K-State Q&A: Will Howard, Courtney Messingham, bowl projections, basketball and more
I was on a radio show the other day when the host asked me to grade the Kansas State football team now that the regular season has come to an end.
That was a good question. So I decided to steal it and start off this week’s mailbag with some thoughts on that topic.
The Wildcats definitely deserve a passing grade for going 7-5 with a 4-5 mark in Big 12 play. That’s the record I predicted for them at the beginning of the year ... let me pause for a moment to pat myself on the back ... so they met my expectations.
Vegas only had K-State’s over/under win total at 5 1/2. So the Wildcats exceeded those expectations.
But it was a roller coaster. Three wins. Three losses. Four wins. Two losses.
Skylar Thompson was hurt and didn’t play in a few games. Then he returned and briefly played like an All Big 12 quarterback. Deuce Vaughn was fantastic. The offensive line was impressive. The rest of the offense sputtered.
The defense played well enough to win most games, and Felix Anudike-Uzomah was phenomenal. But the defense also seemed out of sorts during losses to Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Iowa State.
All things considered, I’m inclined to give the Wildcats a C+ with a chance to upgrade to a B- by winning their bowl.
K-State beat most of the teams it was supposed to beat this season, but it didn’t record a single signature victory. It’s hard to get too excited when the team’s best win came against Nevada or Texas Tech.
Now, without further ado, it’s time for a new K-State Q&A. Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
This was a popular question this week.
Courtney Messingham seems to have replaced Bruce Weber as the K-State coach that fans love to hate. The only difference is there has always been someone willing to stick up for Weber. Haven’t seen much of that with the offensive coordinator lately.
If Chris Klieman is going to consider a change, now is the time to do it. Messingham’s contract, which pays him $625,000 annually is up in February. All 10 of K-State’s assistant coaches will need new contracts before next season if they are retained.
There is nothing tying them to Manhattan beyond the bowl game.
Even though I think there is too much hatred currently being spewed in the direction of K-State offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham, there is no denying that the final two games of the regular season were difficult to watch.
K-State held Baylor to 20 points and lost because its offense could only muster 10 points. Then K-State limited Texas to 22 points and lost because its offense got shut out in the second half.
Maybe some better game plans would have yielded different results.
In general, I think the laziest thing a football fan can do is blame the offensive coordinator for calling a bad game. It’s a much more complicated job than many realize and often times when a play goes wrong it’s because of poor blocking or poor execution more than the play call itself. Unless the OC is calling QB sneaks on first down and Hail Marys on fourth-and-short, it’s usually still up to the players on the field to make things happen.
But going 1 for 9 on third downs and 0 for 2 on fourth downs against Texas was cringe worthy. The second time they tried to run Deuce Vaughn on a direct snap was painful.
People acting like Messingham was the only thing preventing K-State from an undefeated record are off base. But I understand the frustration.
Overall, K-State’s offense ranked sixth in the Big 12 in yards per rush (4.8) and fourth in yards per pass (8.3) this season. That’s average. Not horrible.
From my vantage point, the problem with the offense is that I’m not sure where it’s going next season if Messingham returns. Will Howard is 3-7 as a starter, and it just seems like the Wildcats don’t know how to properly use him. He’s not getting better, at least in games. Outside of Deuce Vaughn, there isn’t much to get excited about when the offense is on the field.
Maybe it’s time to bring in some new assistants on the offensive side of the ball. If nothing else, it would make the fan base happy.
E-MAIL QUESTION: What bowl game are we headed to? - Sam H.
My money is on the Cheez-It Bowl.
Iowa State would usually be the pick for that postseason game, but the Cyclones were just in Orlando two years ago and the Wildcats have never played there before. The Cheez-It Bowl CEO seemed high on K-State when I spoke to him earlier this week.
Furthermore, Iowa State has never played in the Texas Bowl before. It’s not unusual for Big 12 bowls to do favors for each other. It makes a lot of sense for the Cheez-It to take K-State and let the Texas Bowl have Iowa State.
The stars seem aligned for K-State to play its first bowl game in Florida.
Bowl executives can be weird, though. So no promises. K-State might also end up in the Texas Bowl.
One thing I can tell you is that the Wildcats won’t be headed back to Memphis, Tenn. for the Liberty Bowl. If it came to that, K-State would ask the Big 12 to drop it down to the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix.
Yeah, it is strange.
K-State football will open Big 12 play on the road for a fifth straight season in 2022. But it seems like it was written in the conference bylaws that the Wildcats start conference games on the road. They have only started Big 12 play at home five times since the league was created.
But K-State did host the very first Big 12 game ever played against Texas Tech back in 1996.
So maybe that one home game was worth 22 road games. I don’t know.
You would think it would only happen about half the time. It’s strange that it hasn’t. But I still don’t get the vitriol about it.
At least K-State fans haven’t protested outside the Big 12 offices and demanded a Fewer Early Conference Road Games Patrol like the citizens of Springfield did after a bear paraded into town on that one episode of the Simpsons.
No Big 12 team gets to play nine home games. They all have to go on the road at some point. What difference does it make when they fall on the schedule? An early road games means a late home game. They all balance out.
If K-State brings in a stud graduate transfer at quarterback, then my vote probably goes to him. But it’s hard to predict that right now. I can’t even tell you for sure that the Wildcats will pursue a quarterback in the transfer portal.
There are some good options and Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez probably has interest in transferring here because he’s dating a K-State soccer player. But he needs shoulder surgery. Could he miss all spring and still win the job?
How quickly could a transfer from Arkansas State or Central Florida adjust to Klieman’s offense?
I have no idea.
That makes me think it will still by Howard.
I need to see Jake Rubley show some progress this spring before I predict him to play.
And, yes, Oklahoma and Texas will still be in the conference next season. Both schools have already released their football schedules for 2022. It’s too late to blow everything up now.
But I could see both schools in the SEC by 2023 to coincide with BYU, Cincinnati, Houston and UCF joining the Big 12.
We will probably have to wait until after the bowl game to learn which seniors plan to return and become “super seniors” next year at Kansas State.
I don’t have any predictions for you, but it will be interesting to see what players like Josh Rivas, Kade Warner and Landry Weber decide to do.
Daniel Green announcing his plans to return as a regular senior were big. I can say that.
Spending time with my family easily ranks first.
But after that I will probably go with the irony we saw at Oklahoma this week. Now the Sooners know how it feels.
Black Friday shopping ranks last, because I didn’t do any of it.
Wichita State athletic director Darron Boatright told me earlier this week he is expecting around 14,000 fans at Intrust Bank Arena on Sunday.
Most of those fans will probably be wearing black and gold, but I can envision maybe 3,000 or so wearing purple.
There are some seats still available in the upper deck if any K-State fans reading this want to watch the game in person.
Give me Sandstorm here.
K-State will pull off a home upset against a quality Big 12 team, and Gene Taylor will instruct someone to play Sandstorm during that game. It’s happened before.
Bruce Weber did have a humorous Pete the Cat reference the other day, but that book on tape is not a banger.
I guess it depends on you view college sports.
If you’re the type of fan who thinks players should stay at one school for four years and be happy to get a scholarship, no matter what, then what’s happening right now probably isn’t very much fun for you.
But I have no problem with anything that’s going on. If a head football coach like Brian Kelly is going to bail on Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish remain in the hunt for a playoff berth because he wants more money or a new challenge, you have to let players do the same thing.
College sports has been a business for a while now. Some of us just didn’t want to admit it. At least now players can transfer freely and make some money while they’re in college.
Never thought I would see the day that Oklahoma and Notre Dame both lost their coaches to other schools.
I suppose every team has to be on alert these days.
But, at the same time, schools like UTSA and Cincinnati and Michigan State have found ways to hold onto their up-and-coming coaches. It can be done.
This story was originally published December 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.