QB Will Howard has a very specific (and lofty) goal in mind for Kansas State offense
Imagine for a moment that the Kansas State football team is able to build a massive lead against Southeast Missouri State in its first game of the season on Saturday.
Let’s say the Wildcats are up 43-10 in the fourth quarter. In that scenario, would quarterback Will Howard prefer to ease up and save as much of the offensive playbook as possible for future games? Or would he rather keep his metaphorical foot on the gas and go for 50 points?
Howard is smart enough to defer to his coaches on that one, but if they were to ask him for his input he knows exactly what he would suggest.
“We are worried about scoring 50 every single game,” Howard said. “However we are going to do that, we are going to do it.”
Fifty points is a very specific, and lofty, goal.
Howard wouldn’t shout out a big number like that just to sound confident. Turns out, K-State offensive coordinator Collin Klein instructs his offense to try and score 50 points before every single game they play.
“That is the number that coach Klein says every week,” Howard said. “I think (former wide receiver) Malik (Knowles) said 80 last year, which was kind of ridiculous. But I love it. We can score 80 points. That would be awesome. But (50) is our number as an offense.”
Why 50? There is a reason why Klein continues to dangle such a large amount of points in front of his players. It is a motivational tool. Try as they might, the Wildcats have never reached 50 points with Klein calling the plays.
That hasn’t happened since 2020, when K-State flattened Kansas 55-14 thanks to a flurry of touchdowns on special teams.
K-State has come close a few times, though. It beat LSU 42-20 in the Texas Bowl and then scored 40 or more points in five games last season. The best of those performances came late in the year when the Cats hung 48 points on Oklahoma State and West Virginia, followed by 47 against rival KU.
Another play here or there could have put them over the top.
Nobody realizes that more than Howard. He was the starting quarterback for all three of those late-season games.
Clearly, it’s still on his mind.
“I would love to hit that 50 number,” Howard said. “That is definitely the number we are shooting for, and I think with the pieces that we have we are certainly capable. We just have to go out and do it.”