K-State Q&A: football, basketball and Christmas carols

I was going to start this week’s K-State Q&A by writing something about bowl games.

Not sure what exactly, but something. There are lots of them. They are fun to pick, especially if you do the confidence system. And they are about to start. Seemed like a decent enough topic to lead into your questions with.

Then I noticed K-State football players sharing videos of themselves singing Christmas carols around campus last night, and, well I decided to go this route instead.

It appears the Wildcats are good at football and singing.

Now let’s get to your questions. Thanks, as always, for asking them.

I would love to ask this question to K-State offensive coordinator Dana Dimel, alas Snyder doesn’t let media speak with his assistants but one day a year and the Texas Bowl isn’t requiring coordinators to speak with media the way past bowls have. So ...

Without direct access to K-State’s staff, I can’t tell you a definitive answer, but here’s my guess:

I think there are several reasons behind the run shift, but the biggest probably comes down to quarterback. Though Joe Hubener completed less than half his passes last year, he wasn’t bad throwing deep. So when opposing defenses came up to stop the run, K-State tried to take advantage with long throws. It tried to do the same in early games this season, asking Ertz to throw vertically against Stanford and West Virginia and Oklahoma, but he couldn’t connect with anyone.

Then he hurt his throwing shoulder and everything changed. K-State coaches knew he couldn’t throw deep and shifted to a run-based attack with short passes sprinkled in. And it was way better.

The Wildcats averaged 290 rushing yards over their past six games, all of which came after Ertz’s injury against Oklahoma. I don’t think there’s any doubt that played a big role in this.

But it wasn’t the only factor. Alex Barnes wasn’t playing last season and Justin Silmon barely knew the plays. Now they both look like beasts.

K-State’s offensive line also went from looking like a train wreck against Stanford to looking like a NFL front five against TCU. That was huge. Running behind this offensive line is the obvious thing to do.

And the opponents had a little to do with it. Other than TCU, nobody K-State faced during the back half of the season had a defense capable of stopping the run.

However it happened, K-State found its offensive idendity and should continue trying to pound the ball on the ground in the Texas Bowl.

Not as low as USC at the 2012 Sun Bowl, but not as high as Boise State at the 2007 Fiesta Bowl.

Somewhere in the middle.

Texas A&M had much bigger dreams than the Texas Bowl when it started 6-0 and was ranked in the top four of the initial College Football Playoff rankings. So it’s hard to imagine the Aggies putting their hearts and souls into beating K-State later this month. At the same time, the game will be played close to College Station in a NFL stadium, and when A&M takes the field that should boost the team’s spirits tremendously.

They should still play with lots of energy.

I think K-State is in its best position to win a bowl game since the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

UCLA and Arkansas were much better teams heading into the Alamo and Liberty Bowls. This matchup seems even.

K-State ended the season on an uptick. Texas A&M finished 2-4. The Wildcats have the motivational advantage. K-State has gone undefeated against Texas teams this year. There are a lot of reasons to like K-State in this game. Yet, Bill Snyder is 1-5 in bowl games during his second stint as coach.

For several reasons, the traits that give him an advantage during the regular season seem to disappear during the bowl season. I wrote about it before the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl. Maybe K-State wins another bowl this year. I’m not sure what to predict just yet.

K-State’s rushing attack and Texas A&M’s passing attack should produce similar numbers, but I expect the Wildcats to have a slight edge given how committed they have been to their ground game.

Texas A&M hasn’t allowed many sacks this season. But Jordan Willis is really good. Let’s say two sacks.

I will put the over/under on interceptions at .5. The Aggies only threw eight this season.

He will be better.

K-State quarterbacks tend to make big jumps in their second years as starters, and Ertz should feel much more comfortable in the pocket next season. He should start the season healthy, too.

Collin Klein grew leaps and bounds as a passer when he was a senior. Jake Waters set the school’s single-season record for yardage when he was a senior. I don’t know that Ertz will play at that level, but he will be better. Expect him to start connecting on some of the deep passes he couldn’t hit this season.

That’s a tough one for me.

I really only like a small handful of Christmas movies.

Christmas Vacation is the gold standard. As you can probably tell by my new Twitter avatar, I could watch and laugh at that movie every day in December. Elf is really good, too. Home Alone is also a classic. I like Die Hard, if you consider that a Christmas movie.

But beyond that, I can take or leave most of the others.

None of the movies I listed strikes me as a Bill Snyder movie. I would probably compare him to It’s a Wonderful Life. I’m struggling to come up with anything creative for the other coaches. All I can think about is Cousin Eddie pulling up in the driveway in his Winnebago. Probably best to move on.

Anywhere from 15 to 25, usually. It really depends on how many scottwildcat submits.

The most questions seem to come during a basketball losing streak when everyone wants to ask about Bruce. I believe the record for weekly questions is in the 40s, which is great because when Sam Mellinger originally let me use his twitter Q&A format in exchange for some Tank 7 I was lucky to get four.

Our software only allows me to embed 15 questions in a post, so on busy weeks I sadly can’t get to everyone.

Let’s break the remainder of K-State’s basketball season into three categories.

Games I’m very confident K-State will win: Gardner-Webb, Texas, Oklahoma, at Tennessee, TCU, Oklahoma State, at TCU, Texas Tech.

Games I’m very confident K-State will lose: at Kansas, at Iowa State, at Baylor, at West Virginia.

Games that could go either way: vs. Colorado State, at Texas Tech, Baylor, at Oklahoma State, West Virginia, Kansas, Iowa State, at Texas, at Oklahoma.

I think K-State beats Colorado State, splits the toss-up road games and upsets someone at Bramlage.

So I guess that makes my prediction for the regular season 21-10. That should be good enough to make the NCAA Tournament.

I’m going 10-8. K-State will win most of its home games and do well enough on the road to finish above .500.

Lots of requests for predictions today. Wow. My way-too-early-probably-wrong picks:

Central Arkansas: Win. Not even a challenge.

At Vanderbilt: Win. Tough game, for sure, but give me K-State coming off a bye.

Charlotte: Win. Too easy.

Baylor: Win. It may be a while before the Bears are good again.

at Texas: Loss. The Longhorns have talent and can beat the Wildcats if Tom Herman gets that talent on the same page.

TCU: Win. K-State looked light years ahead of TCU in Fort Worth.

Oklahoma: Loss. The Sooners tend to play their very best in Manhattan.

at Kansas: Win. Maybe not a blowout, but still a win.

at Texas Tech: Win. Bill Snyder > Kliff Kingsbury.

West Virginia: Win. This game is always close. Home field makes the difference.

at Oklahoma State: Win. K-State typically loses heart-breakers in Stillwater, but next year could be different.

Iowa State: Win. Maybe not a blowout, but still a win.

With an experienced roster returning, put me down for 10-2. At least for now.

This story was originally published December 16, 2016 at 10:46 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: football, basketball and Christmas carols."