Kansas State football quarterbacks Will Howard and Avery Johnson on point in blowout win
MANHATTAN — Kansas State football served early notice that it is not messing around.
After a sluggish start, the No. 17-ranked Wildcats exploded for 28 second-quarter points Saturday night on the way to a season-opening 45-0 blowout of Southeast Missouri State at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Here are five observations from a dominating Wildcat victory.
Related: Why Kansas State football quarterback Will Howard is oozing confidence for the 2023 season
Will Howard is ready to make K-State offense his own
Senior quarterback Will Howard showed in no uncertain terms that he is ready to take the reins of the K-State offense from the start.
That was evident after he threw an interception on the Wildcats' second possession and immediately shook it off and kept chucking the ball downfield.
In the first half, Howard completed 16 of 22 passes for 252 yards and two touchdowns, plus caught a scoring pass from running back Treshaun Ward and ran for another on a 1-yard keeper. The touchdown passes went for 33 yards to Jadon Jackson on the Wildcats' opening drive and 37 to RJ Garcia in the second.
K-State led 35-0 at halftime.
Howard played into the third quarter and finished his day 18 of 26 passing for 297 yards and two touchdowns.
Related: How Collin Klein has managed to keep crowded Kansas State football quarterback room intact
Collin Klein reaches into his bag of tricks
Collin Klein seldom resorted to trickery last year in his first season as K-State's offensive coordinator.
But instead of going vanilla in the season opener against an FCS opponent, Klein reached into his bag of tricks in the second quarter with the Wildcats up 28-0 right before halftime.
Howard handed the ball to Ward, who threw it back to Howard in the left flat, and Howard ran to the end zone for a 35-0 advantage with 38 seconds to go in the half.
Related: Five top returning players to watch on Kansas State football's defense heading into 2023
Revamped K-State's defense pitches a shutout
The biggest question mark for K-State's defense was how it would handle the loss of four starters to the NFL, including Big 12 defensive player Felix Anudike-Uzomah.
The Wildcats provided some positive answers against SEMO. Yes, they will face stiffer competition in the coming weeks, but the Redhawks' strength coming in was their offense, including FCS All-America running back Gen2o Hess, the school's all-time rushing leader.
K-State held the Redhawks to 227 total yards, including 6 on the ground.
Related: Why Kansas State football offensive coordinator Collin Klein is ready to use all three QBs
Introducing Avery Johnson as QB2
Avery Johnson was the star of Kansas State's 2023 recruiting class and presumably the quarterback of the future. But he as exceeded expectations since arriving on campus last spring.
Both Klein and head coach Chris Klieman said that Johnson was challenging Jake Rubley for the backup quarterback job, and that was confirmed against SEMO when he was the first one off the bench in relief of Howard late in the third quarter.
Johnson promptly led the Wildcats on a 79-yard scoring drive, completing both of his passes for 40 yards and rushing three times for 27, including a 7-yard touchdown run.
Johnson finished 3 of 4 passing for 55 yards and ran five times for 32 yards.
Kicker Chris Tennant passes first test
Junior kicker Chris Tennant, whose struggles with consistency last year cost him the starting job midway through the season, made a strong statement that he is ready to take over again in 2023.
After converting all five extra points in the first half, he also showed his range by knocking through a 51-yard field goal in the third quarter.
The 51-yarder equaled Tennant's career long, from his freshman year against Texas.
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football rolls to shutout victory over Southeast Missouri
