‘We haven’t scratched the surface’: Why Kansas State could be surprise team of Big 12
Reggie Stubblefield has something bold to say.
For the past week, he has heard nothing but hype about Nevada quarterback Carson Strong and everything Strong does at an elite level. He calls his own plays, he throws a tight spiral, he fits passes into tiny windows and he might be the No. 1 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft.
That may all be true. But he’s also not too much for Kansas State’s defense to handle. Stubblefield thinks the Wildcats proved that during a 38-17 victory over the Wolf Pack on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in which they limited Strong to 262 passing yards and one touchdown.
So much so, that Stubblefield was eager to talk some trash.
“We disguised a lot,” said Stubblefield, a senior K-State defensive back. “We heard a lot about his strong arm, his deep passes and stuff like that, but we felt like he couldn’t read defenses. So we disguised a lot. Obviously, we played physical, we played relentless, we played with a mob mentality ... We played our brand of football. It’s not about the opponent. It’s only about us.”
He wasn’t done.
The Wildcats improved to 3-0 with this victory, which means they will head into their Big 12 opener at Oklahoma State next week with an undefeated record and rising expectations. There’s a chance they will be ranked in the next top 25 polls.
Not bad for a team that was barely favored to win its first game against Stanford and was considered the betting underdog against Nevada.
“I feel like we’re sending the message that we’re not even scratching the surface here,” Stubblefield said. “That’s the scary part about it. We’re not even playing up to how we can play. We were so mad that they scored 17 points. They shouldn’t have scored any. That’s our mentality. We haven’t scratched the surface.”
He has a point. Perhaps it’s time for more casual observers to start taking the Wildcats seriously.
The Big 12 has a wide open feel right now. Oklahoma hasn’t looked dominant despite its gaudy ranking and perfect record. Iowa State, Texas and West Virginia have already lost.
You could argue that K-State has the best collection of victories of any team in the league so far. Maybe it can be the surprise team of the Big 12 after being picked to finish eighth in the conference’s preseason poll.
The Wildcats are certainly playing with swagger.
“That’s our goal, each and every week, just to prove people wrong,” said sophomore defensive back Tee Denson. “Today we were playing on ESPN+, next week we’re playing on ESPN+. We find that to be disrespectful, but we’re just going to stay humble and eat crumbs and continue to do great things.”
K-State was at its best during the fourth quarter of this game.
The outcome was very much in doubt when Nevada pulled even at 17-17 midway through the third quarter. The Wildcats were playing without injured starting quarterback Skylar Thompson, their offense looked stagnant and it seemed as though the Wolf Pack was finally figuring out ways to move the ball.
Then K-State found a higher gear. Will Howard engineered three touchdown drives in the final 15 minutes, and the Wildcats forced Strong and his group of playmaking receivers off the field three straight times to make the final score appear lopsided.
Simply put: K-State was the stronger team when it mattered most.
“What a win,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said. “We challenged the guys early in the week that we needed to take the next step as a football team. We were prepared for it. We were built for this.”
Two stats stood out for the Wildcats.
On offense, they managed to amass 398 yards despite getting very little from their backup quarterbacks. Jaren Lewis and Will Howard only combined to complete 9 of 13 passes for 129 yards and a touchdown (with the bulk of them coming on a 68-yard touchdown strike from Howard to Daniel Imatorbhebhe on the game’s second play), but it didn’t matter because K-State rushed for a whopping 269 yards.
Deuce Vaughn (127 yards and a touchdown) and Joe Ervin (82 yards and a touchdown) were electric out of the backfield behind a steady offensive line.
On defense, they made the Wolf Pack one dimensional and continually baited Strong into throwing short instead of long. Though he made some incredible passes into heavy traffic, he was also intercepted by Denson and had trouble converting on third down.
Daniel Green led the Wildcats with nine tackles, including one sack. Nate Matlack and Stubblefield also tackled Strong in the backfield.
“The moment never got too big for us,” Denson said. “We didn’t let the quarterback hype rattle us. Coach (Joe) Klanderman dialed up some good plays, and we came out and just played our game.”
Howard thinks he has a good metaphor to explain K-State’s hot start to the season.
The Wildcats have been calling this year a “Revenge Tour” after the way they finished 4-6 a season ago. Howard says it feels like the team is riding a bus from stop to stop on this tour and their bus doesn’t have any rear-view mirrors.
They are pleased with how they have played thus far, but they aren’t looking back.
They’re just scatching the surface, after all.
“We have made a pretty big statement,” Vaughn said. “We are a pretty good team. Whenever we play to our standard, we are a force to be reckoned with.”