Cats eye more explosive plays against pliable West Virginia Mountaineers defense
In the West Virginia’s past four games, 26 players have had gains of at least 15 yards against the Mountaineers. Ten players hit that mark in West Virginia’s 52-14 loss to Oklahoma.
Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said this week’s propensity to give up big plays stood out when he viewed tape of the Mountaineers’ porous defense.
“They’ve been kind of bitten by the big play,” Klieman said. “Everybody in college football worries about getting beat by the big play
In K-State’s past four games, 21 Wildcats have had plays of at least 15 yards. Last week, K-State had its longest offensive play of the season when receiver Malik Knowles caught a pass out of the backfield, made a Texas defender miss and took the ball 70 yards.
The Wildcats have had a play of at least 45 yards in each of their past two games, and three of their past four. Offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham, quarterback Skylar Thompson and the rest of the Cats are heating up at the right time.
The big plays started in K-State’s thrilling 24-17 home win over TCU, when Thompson ran 61 yards on a designed quarterback draw that set up K-State’s game-winning score. Since then, the Cats have been rolling.
West Virginia enters Saturday’s game with the No. 96-ranked defense in the country. The Mountaineers are tied for 52nd among the 64 Power Five conference teams in yards per completion at 13.02.
They are 58th of 64 in yards per attempt at 8.39. For reference, K-State allows almost a full yard fewer per attempt.
Messingham said Thompson’s ability and opportunity to push the ball downfield will come down to what Thompson reads in the defense. He hasn’t been coached to look for the explosive play by design, Messingham said.
“He’s done a good job of letting the offense come to him, not force things,” Messingham said. “You can’t be afraid to make a play, but you can’t force plays to happen. Knock on wood, he’ll continue to do that.”
West Virginia has lost five straight, its only road win coming at Kansas.
But there is a potential roadblock. Messingham said West Virginia poses a relatively strong run defense. The Mountaineers have given up 3.94 yard per carry, which ranks toward the middle among Power Five teams. Messingham said a lot of opponents’ explosive plays have come on play action after establishing the run.
K-State, meanwhile, ran for just 51 yards against Texas. Messingham, Klieman and Thompson said everything K-State does revolves around running the ball.
K-State is still on pace to finish top 10 in school history in rushing yards, so all is not lost. But the Cats will be desperate to get back on course on the ground Saturday.
“I caution the guys again: You can’t compare scores; you can’t worry about what was done last week compared to what’s going to be done this week,” Klieman said. “You guys know probably better than I do, but West Virginia has had some success against K-State in the past few years.”