Five noteworthy things K-State coach Chris Klieman said ahead of Oklahoma State game
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman held his weekly news conference on Tuesday as the Wildcats begin preparing for their first Big 12 game of the season, 6 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma State.
Here are some of the most noteworthy things he said:
Dynamic offense
K-State’s defense is off to an impressive start under new coordinator Scottie Hazelton, but his unit will be tested in new ways this week.
The Wildcats didn’t face an up-tempo, spread offense against Nicholls, Bowling Green or Mississippi State. Nor have they defended skill players with the kind of explosiveness they will see against Oklahoma State.
That’s why Klieman says the Cowboys will be “quite a bit different” from anything they saw during the nonconference portion of their schedule.
“They can beat you in all phases,” Klieman said. “They are going to beat you just running the football with a dynamic running back and an exceptional offensive line, and they are going to throw the ball.”
The three Oklahoma State players that most concern Klieman are receiver Tylan Wallace, running back Chuba Hubbard and quarterback Spencer Sanders.
Hubbard leads the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, while Wallace leads the Big 12 in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. The Cowboys rank 11th nationally in total offense, having eclipsed 1,000 yards on the ground and in the air.
“I know Wallace is a tremendous, tremendous player and they have other pieces around him that are really exceptional as well,” Klieman said. “And then you throw in the quarterback, who is so explosive and can hit a home run on every play. They can hurt you in all three phases ... It’s a formidable offense.”
It will be interesting to see how Klieman’s team handles a Big 12 offense. It will be a new kind of test. But Klieman thinks the Wildcats will be ready. He faced spread offenses regularly at North Dakota State.
“You see it quite a bit,” Klieman said. “It’s what college football is becoming, so you see it all the time with tempo. Everybody in college football is doing that.”
Loudest road environment yet
Klieman hasn’t been to Boone Pickens Stadium since 1990, when he played against the Cowboys as a defensive back with Northern Iowa. That was so long ago the place was called Lewis Field.
Oklahoma State won that game 33-23. Klieman doesn’t remember all the details, but he does recall the stadium was loud from start to finish.
That’s one of the reasons why he expects this game to be a louder and more difficult road environment than what the Wildcats encountered at Mississippi State two weeks ago.
“They are right on top of you,” Klieman said. “I have been down there once, but the guys have also told me about how tight it is on the sideline. It will be exceptionally loud, because it is their Big 12 home opener. We worked the noise last week and we will work it again today and hope that we have enough different variety of snap counts and stuff that we are able to execute.”
Position switches ... kind of
One thing Klieman did during K-State’s off week: experiment with players at different positions.
He said “maybe 15 guys” spent time practicing at new spots last week. Though he didn’t get into specifics, Klieman said he did his best to get reserves more opportunities to tackle and run through contact at practice.
In his mind, that was beneficial for players like Tyler Burns, Joshua Youngblood and Landry Weber, particularly in tackling drills.
Klieman cautioned that the position changes won’t continue this week as K-State focuses more on Oklahoma State. No one will play a new position on Saturday.
Getting healthy on defense
The Wildcats should be back at full strength on defense this week.
Klieman said both Wyatt Hubert and Walter Neil are on track to play against the Cowboys and will be ready to go on Saturday.
That wasn’t the case against Mississippi State when K-State was down two starters on defense. Hubert watched from the sideline in shorts after the sophomore defensive end took a knee to the helmet in the Wildcats’ second game, and Neil, a junior defensive back, was a game-time scratch with an upper-body injury.
Both players took advantage of the bye week and are ready to return to the lineup.
It wasn’t all good news for K-State on Tuesday, though. Klieman said reserve linebacker Cody Fletcher remains sidelined with a foot injury.
Thoughts on Mike Gundy
It’s fair to say Gundy is one of Klieman’s favorite head coaches in the Big 12.
Klieman said he met Gundy at some conferences meetings earlier this year, and that Gundy was complimentary of his successful run at North Dakota State, which featured four FCS championships in five seasons.
“I sat with him and spent a little time with him and bounced some ideas off him,” Klieman said. “I was really appreciative of him, being willing to sit and visit with me answer my questions. I have so much respect for him, because he is a ball coach. He didn’t care that I was a rival. I was another coach. He said, ‘Hey, I will help you out whenever I can.’ That meant a lot to me.”