K-State Wildcats Q&A: Avery Johnson, rivalry trophies and the Sunflower Showdown
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
Let’s dive right into your questions this week before the Wildcats take on the Kansas Jayhawks in the Sunflower Showdown Saturday night at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Thanks, as always, for providing them.
What’s the over/under on rushing attempts for Avery Johnson this weekend against Kansas? Do you think Chris Klieman will let him get out and run after he turned into a pocket passer at West Virginia? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
All I can say is that I think it will be higher than zero.
While it’s true that Avery Johnson didn’t attempt a single run for the first time in his college career last week against West Virginia, there were special circumstances surrounding that game. Johnson was dealing with a nagging injury that he suffered against Colorado. And the Mountaineers have the worst pass defense in the Big 12.
It didn’t make sense for K-State to run its quarterback against a defense that was incapable of stopping the pass.
Credit Johnson for making the most of his opportunities and throwing for a career-high 298 yards and three touchdowns. But things won’t be so easy for him against Kansas, which is only allowing 209.3 yards per game through the air.
I think Johnson will have the green light to keep the ball and run on RPO plays in this game. I’m not expecting him to run it 25 times. But I think he will use his legs a little bit when it looks like he can help DJ Giddens and Dylan Edwards in the run game.
Here’s a hot take for you: Kansas and Kansas State deserve a better name for their rivalry than the Sunflower Showdown. Agree or disagree? - Andrew B. via e-mail.
I’m not married to the name, but I’m not looking for a divorce either.
Sunflower Showdown has more than a few things going for it. Kansas is the Sunflower State. That works. You get alliteration when you combine the words “Sunflower” and “Showdown.” The rivalry logo with both logos facing each other on opposite sides of a sunflower works for me.
I also do most of my grocery shopping at Dillons, which sponsors the rivalry. So I’m good with it unless you have a dynamite idea for a replacement name.
The Governer’s Cup isn’t the best trophy in the world, though.
College football has some truly amazing rivalry trophies like a golden hat (Oklahoma/Texas), Paul Bunyan’s ax (Minnesota/Wisconsin), a bronze rack of ribs (UAB/Memphis) and a cannon (UNLV/Nevada). Yet Kansas and K-State play for an empty cup that the governor presents at the end of every game.
I am more open to replacing the rivalry trophy than the rivalry name.
Kellis, the hugely important game vs KU could be a nail bitter. Do you think that it was a good thing that the Jayhawks destroyed Houston? I’m thinking if Houston beat the flailing Hawks last Saturday the Cats might have gotten overconfident in upcoming game with KU. Your take? - @rcst2msn via X.
Your line of thinking is sound, but I don’t think that really matters to Kansas State.
The Wildcats have won 15 straight games against their rivals for two main reasons:
1. K-State has a better football program than KU.
2. The Wildcats take the Sunflower Showdown more seriously than KU.
It takes more than skill to win this many consecutive games in a rivalry. The lesser team should rise up and win every now and then because of familiarity and motivation, no matter how big the gap is between their programs. Think the Little Giants vs. the Cowboys. Even the rag-tag bunch of misfits has one win in them.
But if the superior team is also the more motivated team then what chance does the underdog have?
Bill Snyder and Chris Klieman are both masters at getting their teams up for this game. For many K-State players, losing to KU simply is not an option. It’s hard for me to envision a scenario in which the Wildcats ever overlook the Jayhawks.
That’s why K-State has throttled KU by scores of 55-14, 38-10, 45-14, 51-13, 56-16, 59-21 and 59-7 during its current winning streak in the Sunflower Showdown. The Jayhawks were extremely bad during some of those seasons, but that didn’t matter to the Wildcats. They wanted to win no matter what.
Can K-State make the College Football Playoff without playing in (or winning) the Big 12 championship game? - @garrettv1991
The easiest path for K-State, or any Big 12 team for that matter, to make the playoff is to win the Big 12 championship and earn an automatic berth into the tournament.
But that is not the only path for the Wildcats to follow.
I have my doubts that K-State can reach the playoff without at least playing the Big 12 championship game. If the Wildcats miss out on a trip to Arlington, Texas then that means they probably lose to Iowa State in the final game of the regular season. K-State can still go 10-2 without a win in that game, which would put the Wildcats on the bubble.
Still, it will be hard for K-State to box out other two-loss teams from the Big Ten and the SEC if it loses to both BYU and Iowa State. I think the playoff committee would look more fondly on the Wildcats if they finish 11-2 with wins over Colorado, Iowa State and Tulane. It would also be harder for the committee to punish them for losing an extra game at Jerry World.
Colorado and Iowa State will have the best cases for making the playoff without reaching the Big 12 championship game. The Cyclones can go 11-1 and miss out on Arlington. The Buffaloes can win their final six games and finish 10-2.
Am I crazy, or has K-State had the misfortune of playing a “surprise team” early in the season and taking a loss before people know how good that team is? I’m thinking Tulane in 2022, Missouri in 2023 and BYU in 2024. - @jhonkller via X.
You’re not crazy.
K-State was favored by 14 against Tulane in 2022, and that number really surprised me. I thought it would be closer to 21. The Green Wave were coming off a dismal season and didn’t look all that good in their first few games. But then they put it all together against K-State and won 17-10.
But Tulane wasn’t done surprising us. The Green Wave lost the following week to Southern Mississippi and people really killed K-State for not winning that game. Of course, Tulane went on to win the Cotton Bowl that year. Willie Fritz’s team sneaked up on everyone that season.
I’m not sure how big of a surprise Missouri turned out to be. K-State was only favored by three in that game. But I don’t think many of us expected the Tigers to follow in Tulane’s footsteps and also win the Cotton Bowl.
The Cotton Bowl might as well forward BYU its trophy at this point.
BYU was a big surprise. I thought the Cougars would be one of the worst teams in the Big 12 this season. Yet here they are, undefeated after seven games.
Watch out for Army or Arizona next season.
That being said, I wonder if there is something about how K-State handles its transition from nonconference play into Big 12 action. All three of those losses came at the exact same time of year when the Wildcats were playing Game 3 or Game 4 of those seasons.
One could argue Tulane (5-2) is once again a surprise team this season, but K-State found a way to beat the Green Wave on the road ... in Week 2.
It’s almost basketball season. What will it take to end the year ahead of the preseason Big 12 pick of eighth? What’s a realistic number for the number of teams to make the NCAA Tournament? Is it over 10? Is the Big 12 that deep? - @ChadFullington via X.
Let me start by saying that I wouldn’t put much stock in the Big 12 preseason poll. It’s hard enough for every coach in the league to rebuild their own roster every season via the transfer portal. There is no way they have an accurate read on the rest of the conference.
K-State being picked No. 8 does seem about right, though. This league is going to be a monster.
Arizona, Baylor, Houston, Iowa State and Kansas could all be national championship contenders.
BYU, Cincinnati, K-State and TCU all have top 25 potential.
Every team in the bottom half of the projections will begin the year rated within the top 110 of most analytical rankings, which means they all have sleeper appeal.
A team could finish eighth in the Big 12 standings and earn a No. 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. That’s how good and deep this league is right now.
So I wouldn’t worry much about where the Wildcats end up in the Big 12 standings. Winning enough games to reach the NCAA Tournament is the primary goal. In order for that to happen, K-State will need to come together as a team.
At Big 12 Media Day, associate head coach Ulric Maligi told me this is the deepest and most talented roster of the Jerome Tang era. But the Wildcats might not have the same kind of electric one-two punch that they had with Keyontae Johnson and Markquis Nowell a few years ago.
Finding a few go-to scorers and figuring out which players can make clutch shots may be the key to this season.
I expect the Wildcats to be stellar on defense with all the size they can put on the floor. It’s scary to think about what they can do in zone. The offense should improve enough to expect a trip to March Madness. How much the offense improves will ultimately decide where this team finishes in the Big 12.