale, Giddens ranks 12th in both all-purpose yardage per game (134.22) and rushing yards per game (110.6) and 22nd in rushing yards per carry (6.14).
Giddens, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 pick last year after rushing for 1,226 yards with 10 touchdowns, is also a bit of a threat as a pass-catcher as he ranks third on the team with 17 catches for 213 yards, including one touchdown catch.
Colorado transfer Dylan Edwards has also been a dynamic playmaker at running back. He’s rushed for 340 yards on 50 carries (6.8 avg.) with three touchdowns, ties for third on the team with 17 catches, and has 106 yards with a score.
After putting together one of the best freshmen receiving seasons in program history last year, sophomore Jayce Brown leads Kansas State with 33 receptions for 604 yards and shares the team-high with three touchdown catches.
Brown had a college career-high 121 receiving yards with two touchdowns earlier this year against Colorado and collected a combined 184 receiving yards in his two most recent games. His 18.30-yards per catch average is the best in the Big 12 among players with at least 30 receptions on the year, of which there are 27 so far in the conference.
Keagan Johnson, who transferred to Kansas State from Iowa prior to last season, is second on the team with 27 receptions for 340 yards and a score.
Dante Cephas, a former Penn State and Kent State transfer, is also listed as a starting receiver for this weekend. He has six receptions for 55 yards this year.
Kansas State’s top tight ends are Garrett Oakley, who has 13 receptions for 119 yards with three scores, and Will Swanson, who has seven catches for 46 yards, including two touchdowns.
The K-State offensive line figures to feature former North Dakota transfer Easton Kilty at left tackle, Hadley Panzer at left guard, Sam Hecht at center, either Taylor Poitier or Andrew Leingang at right guard, and Carver Willis, an Honorable Mention All-Big 12 selection last year, at right tackle.
The group, which consists of Kilty, Panzer, Hecht, Poitier, and Willis, have started together in every game this year, with the exception of one start made by Leingang at right tackle in place of Willis.
Kansas State Offense Summary
On the national level, the Wildcats rank seventh in team rushing yards per carry (5.80), ninth in red zone offense (.938), 19th in rushing offense (208.3), tied for 20th in team tackles for loss allowed per game (4.00), tied for 21st in sacks allowed per game (1.11), tied for 35th in turnovers lost (10), 40th in total offense (422.6), tied for 43rd in scoring offense (31.2), tied for 65th nationally in third-down offense (.405) and 77th in pass offense (214.2).
Naturally, the key for the Arizona State defense is to minimize the run game for the Wildcats – not just Giddens, but also Johnson and Edwards – and place as much of the game as possible onto Johnson’s throwing arm.
Kansas State Defense
Typically operating out of a 3-3-5 defense, the K-State starting defensive line figures to feature ends Brendan Mott and either Travis Bates or Chiddi Obiazor, along with Cody Stufflebean, with Damian Ilalio also on the defensive line.
Mott, Ilalio, and Stuffelbean have started all nine games this season, while Obiazor earned one start at defensive end against Houston when Kansas State opened with a four-man defensive line.
Mott is putting together a First-Team All-Big 12 caliber season. He is the current Big-12 leader in sacks (8.0) and ranks 11th nationally in the category. He also has 37 total tackles, including a team-high 9.5 for loss with four quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery. In addition to being the Big-12 sacks leader, he ranks second in the conference in total tackles for loss.
Ilalio has collected 22 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with 1.5 sacks and a safety, while Stufflebean has 14 tackles, including 2.5 for loss with 1.0 sacks and three quarterback hurries.
Bates has tallied eight tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.5 sacks with one quarterback hurry and one forced fumble, while Obiazor has chipped in eight tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 0.5 sacks, one pass breakup, and three quarterback hurries.
At linebacker, standout Austin Romaine occupies the middle spot, with Desmond Purnell on the strong side and Austin Moore on the weak side.
Romaine has a team-high 69 tackles, including 6.5 for loss with 2.0 sacks, three quarterback hurries, and two forced fumbles. He ranks eighth in the Big 12 by averaging 7.7 tackles per game this year.
Moore ranks second on the team with 40 tackles, including 3.0 for loss with 1.5 sacks, four quarterback hurries, and one pass breakup, while Purnell has 33 tackles, including 6.0 for loss with 2.5 sacks, along with four quarterback hurries and one fumble recovery.
In the secondary, Jacob Parrish and Keenan Garber start at cornerback, with VJ Payne, Jordan Riley, and Marques Sigle as options at the starting safety positions.
Parrish and Sigle tie for the team lead among defensive backs with 39 tackles. Parrish also has two tackles for loss, two quarterback hurries, two pass breakups, and an interception, while Sigle has 4.5 tackles for loss and a pass breakup, along with a team-best three interceptions. Sigle is tied for fifth in the Big 12 with his three interceptions.
Riley has collected 36 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with 1.0 sacks, three pass breakups, a quarterback hurry, and a forced fumble, while Payne has posted 31 tackles, including 2.0 for loss with two interceptions and two forced fumbles. Garber has totaled 24 tackles with three pass breakups and one interception.
Parrish and Garber have started all nine games together at cornerback, and Payne and Sigle have also started all nine games so far this year. Riley has started eight games at his safety position.
Kansas State Defense Summary
Statistically, on a national scale, Kansas State ranks eighth in rush defense (99.4), 11th in rushing yards per carry allowed (3.12), tied for 23rd in team sacks per game (2.78), tied for 31st in team tackles for loss per game (6.6), 34th in total defense (330.8), 35th in scoring defense (21.67), 55th in third-down defense (.369) tied for 64th in turnovers gained (12) and tied for 70th in red zone defense (.846), 83rd in pass defense (230.2).
The numbers tell you that Kansas State can impact an offense in multiple ways, as the Wildcats boast a nationally elite rush defense along with the Big-12’s individual sack leader. The weakest area for the K-State defense, statistically speaking, is against the pass, so the hopes from the Sun Devil side certainly are that Sam Leavitt can continue the improved passing prowess he’s shown in his last two games.
Kansas State Special Teams
At kicker, Chris Tennant has been tremendously accurate this year as he’s connected on 14-of-16 field goal attempts (87.50%) with a long of 51. He ranks 25th nationally among eligible kickers in field goal percentage.
Punter Simon McClannan averages 41.55 yards on his 33 punts with a long of 57.
Running Back Dylan Edwards is the team’s primary returns specialist as he averages 14.00 yards on 10 punt returns with a 71-yard touchdown, while he also averages 18.89 yards on nine kickoff returns.
Overall Summary
In what will be the seventh all-time meeting between Kansas State and Arizona State and the first since K-State’s win over ASU in the 2002 Holiday Bowl, both teams enter with a 7-2 record on the year, and both remain alive in the race for the Big-12 Football Championship.
That said, both teams are on the outside looking in regarding the conference title race, and a third Big 12 defeat for either team could be catastrophic for their league championship ambitions.
Arizona State received a double dose of what could be great news with star running back Cam Skattebo and standout linebacker Keyshaun Elliott – both of whom missed last week’s game – both returning to the practice field this week and being listed as starters on the most recent depth chart.
Kansas State enters this contest after a bye week, which was perfectly timed for the Wildcats. Prior to the bye, they suffered a disappointing loss to Houston, which kicked K-State out of a top-two position in the conference title game race.
This will undoubtedly be a highly challenging road game—perhaps the most challenging of any game at any location ASU will encounter this season—with a great deal on the line for both teams.
Will Arizona State return to its earlier road woes, which resulted in losses at Texas Tech and Cincinnati, or can the Devils check yet another remarkable box off the list for what is already an unexpectedly successful season?
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