K-State assistant Collin Klein makes strong case for coordinator job at Texas Bowl
It seemed like everyone inside NRG Stadium wanted to congratulate Collin Klein after Kansas State demolished LSU 42-20 at the Texas Bowl on Tuesday.
K-State players found him during the trophy presentation and shook his hand. Fans screamed his name from the stands. Then head coach Chris Klieman gave him a bear hug and shared some positive words. So did athletic director Gene Taylor.
The outpouring of support was so much that at one point Klein could be seen wiping tears of joy off his face.
It was an important moment for him. Klein made his debut as a play caller against the Tigers while serving as the Wildcats’ interim offensive coordinator, and the game went so well that it may eventually earn him a promotion.
If this was a test of his coordinator skills, Klein aced it.
“He had a lot of things dialed up really well,” Klieman said. “Collin called a really good game.”
Indeed, things couldn’t have gone much better for the offense. Klein prepared a splendid game plan against LSU and the Wildcats executed it almost flawlessly, as they finished with 442 yards and a season-high 42 points.
Skylar Thompson threw the ball with confidence and finished with 259 passing yards. Deuce Vaughn ran for 146 yards and set a K-State bowl record with four touchdowns. Malik Knowles did exciting things when he got caught passes in space.
“That was our best offensive performance of the season,” Thompson said.
The Wildcats were so sharp on offense that they delivered the longest touchdown drive in Texas Bowl history, based on plays (18) and time consumed (9 minutes, 16 seconds) in the first half. You could tell K-State was going to look a little different on offense when it won the coin toss and chose to receive the opening kickoff.
That almost never happens.
But it sent a message to K-State players. Klein told them throughout bowl practices that the Wildcats were going to be more aggressive than they were during the regular season under former coordinator Courtney Messingham. And he meant it.
“Our game plan was to try to score as quickly as possible,” K-State receiver Phillip Brooks said. “I feel like this year we didn’t play like that. We played more not to lose. The mentality for this game was more to play to win.”
Klein ditched many of the power-based running schemes that we saw in 2021 and spread the ball around the field to different playmakers. The offense also operated with more urgency and got to the line of scrimmage much faster than usual. It was entertaining to watch.
Players had no complaints.
“Coach Klein told us before the game that if you see something on the field, speak up,” Vaughn said. “Tell your position coach and he’ll get back to me and then that’s how we’ll dictate how we play this game. That’s when the aggressiveness came. It came from us relaying back to our coaches, them giving us the driver’s wheel in a sense and coming back to the sideline. Coach Klein, doing what he does, he called a great game tonight.”
K-State scored touchdowns on six of its eight drives with starters in the game. The two that didn’t end in points were a missed field goal at the end of the first half and a punt from LSU territory in the second half.
“We were just firing on all cylinders,” Thompson said. “You could feel the aggressiveness of Coach Klein’s play calling ... I was so excited to get there and go play for him, just because we know each other so well. In the flow of the game, I knew what he was going to call before we called it and he just kept us attacking by by his play calls and didn’t allow us to take our foot off the gas at all.”
Klieman almost certainly has to consider Klein as a candidate to take over as offensive coordinator full time next season after the way K-State’s offense performed at the Texas Bowl.
Heck, he might even be the front-runner for the job. Klieman said he will talk to Klein about the coordinator opening more after they both get a few days off.
This was a strong audition.
“I loved his preparation,” Klieman said. “He had a great body of work. The guys love Collin, and they’re going to play their tails off for Collin. And they should. He’s K-State, in my mind. Skylar is, too. You play quarterback here, you’re the face of the program. We got one that’s just leaving us in Sky and one that’s here with us in Collin. It’s so fun to see those guys because they bleed purple.”
This story was originally published January 5, 2022 at 5:00 AM.