The longer Kansas State’s football game against Colorado went on Saturday night at Folsom Field the more it began to feel like a duel between two talented quarterbacks.
On one sideline, Shedeur Sanders completed a whopping 85% of his passes for 388 yards and three touchdowns for the Buffaloes.
On the other sideline, Avery Johnson battled through an injury and made clutch plays on his way to 224 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats.
Both quarterbacks were stellar. But only one of them could leave with a win.
In the end, that dynamic young passer turned out to be Johnson. The sophomore from Maize engineered his first game-winning drive as a college quarterback, and he did it in style. Johnson led the Wildcats 84 yards in three plays and put his team ahead for good when he connected with wide receiver Jayce Brown for a 50-yard touchdown pass on a go route against man coverage with 2 minutes, 14 seconds remaining.
Johnson long ago proved he could make highlight plays for the Wildcats. On Saturday, he showed that he can also make clutch plays by leading K-State to a thrilling 31-28 victory in front of 53,972 rowdy fans and a national TV audience.
“This is what football is all about,” Johnson said afterward. “Man, we wanted to put the game away the drive before. Some things obviously didn’t go our way. Ultimately, you have just got to make plays in big moments. Coach (Chris) Klieman has challenged me and some of our captains and our top players on the team to just make plays in big moments. That’s what our guys did tonight.”
K-State fans will remember this game for a long time, especially the ones who stayed up past midnight and watched the Sunday morning heroics from Johnson and his teammates.
This could be a launching point for Johnson as he looks to deliver more wins like this in the future.
“It just shows the killer mentality he has and the winning mentality he has,” K-State running back Dylan Edwards said. “He’s a great player. It shows every single Saturday, and you guys will see it more in the weeks to come.”
To be fair, Johnson’s touchdown pass to Brown didn’t technically clinch a victory for K-State. The game wasn’t over until the Wildcats forced Colorado to turn the ball over on downs, with defensive back Keenan Garber preventing Sanders from connecting with Will Sheppard on a fourth-and-long.
But it was the play of the game for K-State.
When you consider that Johnson also ran for a touchdown and connected on another touchdown pass to Brown earlier in the night, it makes Johnson’s performance look even better. Perhaps best of all, he shook off an interception in the fourth quarter and then led K-State on its decisive touchdown drive.
“He’s a winner,” K-State running back DJ Giddens said, who caught a 34-yard pass before Johnson connected with Brown. “After he threw that pick he could have been down about it but he came back and didn’t let it faze him. That’s maturity. He’s maturing. He went out there and made a play.”
Not just any play, either.
He led the Wildcats past the Buffaloes and outdueled Sanders in the Rockies. This was the finest moment of his young college football career at K-State.
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