Off-week arrives at good time for Kansas State Wildcats, but there is one drawback
Given that it feels like just yesterday when Kansas State began the 2023 football season with a 45-0 victory over Southeast Missouri State it may be hard for some to believe that the Wildcats are already finished with a third of their games.
But here we are.
In fact, K-State (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) is far enough into the football calendar that its off-week has arrived. That means there is no game for fans to prepare for this weekend. The Wildcats will try to get healthy over the next few days and take a look at some of their developmental players in practice before they turn their focus to a Friday road game against Oklahoma State on October 6.
“We’re 1-0 in league play going into an open weekend and I couldn’t be more thrilled,” K-State football coach Chris Klieman said. “We’re by no means a finished product. We’ve got to get a lot better as a football team. We’re still growing and learning as a team, but I’m excited.”
Question is: Does this off-week arrive at a good time for the Wildcats?
K-State players said they think it will be good for everyone on the roster to get some down time, but that is always true. As Klieman pointed out earlier this week, teams are almost always going to say their off-week comes at a good time so long as it isn’t incredibly early or incredibly late.
You could make a good argument for either side of the debate this season.
Here are a few reasons why the Wildcats should be happy that they get this week off, and one reason why they may wish it came later.
K-State players can used these two weeks to heal
The injury report heading into last week’s game against UCF was downright ugly.
Linebacker Daniel Green is out for the year. Running back Treshaun Ward was too hurt to play. So was wide receiver RJ Garcia. Quarterback Will Howard, linebacker Jake Clifton, wide out Keagan Johnson and offensive lineman Christian Duffie were all limited.
The Wildcats found a way to beat the Knights and pulled away in the second half for a 44-31 victory, but it wasn’t easy.
Behind the scenes, there was a “let’s just get through this game” mindset, especially with an off week on the horizon. That’s probably why Klieman felt comfortable giving the ball to running back DJ Giddens a whopping 38 times for 293 yards and four touchdowns.
Now, the Wildcats can get some rest and hopefully head into the rest of their season with a much healthier roster, which would allow them to go back to spreading the ball around on offense.
A difficult stretch of games is up next
Before the season began, many pointed to the next three games as the toughest stretch on the K-State schedule.
Over the next four weeks, K-State must play at Oklahoma State, at Texas Tech and then host TCU.
Granted, Oklahoma State (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) and Texas Tech (1-3, 0-1 Big 12) are not playing up to preseason expectations. But it’s still back-to-back road conference games. Winning both will be extremely difficult. And TCU (3-1, 1-0 Big 12) is starting to look like the team that made it all the way to the national championship game last year.
If the Wildcats can post a winning record, or a perfect mark, in those three games then they will be contenders in the Big 12 championship race. If they go on a losing streak, they can probably say goodbye to any hope of returning to AT&T Stadium in December.
In that sense, it seems beneficial for K-State to get an extra week to prepare for those games.
Wildcats must now play 8 straight games without a break
Here’s the drawback to an early off week: There are no more breaks.
Sure, K-State can get healthy now but it will have no such luck if injuries occur during the final two months of the season. Playing eight straight conference games can feel like a grind for even the best of teams. The Wildcats will have to face that challenge this year, which could make rivalry games against Kansas and Iowa State more difficult in November.
Of course, it is worth pointing out that TCU went undefeated in the regular season last year despite playing nine straight conference games. So teams can overcome it. But some coaches would prefer some time off later in the season in hopes of better breaking up their schedule.
No matter what happens, Klieman will need to handle this off week better than he has in the past if K-State wants to be successful moving forward. The Wildcats have only gone 1-3 coming off an idle week in non-pandemic seasons since Klieman took over as coach.
This story was originally published September 27, 2023 at 12:30 PM.