What is their body of work?
So here is the thing. Only one guy has ever been able to win at Kansas State: Bill Snyder. He won there, retired, had another coach fail and then he came back and won again.
And now he's retired again. Chris Klieman is going to try to be the first non-Snyder to win in Manhattan KS. (Interesting fact. The town was known founded by a group of NE immigrants who wanted to keep Kansas a free state and was known as Boston. Then, a boat wrecked there with another group of free-state immigrants, this time from New York. They agreed to stay only if the town was known as Manhattan, not Boston.)
Anyway, Klieman is a proven winner with multiple FCS titles at North Dakota State. He will try to translate that success to the Big 12. For them, that's the general storyline right now. They were 5-7 last year and picked to be 8th in the Big-12. They won big in their opener against an FCS team that made the playoffs last season.
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| So Clever |
How many seniors and juniors on the two-deep?
They have 29...which is an experienced team.
Who are their returning statistical leaders?
No nationally ranked statistical leaders return.
DL Reggie Walker was first-team all-Big 12
What was their turnover ratio?
They were +2 last season.
Offense:
How is their QB play?
Apparently, Snyder changed QBs constantly last year. Skylar Thompson and Alex Delton shared the time. Delton is off to TCU and Thompson has the job. He had a good opener against Nicholls State. Last year he completed 59% of his passes at 11 yards per completion, neither of which is nothing special. He had 9 TDs and 4 picks. He is a running threat and was the team's second-leading rusher.
What is their scoring and yards per play?
For years, they were over 30 points over last season. Last year, they scored 22.5. They had 5.2 yards per play...exactly what BG did and 104th in the nation.
Can they run the ball?
They were not good last year at 4.5 yards per carry and 56th in their country. Their lead back left early and was undrafted and cut by the Titans. All the other backs left, too. They have two grad transfers...Jordon Brown from North Carolina and familiar face James Gilbert from Ball State and another from Louisville. Four guys in total fared well in the opener, along with a couple of other players. Gilbert started on the 1 line.
Do they pass the ball?
They really only had one productive WR return. WR is probably a question mark right now.
How is their run/pass balance?
New coach this year, so who knows.
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Earl Woods graduated from K-State and played baseball.
He was the first black baseball player in the conference |
Do they convert on 3rd Down?
39% was 72nd in country.
Do they score in the red zone?
Very average/bad...4.1 points per trip.
Do they protect the quarterback?
They give up sacks on 10.2% of their pass attempts, which is very high. They also lost three players from that team on the OL, though they return a couple good players.
Defense:
Topline: Scoring and yards per play.
They were good. They allowed 25 points per game, which was 49th in the country and allowed 5.9 yards per play, which was less good and ranked in the 70s.
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| Manhattan Native |
Did they defend the run effectively?
They were 95th in the nation allowing 4.9 per rush. Everyone is back, though, and Phil Steele felt they had a shot at having one of the better d-lines in the Big-12. They'll be a good test for our guys.
Can they be passed on?
They were 60th in the nation in passing efficiency defense. They gave up 60% completions and 11.6 yards per reception and 20 TDs over 11 INT. They had a couple key losses off that team.
Do they get off the field on 3rd down?
They were poor at 45% and 110th in the nation.
Do they defend in the red zone?
They were average at 4.9 per trip allowed.
It is an unusual set of numbers. They were #39 in scoring, yet below that in many of the individual numbers.
Do they pressure the QB?
They did not have a good year. They had sacks on 4% of attempts.
Special Teams:
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| Mr. Carlson went to K-State |
Punting?
They were 65th in net punting last year and they gave up 1 TD.
Punt Return?
Their star returner from last year is not back, so this is a question mark.
Placekicking?
He was very good last year. He was 14 out of 16. He was 14 out of 14 inside 50. No blocks.
Kickoff?
They allowed 19 a return.
Kickoff Return?
As noted, their star returner graduated.
Miscellaneous: Overall atmospherics and intangibles.
For reference, BG has played KSU once and lost 58-0. The Wildcats are 22 out of their last 25 against non-conference opposition. K-State opened as a 24.5 point favorite and it would be hard to argue with that line. K-State schedules games like this to get a win at home and there's every reason to expect that to happen. Honestly, if BG won this one it would be possibly the biggest upset in program history.
Kansas State is one of three schools with only one color.
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