MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Avery Johnson passed for 298 yards and three touchdowns in leading 17^th-ranked Kansas State to an 45-18 victory over West Virginia on homecoming Saturday night at Milan Puskar Stadium.
 
The Mountaineers, wanting to stop Kansas State's eighth-ranked rushing attack that was averaging 241 yards per game, couldn't come up with an answer for Johnson's passing.
 
Johnson connected on 19 of his 29 passes to nine different receivers, including three each to Keegan Johnson, Ty Bowman and Dylan Edwards.
 
Kansas State got 114 yards on the ground - 88 of those coming in the fourth quarter when the outcome was already decided.
 
Mountaineer starting quarterback Garrett Greene completed 9-of-19 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown and ran 10 times for 88 yards before getting injured and giving way to backup Nicco Marchiol in the second half.
 
Marchiol completed 6 of his 13 passes for 58 yards and failed to gain a yard on his nine rushing attempts. WVU got 230 of its 294 total yards in the first half, while Kansas State finished the night with 412 yards of offense.
 
Tight end Kole Taylor caught four passes for 61 yards for the Mountaineers.
 
Starting running back Jahiem White and starting left tackle Wyatt Milum also left the game with first-half injuries and did not return.
 
"I don't know if I've ever been a part of a game where so many guys got hurt," West Virginia coach Neal Brown said afterward.
 
West Virginia was trailing by one score at halftime.
 
Kansas State (6-1, 3-1) needed only 19 offensive plays to score 17 first half points, seven of those coming on Marques Sigle's 42-yard interception return for a touchdown.
 
On the prior possession, the Wildcats got into the end zone on Johnson's 60-yard touchdown pass to Jadon Jackson when Jackson ran past safety Anthony Wilson Jr. down the middle of the field.
 
K-State's other first-half score, Chris Tennant's 44-yard field goal, came after Jack Fabris picked off Greene's tipped pass at the K-State 37 that Traylon Ray couldn't haul in.
 
West Virginia got a Michael Hayes II 44-yard field goal on its second possession of the game, and then marched 70 yards during a 13-play drive that culminated with Greene's 7-yard quick slant touchdown strike to Hudson Clement.
 
The Mountaineers forced a K-State punt and took possession of the ball on their own 7 with 5:09 left in the second quarter. A Rodney Gallagher III run of 10 yards, and Greene's 34-yard pass to Taylor got the Mountaineers out of a big hole.
 
A Greene 18-yard scramble on third and 10 gave the Mountaineers a new set of downs at the Wildcat 29, and then three plays later, Desmond Purnell's facemask penalty on Greene gave WVU another first down at the 12.
 
Two short runs and Greene's 8-yard screen pass to Gallagher made it fourth and 1 at the Wildcat 3. WVU called timeout with 28 seconds left, and rather than kicking a field goal, the Mountaineers rolled the dice and went for it. Greene was flushed out of the pocket and appeared to have Taylor open in the end zone, but he was unable to get the ball to him.
 
K-State took control of the game in the third quarter. 
 
On their opening possession, the Wildcats got two clutch plays from Johnson, a 7-yard third down pass to Jayce Brown to the WVU 49 and then a fourth-and-5 hookup to Ty Bowman for 11 yards to the WVU 29. 
 
Sean Martin appeared to have Johnson sacked back near the 40, but Johnson was able to get out of his grasp and buy enough time until Bowman got open.
 
Three plays later, Johnson fired a 16-yard touchdown pass to tight end Garrett Oakley between two Mountaineer defenders.
 
After a West Virginia punt, Johnson got K-State right back in business with a 53-yard pass to running back DJ Giddens to the Mountaineer 1. It took Kansas State three plays to punch it in, the scoring play coming on Johnson's 1-yard pass to backup tight end Will Anciaux. Tennant's conversion kick made it 31-10, Wildcats.
 
Kansas State's fifth touchdown took just 3:36 and was the result of Giddens' 1-yard plunge. A Johnson 18-yard pass to Anciaux and Dylan Edwards' 24-yard run were the key plays on the drive that was also aided by a holding penalty called on Jaheem Joseph on Johnson's incomplete third down pass.
 
A couple of Kansas State defensive penalties, one coming on CJ Donaldson Jr.'s fourth and 1 run, contributed to WVU's second touchdown, a Marchiol-to-Ray, 12-yard bullet. Marchiol's two-point conversion pass to Taylor reduced the Wildcats' lead to 38-18.
 
The Mountaineers gave the ball back to Kansas State on downs at their 27, and two Giddens runs turned it into seven more points, six of those coming on his 18-yard touchdown run.
 
Tennant got the other on his sixth conversion kick.
 
Kansas State took a knee at West Virginia's 1 to end the game.
 
"We just got our tails kicked in the second half," Brown said. "It just wasn't good enough."
 
West Virginia has now dropped five straight homecoming games and falls to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play. The Mountaineers four losses have come against teams that have a combined 25-1 record so far this season.
 
WVU is back on the road to play at Arizona next Saturday. The Wildcats lost 34-7 to Colorado earlier today and are also 3-4 overall but just 1-3 in league play.
 
A game time on next Saturday's game is forthcoming.