The five most noteworthy things K-State coach Chris Klieman said ahead of Baylor
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman spoke about a variety of topics at his weekly news conference on Tuesday ahead of the Wildcats’ upcoming home game against Baylor.
Here is a look at the five most noteworthy things he had to say:
1. Searching for answers at receiver
It remains unclear how long K-State will be without top receiver Malik Knowles while he recovers from a foot injury. Klieman described his status as “week to week” and said he is hopeful Knowles will be able to “do some things this week in practice.”
Still, it seems unlikely Knowles will be ready to play against Baylor on Saturday, as he didn’t even travel to the Oklahoma State game last week and is currently walking around campus in a medical boot.
That means the Wildcats will need to find ways to open up their passing game without him. They struggled to do that against the Cowboys, as quarterback Skylar Thompson had his worst effort of the season and finished with 118 yards on 11 of 23 passing.
There are no easy answers moving forward. Without Knowles, four of K-State’s top five healthy receivers are former walk-ons. Klieman might need to consider using new, more athletic players there this week.
“We are going to look at everybody,” Klieman said. “But we also need to design some things for those guys to get open and design some things where we protect a little longer so that we can find some openings and find some cracks.”
Klieman said he will also ask K-State’s starting receivers to practice against the team’s starting cornerbacks more frequently this week. They practiced against scout-team defenders last week, and that may have led to some issues in the game.
Dalton Schoen led the unit with three catches for 23 yards.
Klieman may look to backup quarterbacks John Holcombe and Chris Herron to help as receivers until Knowles returns to the lineup.
2. New uniforms
The Wildcats will wear new alternate home uniforms against Baylor on Saturday that feature white helmets and white pants instead of the team’s traditional silver-and-purple look.
K-State unveiled the new look on Monday and it was well received by players and fans.
“It was pretty cool, something we have been talking about for an awful long time of the white helmet and white pants,” Klieman said. “When were we going to pull it out? We didn’t want to do it early in the season. We wanted to wait until a conference game and this seemed like a perfect time to do it.”
The announcement came early in the week by design.
“We needed to unveil it yesterday just so the guys on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday have a chance to wear the helmet,” Klieman said. “That is the biggest thing. You can’t unveil that on a Friday. Kids would freak out if they had to wear a helmet they hadn’t tried on all week.”
K-State players said they liked the new uniforms, but many were already asking for more. In particular, the Wildcats want to wear all white uniforms during a road game.
Klieman sidestepped a question on tweaking the new uniforms further by saying “let’s just start with this week and see where we are at.”
3. Staying on the field
One particular series of plays seemed to bother Klieman more than the rest after watching replays of the Oklahoma State game.
They occurred in the first half when K-State opened back-to-back drives by gaining yards on first down and then failed to move the chains on both drives.
The Wildcats took a deep shot with Nick Lenners on second down and then got stopped for no gain on third-and-short on their final drive of the first quarter. They had to punt from their own 39.
The next time they touched the ball, Jordon Brown was stopped just short of the marker on second down and then a false start penalty set up third-and-6. Thompson threw incomplete passes on third and fourth down. The Cowboys took over at their own 35.
“It’s pretty simple. You have to get a first down,” Klieman said. “I don’t mind taking a shot to Nick Lenners on the one. That was a really well designed play and they covered it pretty well. We still had an opportunity. But then you have to be able to get a yard on third down. That is the frustrating part ... We have to stay on the field.”
4. New defense for Baylor
Klieman went back and watched all four quarters of K-State’s 37-34 loss at Baylor last season, but he doesn’t plan to view it again this week.
Why not? The Bears are using a completely different system this year under Matt Rhule, particularly on defense.
“The unique thing for me is they transformed their defense from the last time K-State played them and (Alex) Barnes ripped them,” Klieman said. “They were in a lot of four down and now they are in a ton of three down. Whatever we saw in last year’s game we don’t really even want to use, because it is just so different.”
K-State ran all over Baylor last season for 319 rushing yards, but it wasn’t enough.
Klieman also has respect for Baylor quarterback Charlie Brewer, crediting him for leading the Bears to a 23-21 victory over Iowa State last week.
5. Handling a loss after so many victories
The Oklahoma State loss snapped a personal 24-game winning streak for Klieman that dated back to 2017, when he was coaching at North Dakota State.
How does he handle losses after so many wins?
“You take them harder, I will be honest,” Klieman said. “At North Dakota State every win felt like a relief and that’s terrible to say. It really is terrible to say that it was a relief (but) you were a target every single week. Everybody circled that game every week for eight years ... When you did lose it tore your heart out.”
His first defeat at K-State felt the same way.
“I was frustrated we didn’t win,” Klieman said. “I was frustrated in general that we didn’t play our best football. But it is going to reveal a lot of things from character and resolve ... When adversity strikes you better be able to rise up. That is the message we have given then guys.”