The 2025 vintage of Wildcats will take the field in a few short hours in a game that will set the course for the rest of the season.
I’ve spent the first few games making excuses for this team because of the Ireland trip. I still think selling a rivalry game and completely blowing up your planned schedule was athletic department malpractice, but it’s time for this team to either put up or shut up.
We all heard the hype coming into the season. Hell, I was the conductor of the hype band at one point,
saying crazy things like “the window of opportunity is open for Kansas State” and other such nonsense. I bought into the skill and speed on this roster. I bought into the Avery and Dylan Show. I bought into the defensive depth. I thought this was going to be a magical season for the Wildcats. I thought you might see just how badly the athletic department wants to keep Chris Klieman this offseason, because I was expecting Kansas State to be that good.
What I didn’t anticipate was this team losing its identity. I saw all the speed and skill, and sort of assumed the strength and toughness were still there because that’s Kansas State’s identity. In boxing terms, I wanted the Wildcats to have more knockout power to go along with their vicious jab and body shots. Now, instead of throwing jabs, this team is winging in power punches from the outside and hoping they connect. At one point this program under Chris Klieman dictated the terms of every game. If you were going to beat Kansas State, you were going to have to beat them at their own game.
Now I’m not sure what that game is. According to PFF, the worst aspect of the Kansas State team, on either side of the ball, is run blocking. That’s wild to me. That’s not how this coaching staff wins football games, and it’s a huge red flag. When you get away from the key building blocks of a program, things can get bad. I’m not sure this coaching staff knows how to utilize this roster best, even though, on paper, it’s their most talented. In theory, what this roster does best isn’t something that this coaching staff is particularly good at coaching.
I’ve watched this team take the field three times this season, and I’m still not sure what they want to do on either side of the ball. I doubt this coaching staff anticipated losing Dylan Edwards on the first offensive play of Week 0 (although word on the street is he will be back for this game) or that their massive time and resources investment in Lincoln Cure would net more than zero snaps through the first three contests, but that’s even more reason to feature your toughness early. I thought Kansas State could flip with the switch, and their run game would show up, but that hasn’t been the case. The blocking has been uninspired, and the running backs have been dropping on first contact. Avery is refusing to tuck the ball and run when the opportunities present themselves, and Matt Wells appears to be a quarterback run game skeptic.
I thought Avery was going to be a breakout college football star, but I haven’t seen an inkling of that outside of the last drive against North Dakota. He’s gone from being “the best athlete on the field,” according to Coach Klieman, to an average college pocket passer who relies on the talent around him to get the job done. I understand that the coaching staff has been trying to save his running for later, but it’s the fourth game of the season, and it’s already looking late. Kansas State needs Avery Johnson to be an elite quarterback, and he’s not that if his team is more concerned about his injury status than winning games.
From my perspective, I see too much thinking on the sidelines and too much thinking on the field. Instead of coming out and winning the game with effort and determination mixed with enough athletes to get the job done, this team comes out and tries to out-scheme the opponent. It’s too clever by half. For the first time in the Klieman era, Kansas State looks passive, uncertain, and is playing tight. I would say the most common emotion I’ve seen from this team is frustration. They’re not angry that they’re losing; they’re frustrated that the other team isn’t letting them win. It looks like everyone thinks winning a football game should be easy.
I’ve been hard on the offense because that’s clearly where Kansas State decided to spend its money this offseason, but the defense hasn’t covered itself in glory either. I hyped up the defensive line’s depth, but maybe I should have been more concerned about their quality. Having 6-8 average to slightly above average defensive linemen doesn’t make up for not having one guy you can trust to get the job done in the crunch. There has been ample opportunity for someone on the defense to step up and make a play, and I’ve yet to see it. You can talk all you want about scheme and coaching, but at the end of the day, the defense has to find a way to get the other team on the ground in a timely manner. They have failed to do so when it matters most.
It doesn’t matter what Arizona does tonight. It doesn’t matter how they line up or who they line up if Kansas State doesn’t play like a Kansas State team. That means establishing the run, hitting some timely passes, and playing a swarming, enthusiastic brand of defense that can occasionally overwhelm an opponent with energy and hustle alone. Until I see some signs of life out of the offensive and defensive line, the other team is almost irrelevant, and that’s what I’m looking for tonight.
This isn’t a preview, it’s a plea.
Kansas State, please start playing football like Kansas State. There are enough generic college football teams in this world; y’all have an identity.
Right now, this team looks like Kansas in purple uniforms. That needs to end tonight.
