Yesterday I went through the unpleasant business of watching the replay from last Saturday’s game. Kansas State looked tired and out of sorts, and North Dakota looked fresh and motivated. I’m not sure why anyone expected something different going into the game. You may not have expected it to that level, but Kansas State was coming off a loss in a bare-knuckles brawl against Iowa State in Ireland. They were not going to be at their best last Saturday. The Wildcats decided to blow up their early-season
schedule by selling a late-season home game and plunking it down 13 hours away in a foreign country. Personally, I hated the move. However, I’m not responsible for the Kansas State Athletic Department Budget either, so my perspective is skewed towards the football side of college football and not the professional sports aspect.
Regardless, the timeline we currently occupy saw the Wildcats cross the pond and lose to Iowa State.
There was an acknowledged price for playing a week 0 game, and that was a higher probability for a Week 1 letdown, especially with a loss in Ireland. North Dakota sat at home and watched Kansas State get bludgeoned by the Cyclones and took notes. It’s no surprise that the Fighting Hawks looked like the better-prepared, more rested team.
They were, in fact, the better-prepared, more rested team.
Yes, Kansas State pays Chris Klieman a significant amount of money to have his team prepared, but that’s a little difficult when the other team not only has your game film, but they also have game film of your team under stress from the previous week. Meanwhile, Coach Klieman and company are trying to prepare for a new coach, with a new roster, and no film. Further, I’m not particularly into the idea of “bulletin board material,” but if Coach Schmidt of North Dakota didn’t use the fact that K-State chose to play them on a short week with limited preparation as a sign of “disrespect,” he should have his head football coaching credentials revoked. His team certainly looked sufficiently motivated and a touch angry on Saturday. I can’t imagine why.
That’s not an excuse; it’s the reality of the situation. The athletic department thought this team could beat North Dakota with one hand tied behind their back, and they were correct. Barely correct but correct, nevertheless.
Bullet Dodged
Don’t get me wrong, there is a laundry list of things Kansas State needs to fix, but I don’t think the outlook is as dire as some of the other Kansas State (dare I say?) pundits. I’m going to say something controversial. If you can’t handle the heat, I suggest you stop reading now, because this take is about to go thermo-nuclear.
The most reasonable explanation for the Wildcat’s poor play on Saturday is fatigue, both mental and physical, from their trip across the pond, and not because they suddenly turned into a bunch of entitled prima donnas who don’t love the game.
What I saw on tape is more easily explained by the defense having 30 carries from Abu Sama III and Carson Hansen inflicted upon them seven days ago, and then spending 13 hours crammed into a plane the next day instead of keeping their routine and starting their physical recovery. I’m going to guess Wednesday was similar to a typical Monday in normal weeks for the program last week because of the travel.
Coach Klieman talked about the secondary struggling with eye discipline, and again, I put that on North Dakota, checking out what Iowa State did on film and exploiting it against a Kansas State defense that couldn’t be anything other than vanilla. The secondary got caught looking at the wrong places because they didn’t know what to expect from the North Dakota offense, and the North Dakota offense knew precisely what to expect from the Kansas State defense.
I see it this way.
Playing North Dakota a week after the Ireland trip took K-State’s “A” game off the table. Meanwhile, it gave North Dakota the absolute best opportunity to bring their “A” game to Manhattan and full credit to Coach Schmidt and the Fighting Hawks, because that’s exactly what they brought with them to Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
A bruised and battered K-State brought their “F” game on defense, “C” game on offense, and “D” game on special teams, and escaped with a win. Usually, your “D+” game doesn’t get the job done against the other team’s “A” game. At the same time, the defense managed to rally when it mattered most, and Avery shook off an otherwise unremarkable game and pulled the season out of the fire for the Wildcats with what I hope is a career-defining drive.
All of this is to say, I haven’t lost faith just yet. I’m going to discount the first two games because of all the schedule weirdness. My theory is that if not for the trip across the pond, K-State blows out North Dakota in the opener, and everyone is still in a state of early-season bliss. I’m going into the Army game with fresh eyes, and for the sake of enjoyment, I recommend doing the same.
Looking Forward
The goal is to navigate the next two weeks against inferior opponents and then reset both sides of the ball during the off week. Remember, if you were to break down this team in terms of investment, I’m assuming it would look like this:
- Avery Johson
- Dylan Edwards
- Lincoln Cure
We haven’t seen two of Kansas State’s top two investments on offense yet and having them back will make Avery Johnson a better quarterback.
This season is far from over. Get to the break and suddenly you’re looking at 3-1 K-State with a home game against UCF, who squeaked past Jacksonville State 17-10 last weekend and was predicted to finish towards the bottom of the Big 12. Then you’ve got a trip to Waco against a Baylor team that got handled in their opener, 38-24 by Auburn.
TCU looked great against North Carolina in the opener, making homecoming on October 11th a potential stumbling block. Still, I’m going to need to see the Horned Frogs play against a team with, at minimum, competent coaching before I crown them. I
I’m calling my shot now. K-State will be 7-1 when they head to Lawrence on October 25th for one of the most impactful Sunflower Showdowns in the history of the series.
I’m not going to make any predictions past that game because I’m already way out over my skis, but the vibes are rancid at the moment, and I don’t think they should be. K-State lost to Iowa State in a hard-hitting opener without Edwards and Cure and then laid an egg against North Dakota because of the hangover from that game.
I’m looking at this Army game like it’s the opener.
I want to be impressed.
