Players of the game: Kansas State QB Will Howard stays hot

OFFENSIVE MVP: Will Howard

Kansas State quarterback Adrian Martinez left the game with an injury late in the first quarter. Will Howard came in and delivered three passing touchdowns to spark the K-State offense.

Ben Sinnott was heavily considered for the MVP as well. He benefitted more than anyone else when Howard checked into the contest. He caught two touchdowns. Both were impressive catches, but they would not have been made possible if it wasn’t for the perfect throws from his quarterback.

The first one in particular was between a swarm of three Baylor defenders. It is hard to overstate just how perfect that toss was from No. 18 for Kansas State.

Howard also took advantage by using Deuce Vaughn in the passing game. The running back’s only score came through the air. His quarterback checked down to him throughout the night. The Wildcats’ star also rushed effectively and had over 100 yards on 22 carries.

DJ Giddens logged the only rushing touchdown of the night for K-State and had 13 carries for 56 yards.

DEFENSIVE MVP: Julius Brents

Not much didn’t go well for the Kansas State defense, which held Baylor to just three points.

Josh Hayes was almost chosen, but cornerback Julius Brents deserved it just a little more. After missing pretty much all of the game versus Texas thanks to a targeting call, Brents played perfect coverage on the outside. He does a terrific job of not impeding receivers and playing the ball when it is thrown his direction.

Hayes also had some massive plays. He piled up more drive-stopping tackles than any other Wildcat. Both he and K-State safety Kobe Savage left the game with injuries. TJ Smith and Cincere Mason saw more action on the back end than usual because of it.

Savage and Drake Cheatum accounted for the two Kansas State interceptions.

Linebackers Austin Moore and Daniel Green were productive and led the team in tackles. Khalid Duke had the only tackle for loss for the Wildcats. Neither team disrupted the quarterback too much. Blake Shapen had enough time to pass for a lot of the game. His only problem was that the K-State secondary had them clamped.

SPECIAL TEAMS MVP: Ty Zentner

Ensuring to take the touchback instead of return punts and kickoffs may have been an emphasis in practice. There were some ill-advised returns in the loss last week, and in Waco, we only saw a total of two returns by Kansas State.

To be fair, there were not a lot of kickoff return opportunities thanks to the dominating K-State defense.

Ty Zentner continues his perfect season since taking over field goal duties by knocking in a 31-yarder. He also punted it just twice and pinned both inside the 20. The kick coverage was also good in the minimal time needed on the field.