Quarterback
*Starters in Bold
Dillon Duff: Snaps – 9 – Comp – 1/1 – Yds – 2 – Rush – 3 – Yds – -3
Blake Barnett: Snaps – 62 – Comp – 18/28 – Yds – 224 – Td – 3 – Rush – 16 – Yds – 40
Grade: B
Considering the Circumstances: A+
I feel bad for Dillon Duff. I’m going to be charitable and chalk his first-quarter performance up to being an inexperienced quarterback who’s been limited in practice all season because of injury. He was playing in his first football game since playing in, and winning, the Missouri State Championship
game in 2024 for De Smet Jesuit. The moment was too big, the game was too fast, and the ball didn’t come out of his hand. I was fairly certain the Wildcats needed to make a quarterback change after the second drive, but taking the sack on 3rd down on the 3rd drive of the game made it obvious that if Blake Barnett needed to play if he was at all capable.
Barnett entered the game at the start of the 2nd quarter. Although he couldn’t convert a 48-yard kick-off return from Brandon White into points, he ran the ball with conviction and generally looked more comfortable in all aspects of the game. Coach Klein opened up the playbook on his second drive, and he promptly drove the team 80 yards in 11 plays for the Wildcats opening touchdown. His 11-yd completion on 3rd and 8 from the Kansas State 22 to Josh Manning to pick up the first, first down of the drive may have been the most important play of the game. It gave him confidence in his ability to complete a pass, and it gave the team reassurance that their quarterback was ready to play.
In Kansas State’s 3rd-quarter touchdown drive, he did something no other Kansas State quarterback has managed thus far…namely…briefly unlock the 5-star version of Linkon Cure. The talented tight end contributed back-to-back explosive plays, including a 33-yard touchdown reception that showed why he was considered to have one of the highest ceilings in the 2024 recruiting class. He can do things other players his size can’t with the ball in his hands; it’s just that getting the ball into his hands, and it staying in his hands, has been a questionable proposition.
I’m not going to lie. I had lost all faith and was making a sandwich in the kitchen when the Wildcats started their final drive; six plays later, Barnett tied the game with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Garrett Oakley, capping off a game-tying 6-play, 62-yard, 53-second drive that drew his team within a point of the home standing Buffs with 1-second remaining on the clock.
Now, I do my best not to backseat coach, but the Wildcats were 3 yards away from winning the game with a 2-point conversion, and Coach Klien chose to kick the extra point and head into overtime instead. To recap, Kansas State was on the road against a Colorado defense that had just given up a demoralizing touchdown drive, with their somewhat injured backup-to-the-backup quarterback at the helm, and the coaching staff decided to try to win in overtime instead of punching the ball into the end zone for the win. This, after several highly questionable decisions to go for it on 4th-down the previous week.
I don’t think a single fan would have blamed Coach Klein for trying to win the game in regulation, regardless of the outcome. If your team can’t find a way to get 3-yards, they don’t deserve to win anyway. Then, in overtime, Kansas State has the ball on the Colorado 7-yard line with a 2nd and 4, and the offense runs back-to-back passes, both incomplete, setting up an overtime field goal from the 7-yard line.
I don’t understand the play calling; I don’t understand the soft mentality; I don’t understand why you don’t give Jay Harris, a 6’1”, 225-pound running back, at least one opportunity to hit the line going full speed and see if he can bully his way into the end zone. I know there’s a short-yardage package for Harris; we saw it against Tulane when he had 2 carries for 2 yards and 2 touchdowns. He played his role perfectly, and as a reward, he was benched for the rest of the season.
Blake Barnett played well enough to win this game. What you saw was the best-case scenario for a team playing its 4th quarterback in 4 weeks, and the coaching staff blew it. That loss sits squarely on Collin Klein. I feel like his poor decision-making against Arizona State informed his poor decision-making against Colorado. This is purely my opinion, but I think this game ends differently if he doesn’t coach the Arizona State game like a 7th-grader hopped up on Mt. Dew playing NCAA College Football who decides punting is for cowards.
I’m going to write this off as a learning experience, but a team shuffling through quarterbacks shouldn’t also have to overcome bad coaching decisions as well.
Running Back
- Rodney Fields Jr.: Snaps – 40 – Att – 12 – Yds – 65 – Rec – 2 – Yds – 9
- Joe Jackson: Snaps – 33 – Att – 7 – Yds – 13
Grade: B-
Fields remains a good, not great, running back. He’s a physical runner, but he lacks the wiggle and open-field acceleration to turn a good run into a great one. He was good in this game, but teams aren’t game-planning to stop Kansas State’s run game, and that’s a problem. Without Avery, this offense lacks the home run threat on the ground that has been a staple of past Kansas State offenses.
In theory, Joe Jackson is a home-run threat, but after running for 159 yards against Kansas, he’s put up 30 combined yards against Arizona State and Colorado. That’s been the Joe Jackson experience. Every now and again, the stars align, and he looks like the next great Kansas State running back; then they fall back out of alignment, and he returns to being mediocre.
The backs were fine in this game, but after watching Deuce and DJ, it’s hard to get excited about Fields and Jackson.
Wide Receiver
- Josh Manning: Snaps – 67 – Targets – 8 – Rec – 6 – Yds – 73 – Td – 1
- Jaron Tibbs: Snaps – 71 – Targets – 7 – Rec – 5 – Yds – 54
- Derrick Salley Jr.: Snaps – 54- Targets – 5 – Rec – 0
Grade: B-
The wide receiver rotation has boiled down to three: Manning and Salley Jr. on the outside, with Tibbs in the slot. Brandon White has been relegated to returning kicks (not punts, though, because he can’t catch the ball out of the air, which seems like an important skill for a punt returner), and Izaiah Williams is playing the same role he featured in at Texas A&M…left out. Kansas State needed one of the two to hit, and they came up empty. I like Manning, Tibbs, and Salley Jr. individually, but as a group, they’re too one-note. None of these guys are going to turn a 5-yard pass into a 40-yard touchdown. They’re going to turn 12-yard receptions into 15-yard gains, which accounts for their ability to fall forward after the catch.
Much like the running backs, they were fine, but it sure would be nice for someone, really anyone, to make life easier on the quarterback (whomever that may be) and make a play outside of the offense.
Tight End
- Garrett Oakley: Snaps – 60 – Targets – 3 – Rec – 3- Yds – 25 – Td– 1
- Oliver Miller: Snaps – 15 – No Stats
- Linkon Cure: Snaps – 13 – Targets – 3 – Rec – 3 – Yds – 65 – Td – 1
Grade: A
Garrett Oakley was close to full strength in this game and did what he usually does, namely, get open over the middle on 3rd down and catch touchdowns in the red zone. That’s a handy skill set for a tight end and one of the main reasons Oakley’s football career will continue after his time at Kansas State. He does everything you need from a tight end. It may not be spectacular, but he gets the job done.
Okay, so there’s this scene in National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation where Clark Griswold is trying to get his exterior lights working. After his family goes inside after an initial failed attempt, he goes down to the basement, flips the light switch, and the lights turn on. While he’s yelling for everyone to come outside, his wife goes into the basement, notices the lights are on, turns the light off, and all of the exterior lights turn off again, and Clark freaks out and destroys some stuff before his wife figures out the problem and turns the basement light switch on again.
Linkon Cure was my equivalent to Clark Griswold’s 25,000 imported Italian twinkle lights on Saturday. That one drive at the end of the third quarter, when he caught two consecutive passes and the Kansas State offense looked like putting the ball in the end zone wasn’t that big of a deal, actually; it was something I’d been waiting to see for about 1 and 1/2 seasons of college football. Then the quarter ended, and the Linkon Cure light went dark again. I had to go back and watch the drive again to make sure it wasn’t some sort of mid-afternoon nap hallucination, and I can confirm that for 2 plays on Saturday, the idea that Linkon Cure is the highest-rated recruit to ever choose Kansas State didn’t seem all that ridiculous.
To add one more movie reference into this section, “just when I thought I was out, Linkon Cure pulled me back in!”
If you haven’t noticed, I think the main issue with this offense is a lack of athletes who can make plays outside of the offense. Linkon is an athlete who can make plays outside of the offense. Kansas State needs to find a way to get him the ball space.
Offensive Line
Left Tackle
Ryan Howard: Snaps – 71
Left Guard
Tanner Morely: Snaps – 71
Center
Dylan Villarouel: Snaps – 71
Right Guard
- Charlie Adams: Snaps – 67
- Keiton Jones: Snaps – 4
Right Tackle
Gus Hawkins: Snaps – 71
Grade: C
The offensive line played well enough to win, but when the game was on the line, Coach Klein didn’t think they could get the job done from the 3-yard line. This unit is supposed to be the Wildcat’s calling card, but if that’s the case, there’s no question about going for it on the 3-yard line or running it at least once when you’ve got a 2nd and 4 at the 7-yard line in overtime.
Colorado was credited with 5 sacks, but only 4 of them were on the offensive line. Duff was sacked because he refused to throw the ball. PFF credits Charlie Adams with 2 sacks and Joe Jackson with one. My one request is to never see Joe Jackson in pass protection again because he’s not good at it…like at all…real, real, real bad, in fact.
This is still a young unit, made up of a bunch of guys going through their first full season of starting duty on a P4 team. All things considered, this group is about as good as you’d expect. The good news is that next season, this line will have a bunch of guys going through their second full season of starting duty on a P4 team (all portal disclaimers apply) together.
The hope is that a mediocre 2026 season leads to another dominant line in 2027. That doesn’t help things right now, but hope springs eternal.
