K-State Q&A: When will Skylar Thompson return? Why do Wildcats keep playing on ESPN+?
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
We have lots of great questions on tap this week about Skylar Thompson’s injury and when fans can expect him to play his next game for the Wildcats. Other topics include Will Howard, the Nevada game and the scourge of ESPN+. Let’s get right to them.
My educated guess: Skylar Thompson will be back on the field when Oklahoma visits Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Oct. 2.
I think he will recover from his knee injury much the same way Patrick Mahomes did a few years ago with the Kansas City Chiefs when he had to leave a game at Denver with a dislocated kneecap. Both injuries looked gruesome at the time, but Mahomes only ended up missing two games.
If Thompson follows the same path after walking himself to K-State’s locker room during the Southern Illinois game last week, he will be ready to try and beat the Sooners for a third straight season.
Now, I’m not saying that absolutely will happen. One of my most trusted insiders has suggested there’s a chance Thompson will be back even earlier than that for next week’s game at Oklahoma State.
I think that’s too optimistic, but you never know.
He could also need extra time.
The smartest thing to do might be to save Thompson until Iowa State comes to town on Oct. 16. The Wildcats have a bye week following the Oklahoma game, so that would give him five weeks to recover and get all the way back to 100%.
Some of this may depend on how Will Howard commands the offense. If Howard improbably plays lights-out football, then the Wildcats can be patient with Thompson. But if he struggles and Thompson is looking good in practice and K-State’s offense needs a spark, I expect Thompson will be out there against the Sooners.
It’s hard for me to see Howard getting benched for Jaren Lewis.
Howard may not be an all-conference quarterback at the moment, but he has still started seven games and helped the Wildcats to four wins while replacing Thompson. Lewis has never played in a college game, period.
So I’m thinking Howard will have a long leash.
Now, K-State coaches might handcuff him by calling a bunch of handoffs instead of downfield passes like they did in the second half of the Southern Illinois game. But Howard is going to have to royally screw up to get benched.
The only time K-State removed him from a game last season was when Iowa State beat the Wildcats 45-0 and Howard was only responsible for 44 yards of offense.
He took every other snap in every other game in which Thompson was out.
Maybe coaches will act a little quicker this season if Howard is not playing well. But they’re looking for reasons to build up his confidence, not tear it down.
I expect him to play one of his best games.
He will have an entire week of practice with the first-string offense and Nevada is soft against the run. K-State should be able to dial up a nice mixture of QB keepers, handoffs to Deuce Vaughn and jet sweeps to keep the Wolf Pack off balance without throwing the ball a ton.
That’s the type of game he can thrive in.
Problem is, Carson Strong and Nevada’s offense are legit. A good game might not be enough. The Wildcats are going to have score points to win.
Howard is no doubt better than some fans want to give him credit for.
He ran for 125 yards against Oklahoma State and threw for 174 yards plus a pair of touchdowns against Texas.
He stunk against Iowa State, but the Cyclones scored 45 points and were winning that game no matter what. Texas rolled to 69 points. Baylor scored at will on K-State late in a close game. Those losses weren’t all on him.
Problem is, Howard has thrown 10 interceptions (compared to five touchdowns) during his past six games. If he can learn to protect the ball, his performance will instantly improve.
Quarterback injuries have definitely been a regular occurrence in Manhattan over the past decade.
Collin Klein managed to play in every single game during his two final years of college football, but he had to play hurt in just about all of them.
Jake Waters needed surgery on his throwing shoulder immediately after his senior season came to an end.
Jesse Ertz seemed to suffer every injury possible. People like to say Thompson is unlucky, but nobody had worse injury luck than Ertz. That’s a shame, because he was a good quarterback.
Alex Delton missed plenty of games.
Thompson had a healthy 2019 under Chris Klieman, which seemed like the end of K-State’s quarterback injury troubles. Then Thompson missed seven games in 2020, and he’s about to miss at least a few more in 2021.
Will Howard (knock on wood) has never dealt with injuries, though.
The only two sports I have ever played competitively are baseball and golf, so I don’t have many injuries to report aside from getting hit with a wild pitch in the arm and wrenching my back when I swung my driver too hard.
But I did once sprain my ankle to the point where I needed crutches while playing in a pick-up basketball game with my in-laws.
Believe it or not, wolves are rare in Nevada.
Come to think of it, I haven’t seen any wildcats running around Kansas lately, either.
What is going on with this matchup?
An actual fight between those two animals would depend on what type of wild cat we’re talking about. A lion? A puma? A cheetah? A bobcat? A house cat that ran away from home?
Without knowing exactly which type of wild cat these wolves are up against, I think the wolves are strong enough to eat the buffalo.
It seems a little unfair to jump to this conclusion.
While it’s true K-State quarterbacks could have developed a bit more over the past few years, some of the issues have been outside of Klein’s control. Thompson seemed to be developing just fine until he was injured two years in a row.
But Klein will be challenged as a coach in the future as he looks to turn Jaren Lewis, Jake Rubley or Howard into a quality starting quarterback.
It’s been a while since we’ve had a question about the scourge known as ESPN+.
Good to have you back, buddy.
I can’t tell you why ESPN+ seems to love the Wildcats this season, other than streaming games is becoming much more common than it was a few years ago. Notre Dame just played a home game exclusively on Peacock, for crying out loud.
It’s the future, and complaining about it won’t make it go way.
The Southern Illinois game was always destined for ESPN+. That’s where those games go for every Big 12 team not named Oklahoma or Texas.
You could argue the Nevada game deserves better billing than ESPN+, but the Big 12 got universally shafted this week by TV networks. Nebraska at Oklahoma is the only game on a major network, and even the Sooners are annoyed because the game is at 11 a.m.
Virginia Tech at West Virginia is on FS1, Baylor at Kansas is on ESPN+, Florida International at Texas Tech is on ESPN+, Rice at Texas is on LHN, Oklahoma State at Boise State is on FS1, Iowa State at UNLV is on CBS Sports Network.
If K-State fans are mad about ESPN+ this week, the rest of the conference is saying, “Get in line!”
I do agree that K-State/Oklahoma State could have easily been selected for traditional TV ... but they are betting underdogs against Nevada and Boise State this week. If both teams lose, their Big 12 opener suddenly becomes much less exciting on both sides. Maybe that had something to do with it.
They are also competing with Texas Tech at Texas (ABC), Iowa State at Baylor (FOX), West Virginia at Oklahoma (ABC) and SMU at TCU (FS1). It might be a better game than SMU/TCU, but those teams are both 2-0 and they are both favored or off this week. That game is also sure to be watched in DFW.
My advice is to not worry about this unless the ESPN+ feed goes out like it did two years ago at Oklahoma State. Then you can complain. I only watch games on streaming services and very rarely have a problem.
Also: If K-State/Oklahoma State was selected for traditional TV, it would probably have gotten the 11 a.m. treatment on FS1. An evening kickoff on ESPN+ might end up being better and attract a bigger audience, even on a streaming network.
Well, if K-State was saving up all its good play on special teams for this week that would be a good strategy.
Howard went 2-5 as a starter last season. And the Wildcats scored on defense and/or special teams in both of his victories.
I guess I should have listened when K-State coaches said Felix Anudike was going to be “a dude” this season.
Replacing Wyatt Hubert as a pass-rusher seemed like an impossible task, but Anudike is actually filling his predecessor’s shoes nicely through two games. He was the defensive MVP against Southern Illinois and looked unstoppable while he forced a pair of fumbles on strip sacks.
Anudike says whenever he gets in the backfield he tries to use his left hand for tackling and his right hand for punching the ball loose. It’s a good strategy.
I expect big things from him moving forward. Maybe not two strip sacks every game big, but he’s going to make an impact.
This story was originally published September 17, 2021 at 5:00 AM.