First road game of COVID era a strange, rewarding experience for K-State football
What is it like to play a college football game on the road during a pandemic?
In some ways, like traveling out of state with a bunch of masked players, the experience is harder than usual for the visiting team. In other ways, like playing in front of small crowds, things are easier than normal.
The Kansas State Wildcats got their first taste of a road trip during the coronavirus age over the weekend and passed the test with flying colors by defeating the Oklahoma Sooners 38-35 on Saturday. Still, everything about the journey felt strange, particularly playing in front of 22,700 socially distant OU fans instead of the usual 86,112 at Memorial Stadium.
“It was loud, so we had to use some silent snap counts,” Klieman said. “Obviously not near as loud as what it could be or should be, what college football is all about. That is going to be the disadvantage moving forward for every home team. You’re not having your packed stadium with fans behind you. Everyone is going to have different levels of crowd.”
“It is always tough to play on the road no matter what. Does it make it a little easier knowing you aren’t going to have 80,000 or 60,000 screaming fans? Yes, it probably does. But there is still an impact to playing on the road, for sure.”
The biggest challenge K-State faced during its journey to Norman and back may have been the anxiety that came along with not learning it was cleared to play until Friday morning when the Sooners and Wildcats both completed their final COVID tests of the week and met the Big 12’s roster threshold to compete as originally scheduled.
Klieman said he was worried the game might get postponed until that exact moment.
Even then, the Wildcats were unable to follow their normal routine for a road game that took them across state lines. K-State usually flies charter to all of its road games outside of Kansas, but on Friday the team departed Manhattan on a convoy of six buses.
The switch was made in order to allow players to better follow safety protocols and to save money.
At first glance, busing five hours for a road game would seem to put a team accustomed to flying at a disadvantage. But it may have turned out to be a blessing.
“That wasn’t a big deal,” Klieman said. “It was a five hour bus ride and it gave guys the chance to look at their notes and review some more film. We had 24 or 25 on each bus ... That was the only significant difference. Once we arrived at the hotel, we would have arrived at the same time (flying), everything else was normal. We stopped halfway. It wasn’t a big deal at all. Our kids kind of enjoyed the fact that they could relax.”
Once they arrived in Norman, K-State coaches took extra care to make sure they spread out personnel during team meetings and walkthroughs. Players were isolated from the outside world at the team hotel, unable to meet with family or friends that would normally make the trip and wish them well the night before a big game.
After a night of sleep, the team bused to the stadium and pulled off a memorable upset.
Then they celebrated together on a chartered flight home. That was one of the few parts of the trip that felt normal.