K-State Q&A: Chris Klieman’s improved defense, Skylar Thompson and Big 12 expansion
This time of year is all about overreacting to college football games.
In no other sport would LSU fans declare that their head coach is on the seat less than two years removed from winning a national championship, because he lost a Week 1 game on the road to UCLA. In no other sport will you see fans storm a playing surface to celebrate a home victory over South Dakota, as we saw from Kansas last week.
I would like to join in on the fun.
So before I get to your questions this week, I want to share my biggest overreactions from Kansas State’s opening 24-7 victory over Stanford.
1. K-State looked dynamite on defense. To be fair, Stanford also looked miserable on offense. But this is no time to think about that. Joe Klanderman’s new 3-3-5 formation confused the heck out of the Cardinal and looked much faster than what we saw last season. Daniel Green and Khalid Duke are my early contenders for all-conference honors. They’re going to be really good this season. The Wildcats won’t hold all opponents to 233 yards like they did in Week 1, but they’re going to be better than many expected — myself included.
2. I’m worried about Skylar Thompson’s deep ball. Maybe it was just first-game jitters and he will be much improved in future weeks. But he looked bad throwing the ball down field against Stanford. The only deep ball he connected on was a 56-yard completion to Phillip Brooks when Stanford forgot to cover Brooks. Thompson threw an interception in the end zone when he failed to realize Brooks was working at a significant height disadvantage against his defender. Thompson later over-threw Daniel Imatorbhebhe when Imatorbhebhe was open. Thompson also took three sacks and seemed hesitant to throw. He only connected with two receivers all game. His QBR rating, which is the stat he values most, ranked 69th nationally in Week 1. Thompson made up for it by running for two touchdowns, but he will need to be better against Big 12 opponents.
3. The Wildcats should schedule another a game at AT&T Stadium. I can already hear a few of you screaming “nooooo” after reading those words. But hear me out. The neutral venue gave K-State fans a fun road trip to make on Labor Day weekend. They filled Jerry World with nearly 30,000 fans. K-State players loved the experience. And it all happened under a dome, so no one had to spend hours in the heat. I think it’s worth doing again. Not regularly, but maybe once every five to 10 years. My only change for next time would be to schedule an opponent with a better traveling fan base so the game can have a true neutral feel, a better time slot and a bigger TV audience.
And with that, it’s time for another K-State Q&A. Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
It will take more than beating a team from the dismal Pac-12 North, which is off to a 1-5 start this season.
If beating one of those teams was all it took to earn a top-25 ranking, we would see K-State, Nevada, Purdue, Utah State and even Montana all in the rankings today.
Alas, it is not that simple.
Now, please, don’t read this as me hating on the Wildcats. I was very impressed by how they played against the Cardinal. But the preseason magazines had this as a matchup of teams ranked 53rd (K-State) and 66nd (Stanford) nationally.
It’s hard for me to bump the Wildcats up 28 spots for beating a team with an over/under win total of four.
I also thought Stanford looked terrible. Its quarterback play, in particular, was awful. I certainly give K-State credit for making a Pac-12 team look bad. Enough to rank it in the 30-35 range. That’s why I included the Wildcats in the on-my-radar section of my top-25 column earlier this week.
But I need to see a little more before they jump into my top 25. I just don’t know what it means to beat Stanford yet.
My guess is a 3-0 start will earn K-State a national ranking. I hereby promise to vote for the Cats if they beat Southern Illinois and Nevada.
For the record: ESPN has K-State ranked at No. 46 in its SP+ ratings.
But the good news is that Sagarin has the Wildcats ranked No. 21. So they are a top-25 team based on at least one metric.
You’re not too early. As mentioned above, this is the perfect time to overreact.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a scouting report on all the other guards in the Big 12. So I can’t say with any certainty how strong or weak the competition will be for an all-conference spot at that position.
But I will say this: Josh Rivas looked freaking good against Stanford.
He did some spectacular things in the running game and got to the second level on several important plays.
Pass protection for the entire offensive line was a bit suspect, but I’m not sure how much of that you can put on Rivas.
As the dean of K-State’s offensive line, he will have a shot at all-Big 12 honors if he keeps playing the way he did in Week 1.
E-MAIL QUESTION: Deuce Vaughn was great against Stanford. But I was hoping to see a little more from other Kansas State running backs like Joe Ervin and Jacardia Wright. What gives? - Jeff M.
Well, all three running backs saw some action.
Problem is, K-State only ran 45 plays in the entire game. The Wildcats didn’t have many opportunities to spread the ball around in their backfield, especially when Vaughn was hot and rushing for 124 yards and a touchdown on 13 carries.
Wright looked good on his lone carry and gained 6 yards.
Ervin only gained 6 yards on five touches.
Here’s guessing we see more of both of them this week when K-State plays a more up-tempo opponent in Southern Illinois.
The Big 12 isn’t going to crumble anytime soon.
Maybe Kansas or Iowa State or one of the incoming members will leave for greener pastures at some point, but that does not appear to be an imminent threat.
The Big 12 was metaphorically in the ICU a few weeks ago, but it has been released from the hospital and is now busy gaining back strength in a rehab room.
Like a scorned lover, the Big 12 will next try to win its breakup with Oklahoma and Texas.
There is nothing Bob Bowslby could have done to replace Oklahoma and Texas with other flagship schools, but the additions of BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF will help the conference maximize its value and compete with the Pac-12 as the nation’s fourth best football conference moving forward.
But there will be serious challenges. No team that has switched conferences in the past decade has made a playoff appearance in its new league. Mosthave floundered.
Nebraska is a shell of its former self in the Big Ten. Colorado hasn’t done anything of note in the Pac-12. Texas A&M is only now hitting its stride in the SEC, and I still wouldn’t say the Aggies are a power in their new league. TCU has given the Big 12 some great seasons and some miserable ones. West Virginia is no longer the power it once was in the Big East.
Can BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF hit the ground running in the Big 12? Or will they also need some time to adjust?
It would help if they can win sooner than later. The Big 12 needs an influx of strength at the top of the league standings, not more teams at the bottom.
Beyond that, the Big 12 needs to establish a new power, preferably two like it had with Oklahoma and Texas.
In its new form, the Big 12 will be just as competitive as the ACC and Pac-12 in most years, with one notable exception. The ACC can rely on Clemson to win national championships. The Pac-12 has USC and Oregon to carry its flag.
The Big 12 has ... who exactly?
Here’s a full breakdown of playoff teams by conference (future configurations) since the CFP began seven years ago.
- SEC: 12.
- ACC: 6.
- Big Ten: 5.
- Pac-12: 2.
- Big 12: 0.
The Big 12 is going to need a new power to emerge and contend for national championships (the way Baylor and Kansas have in basketball) if the conference is truly going to remain relevant on the football field.
It’s possible Iowa State, Oklahoma State or K-State could escape Oklahoma’s shadow and win big. Or maybe Cincinnati or UCF will take advantage of new resources and make a leap.
But they will all be working with fewer resources than Big Ten and SEC teams. It’s not going to be easy.
And there will always be a fear that any team that does become a football power will leap to a different conference.
That’s not a problem right now, though. The Big 12 has a future again.
It’s Houston for me.
I’ve never watched a game on the Cougars’ campus, but I have visited the Houston area many times over the years and have grown to love the place. It has good restaurants, lots of things to do and some of the best breweries I’ve ever come across.
Saint Arnold, Karbach and Buffalo Bayou are all incredible.
I highly recommend visiting the Saint Arnold brewery. Not only does it serve delicious food and drinks, but you can sit outside and stare at the Houston skyline while you do so.
Houston traffic can be horrible, but it’s also warm year round. So I can look past that.
After that I would rank them Provo, Cincinnati and Orlando.
I used to live in southeast Idaho, and I sometimes miss that part of the country. Provo is kind of a weird place, but the mountains are beautiful. I’ve never been to Cincinnati, so that could be neat.
Orlando hasn’t been fun for me since I was 14. So I’m not really psyched about going there. But maybe it will surprise me.
This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.