K-State Q&A: Alex Delton, Skylar Thompson, Bill Snyder’s plans and Star Wars

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

Thanks, as always, for your questions. We’ve got lots of fun ones on tap this week, so let’s get right to them.

Skylar Thompson should start the bowl game.

Even if Jesse Ertz and Alex Delton both came back healthy, I would start Thompson. If Collin Klein could somehow trade in his visor for a helmet, maybe I would let him start over Thompson, but that’s about the only K-State QB I would take over Thompson right now.

He torched Oklahoma State with long passes, he beat Iowa State with a fourth-quarter comeback and he took down Texas Tech in overtime. It’s unfortunate what happened to Delton, because he played well when he was healthy, but Thompson has earned the right to be K-State’s starting quarterback. He’s fearless and teammates rave about him. He’s the future.

If Delton is healthy, I would get him on the field and let him try to utilize his legs against a woeful run defense. If this season has shown us anything, it’s that K-State needs multiple quarterbacks. But I would start Thompson. At the very least, he’s got the hot hand. Delton hasn’t played since Nov. 4. Thompson and Delton can duke it out in the offseason for the 2018 starting job.

I don’t think Bill Snyder has made a decision about his future.

He’s been out recruiting (a rarity) and building toward next season, so there are certainly reasons to expect him back. But he could just as easily decide to retire after the Cactus Bowl.

Based on the conversations I’ve had with K-State insiders and people who know Snyder, it’s too early for me to say anything definitive about whether he will coach next season. I am working under the assumption that he will be back until he says otherwise, but I don’t know what he plans to do. And even if he plans to do something at this moment, that doesn’t mean he will follow through with that plan next month, next spring or next season.

Snyder has always said that he prefers to wait until after each season to make a decision on his future, and I have no reason to suspect this year is any different.

Probably not. Snyder has never formally fired an assistant coach, and I think he wants Hayes back to coordinate the defense.

Like many, I thought K-State’s defense would improve against the pass this season with D.J. Reed and Duke Shelley at corner, but the yardage allowed (3,723) actually went up. That’s disappointing. It will be fascinating to see how UCLA and Josh Rosen perform against this defense.

I will say this, though: Those numbers are a tad misleading. K-State was very good against the run (17th nationally) so a lot of teams abandoned the rush and threw the ball against the Wildcats. In a strange way, K-State would be better against the pass if it was worse against the run. The Big 12 is also a passing league, which will skew numbers against K-State’s secondary. Hayes’ unit ranked better (bad, but not as bad) in most other categories. The Cats gave up 7.6 yards per attempt (88th nationally), 21 passing touchdowns (87th nationally), grabbed 12 interceptions (45th nationally) and allowed opponents to complete 62.2 percent of their passes (99th nationally).

Again, not good numbers. But not as bad as the overall yardage (129th nationally) indicate.

I predict K-State to run all over UCLA. I predict UCLA to pass all over K-State.

I predict Alex Delton to compete with Skylar Thompson for starting quarterback duties in 2018.

I predict K-State to improve on offense next season (the Wildcats don’t lose anyone) and be about the same on defense (Will Geary will be hard to replace).

If K-State wins the Cactus Bowl, I predict preseason 2018 expectations to reset at about the same level as this season, with fans thinking 10 wins or bust.

You could make a case for Skylar Thompson. His fourth-quarter comebacks to starts ratio is off the charts.

But I’m going to say Jake Waters. He’s the best pure passer K-State has had during Snyder’s second run. Waters to Tyler Lockett was almost unstoppable.

I think the following clip sums things up quite nicely.

1. Empire Strikes Back: An easy choice for me. This movie has it all. Hoth, Imperial March, Cloud City, Yoda, Han Solo in carbonite and one of the greatest lines in movie history: “Luke, I am your father.”

2. A New Hope: The movie that started it all. Love the story and the dialogue. Special effects are obviously dated, though.

3. Return of the Jedi: Not a fan of ewoks. Otherwise, a great film.

4. Revenge of the Sith: The only prequel that wasn’t a complete dumpster fire. Best action scenes of the first six films, and a decent plot.

5. The Force Awakens: It’s basically a remake of A New Hope, but I still liked it.

6. Rogue One: The final scene makes you want to watch A New Hope immediately.

7. The Phantom Menace: Watching this movie makes me angry. How do you come up with an awesome villain like Darth Maul and only show him on screen for 5 minutes and then kill him off?

8. Clone Wars: “I hate sand” is arguably the worst line in movie history.

I will let you know on No. 9 here in a week or two. Didn’t fight the rush to go see it last night.

So there’s a Star Wars fan theory out there that Jar Jar Binks isn’t actually the bumbling fool you think he is. In actuality, he is a skilled Jedi who acts like a fool to make his enemies underestimate him.

I have gone back and watched Phantom Menace with that thought in mind, and it is entertaining to watch him mow down droids under the pretense that his actions are purposeful.

Still, the answer to your question is no. Jar Jar Binks is the worst. Even my kids hate him.

Seeing as how Brad Underwood has a buyout of $8.5 million at Illinois, I would put the odds at just about zero.

Mason Schoen.

He’s already played in five games, and has carved out a leadership role on the team. That might be enough.

A national championship would put the Big 12 on stronger footing and help defend against realignment speculation.

But simply having a representative in the playoff while the Pac-12 and Big Ten are both left out helps, too. I’m not a big believer in massive conference realignment. I don’t think it will happen. The path to the playoff is easier for Oklahoma in the Big 12 than it would be in the SEC or Big Ten. The path to the playoff for USC is easier in the Pac-12 than the Pac-16. The SEC doesn’t need anymore competition. Can TV networks pay anymore money for broadcast rights?

Also, there’s a new AD at Texas and a new president on the way at Oklahoma. I don’t get the feeling they are looking to change conferences.

The biggest factor will be playoff expansion. At least one major conference is shut out each season. There were two this year. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to the selection process. They should expand to eight, with all five major conference champions earning an automatic berth. Throw the top mid-major conference champion in the mix, along with two wild-cards, and you’ve got an all-inclusive bracket. Do that, and the need for realignment comes to an end.

If the playoff stays at four beyond its current TV contract, you might see realignment. But I think the playoff expands. It makes too much sense.

This story was originally published December 15, 2017 at 9:49 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Alex Delton, Skylar Thompson, Bill Snyder’s plans and Star Wars."