Chris Klieman using new practice tricks to prepare K-State for Oklahoma State offense
Kansas State is trying something new in practice this week.
In order to simulate the up-tempo offense Oklahoma State will deploy against the Wildcats in their Big 12 opener on Saturday, new football coach Chris Klieman is asking his scout team to challenge K-State’s defense with 22 players divided into two huddles. Each group prepares for plays at the same time. Then they run them back-to-back.
The goal is to snap the ball every eight seconds and force defensive starters like defensive end Reggie Walker, linebacker Elijah Sullivan and safety Denzel Goolsby to keep up.
“It’s been hard at times,” Sullivan said. “But we’re handling it.”
Fast-paced, high-octane offenses are nothing new for veteran K-State players. They have seen them from opposing Big 12 teams for years. But they are foreign to Klieman and most of his coaching staff, especially compared to the first three teams the Wildcats faced this season. Nicholls and Bowling Green were overmatched. Mississippi State ran the ball and huddled up between plays.
The Cowboys, who average 533.8 yards and 44.5 points per game, are an entirely different challenge.
“Quite a bit different because they can beat you in all phases,” Klieman said. “They’re going to beat you just running the football with a dynamic running back and an exceptional offensive line. They’re going to throw the football. I know (Tylan) Wallace is a tremendous, tremendous player, and they have other pieces around him that are really exceptional as well. Then you throw in the quarterback that is so explosive and can hit a home run on every play. So, in all three phases of offensive football with the ability for the quarterback to run and throw, wide receivers who can beat you and a running back ... It’s a formidable offense.”
It’s hard to decipher a primary threat. OSU running back Chuba Hubbard leads the nation in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns. Receiver Tylan Wallace leads the Big 12 in receiving yards and receiving touchdowns. Quarterback Spencer Sanders already has 890 yards and seven touchdowns passing.
Klieman has little choice but to get used to it. When he coached at North Dakota State, he encountered spread offenses a few times each season. In the Big 12, it will happen nearly every week.
The Wildcats are up for the challenge, even though they had to get creative to prepare for it.
“We have really got to come with a lot of intensity this week,” defensive end Kyle Ball said. “They run so quick they are going to try and catch you off guard. Being able to run to that ball and show them you aren’t tired is going to be important. Hopefully we can stop them from doing what their game plan is.”
In past years, K-State defenders got ready for up-tempo offenses by looking the other way as the scout-team offense lined up. Then their coordinator blew a whistle, allowing them to turn around and read the play for a few quick seconds before the ball was snapped.
It seems Klieman has taken things a step further by introducing a stamina challenge.
He even asked K-State’s starting offense to run plays quickly against the starting defense a few times this week.
It’s not easy for a power-running team like the Wildcats to simulate an up-tempo opponent like the Cowboys, but defending two huddles now should help make things easier on Saturday.
“We have to get our calls in, set up and line up and get the plays off quick, because that is what it is going to be like on Saturday,” redshirt freshman linebacker Daniel Green said. “We just have to get lined up and go.”