3 instant takeaways from WSU's 34-7 loss to Kansas State

For the Washington State Cougars, Saturday football produced a lot of the same results as Sunday football.

Avery Johnson threw for 192 yards and three touchdowns, and Kansas State handed the Cougars a lopsided 34-7 loss in Manhattan, Kansas, on Saturday afternoon.

The Kirby Moore era is now off to a 0-2 start after WSU lost the Apple Cup to 17th-ranked Washington, 24-10, last Sunday in Seattle.

The Wildcats rolled up 482 yards of offense, keeping possession of the football for 34 minutes, 20 seconds.

The game endured a weather delay that extended halftime nearly an hour.

Here are three takeaways from WSU's loss to Kansas State:

1. WSU has no offensive game-breaker to help Pinnick

Caden Pinnick was spotty in performance Saturday. He continued to flash big-play skills in the run game, though not as often as he did in his WSU quarterback debut in the Apple Cup.

And the Cougars' pass game continues to operate in the middle of a 15-yard bubble.

What continues to surround Pinnick - no game-breaker with the speed to scare a defense - isn't the quarterback's fault. He is being asked to make a fair amount of timing throws on sideline comeback routes to his bigger wide receivers.

And those receivers aren't winning the one-on-one matchups to move the chains.

So, what is this offense exactly through two games? It is tailback Kirby Vorhees' hard inside running intending to set the Cougars up in better down-and-distance situations. Maxwell Woods also looks like he has a little juice in the backfield as well, but isn't a volume playmaker.

It all leaves a lot on Pinnick's plate. Can he overcome the offense's skill-player deficiencies? Apparently not against good defenses - the Cougars have scored one touchdown on that side of the ball in eight quarters.

2. In 66 seconds after long rain delay, this game turned badly

The Cougars ended the first half with a bang - a 47-yard interception return for a touchdown by safety Jaylen Thomas to cut the deficit to 17-7.

At halftime, both teams were informed of a pending weather delay, which added an extra 56 minutes before the third quarter started.

Did it stunt WSU's momentum?

The answer came in the first 66 seconds of the second half.

WSU's offense went three-and-out after two Pinnick incompletions to end the series, and Kansas State hit on its first big play of the afternoon right out of the gate.

Running back Rodney Fields Jr. broke through the line on an inside handoff and outraced the WSU defense on a career-long 74-yard touchdown run to give the Wildcats a 24-7 lead at the 13:54 mark of the third quarter.

For a WSU defense that was again a stout challenge in the first half, the Cougars began leaking big-play oil after that. They gave up a 37-yard completion of Avery Johnson to Josh Manning, who had a career-high 10 receptions in the game.

And Johnson (26 yards) and Joe Jackson (34 yards) broke off long runs later in the quarter.

3. Another missed field goal set bad early tone

Normally-reliable Jack Stevens is in the midst of bad kicking spell on field goals.

In back-to-back weeks, Stevens could not convert a field goal on the Cougars' opening drive.

On Saturday, Stevens' attempt was at a much shorter distance - 37 yards - than his opening miss in the Apple Cup.

Moore had expressed concern over the whole "operation" - snap, hold and kick - on field goals during his weekly press conference Monday. This will only add to the concern.

Only this time, Stevens appeared to be at fault, delivering a low kick that was deflected by a Kansas State defensive lineman from the middle of the blocking scrum. The attempt detoured well left of the goalposts - and the Cougars came away empty after the offense marched 56 yards to get in position to score.

After that miss, Stevens is now 1-for-4 on field goals this season.

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