K-State gets stunned by Tulane in Manhattan with a final score 17-10.

The first quarter for the Cats felt uninspired offensively. We were expecting Martinez to start slinging it downfield, but he didn’t look for his options.

He had time in the pocket to go deep with the offensive line protecting him well, but he wasn’t able to capitalize. K-State had just 46 yards of total offense in the opening frame and punter Ty Zentner punted it away three times.

Both sides of the ball continued to commit penalties at the line of scrimmage which was an issue last week. Tulane scored first with a one-yard rushing touchdown from junior running back Tyjae Spears with a solid drive from Green Wave senior quarterback Michael Pratt.

To open the second quarter, K-State had a promising drive going. Even still, Martinez had a first down play where he had multiple receivers open down the field, but he instead decided to check it down.

With a fourth and one at the Tulane at the 30-yard line, offensive coordinator Collin Klein decided to have Martinez lined up in a shotgun formation and handed it off to 5-foot-6 running back Deuce Vaughn. He had not been very effective to that point, and he ended up coming short. K-State had a fourth and short earlier in the drive and decided to do a QB sneak which succeeded.

On the next drive, it was another conservative start until K-State got to the Tulane 21-yard line. Martinez made his first pass attempt longer than 10 yards and threw an absolute dime to senior wide receiver Kade Warner in the corner of the endzone for his first passing touchdown as a Cat with 2:43 left in the half.

Tulane’s offense moved the ball and were looking for one more score before the break, but senior linebacker Daniel Green intercepted Pratt and returned it for 49 yards to give K-State another chance to score. The Cats settled for three points with a 22-yard field goal from kicker Chris Tennant to take a 10-7 lead into the break.

The opening drive for K-State started out promising with a 26-yard run from Deuce, but it stagnated just inside midfield as they turned it over on downs on a failed attempt on fourth and eight.

The Green Wave used momentum from the stop to generate a solid drive. Pratt got some chunk plays which allowed Tulane to tie the game 10-10. Both teams were unable to generate any offense for the rest of the quarter.

On K-State’s final drive of the quarter, the Cats failed to convert on another fourth down try, this time with DJ Giddens getting a carry on fourth and two.

K-State’s defense stayed true coming up with their second interception of the day from cornerback Kobe Savage. That would amount to nothing, though, as Tulane got a three-and-out.

The Cats had another chance on a fourth and two, and yet again, they failed. This time they tried an option to the left side that was completely smothered by the Tulane D-Line.

With good field position, we finally saw the scoreboard move as Tulane got a four-yard touchdown reception from Tyrick James with 4:27 to go.

K-State needed to respond on the next drive, but they couldn’t.

Tulane got the ball back with 2:18 left. K-State’s defense got a few stops to make it 4th and short with 2:03 left. The Green Wave went for it and got it to seal the game.

Martinez finished the game 21-for-31 (68%) with only 150 yards and a touchdown. He also had 13 carries for 59 yards. Deuce’s streak of 100+ yard games was snapped as Tulane held him to 20 carries for only 81 yards.

K-State was 1-for-5 on fourth down tries and just 2-for-15 on third down conversions. The Wildcats were only in the redzone one time.

K-State falls to 2-1 and they somehow have to rebound against a top ten 3-0 Oklahoma team in Norman next week. Kickoff is at 7 p.m.