SE: K-State Focused on Fixing ‘Little Things’ in Final Non-Conference Battle vs. UTSA
Sep 14, 2018 | Football, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
K-State football's film session on Monday had a theme to it: Little things make a big difference.
Like every Monday this season, the Wildcats watched a reel of plays from the previous Saturday. This one, coming after a 31-10 loss to No. 18 Mississippi State, provided plenty of visual lessons but also a positive caveat. The plays they watched usually were limited to one small mistake that had a major impact.
"We really took as a learning experience and almost a positive thing because we see how close we are to performing how we need to be at that ranked, top-20 level," senior receiver Zach Reuter said, "because there's so many times where if we do one thing different, one thing better, then we're right there with the other team."
"If you really digest the film, we were close on a lot of plays," added junior receiver Dalton Schoen. "It's just the little things. We have to get that tightened up. It's not completely discouraging."
On one play, a Wildcat lineman stepped on the foot of another, disrupting his timing on a crucial block and derailing the play. In another, a pulling K-State offensive lineman was knocked off his path by his teammate and a long run was stopped before it could begin. Other times, a receiver's route would be a hair off what it should be, or a quarterback would not see an open receiver at the right time.
"On one play, if I get my shoulders turned on a combo block, I can get up to the linebacker cleaner and that play goes from a 10-yard gain to 15, 20 yards," K-State center Adam Holtorf said. "Those are little things you don't necessarily pick up on as the game's going and the bullets are flying, but when you go back and take time to watch the tape, that's very frustrating because you see how close you truly were."
"The eye in the sky doesn't lie, the film doesn't lie," added senior right tackle Dalton Risner. "Whenever you actually watch it, on 20 plays from Saturday's game there's one guy doing something wrong and that one guy making that mistake, including me, that makes the play go bad and that changes that whole rotation of the game."
The Wildcats and their head coach echoed that all of these are easily fixable mistakes. This week, that's been their focus.
"Visually they truly are (correctable) but you have to invest yourself in doing it and have that commitment and persistence to make that happen and do it on a daily basis so it creates habits because we're all a product of what our habits are," Snyder said, adding: "You could see the determination (on Monday) that was ever present in their faces and their actions."
Holtorf said he also saw a different level of urgency at practice at Monday's practice. He added this was partly because K-State (1-1) closes out its non-conference schedule against UTSA (0-2) this Saturday at 3 p.m., so the Wildcats know the time to get better is now. He also said it's because they know they are better than they have played the past two weeks.
"There's no waiting around. It has to happen now. Everybody knows we need to get things corrected and they need to be corrected yesterday," he said. "So, there's a sense of urgency. You could feel it in practice (Monday). Everybody's still excited. We're trying to get better every way we can every day with every rep we take."
K-State football's film session on Monday had a theme to it: Little things make a big difference.
Like every Monday this season, the Wildcats watched a reel of plays from the previous Saturday. This one, coming after a 31-10 loss to No. 18 Mississippi State, provided plenty of visual lessons but also a positive caveat. The plays they watched usually were limited to one small mistake that had a major impact.
"We really took as a learning experience and almost a positive thing because we see how close we are to performing how we need to be at that ranked, top-20 level," senior receiver Zach Reuter said, "because there's so many times where if we do one thing different, one thing better, then we're right there with the other team."
"If you really digest the film, we were close on a lot of plays," added junior receiver Dalton Schoen. "It's just the little things. We have to get that tightened up. It's not completely discouraging."
K-State head coach Bill Snyder and some of his players listed off some specific examples of how these "little things" went a long way during Tuesday's media availability.? TD connection last Saturday
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) September 11, 2018
? Message from Coach Snyder going into this week of practice
?? Dalton Schoen | #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/ZBYAGLcXIX
On one play, a Wildcat lineman stepped on the foot of another, disrupting his timing on a crucial block and derailing the play. In another, a pulling K-State offensive lineman was knocked off his path by his teammate and a long run was stopped before it could begin. Other times, a receiver's route would be a hair off what it should be, or a quarterback would not see an open receiver at the right time.
"On one play, if I get my shoulders turned on a combo block, I can get up to the linebacker cleaner and that play goes from a 10-yard gain to 15, 20 yards," K-State center Adam Holtorf said. "Those are little things you don't necessarily pick up on as the game's going and the bullets are flying, but when you go back and take time to watch the tape, that's very frustrating because you see how close you truly were."
"The eye in the sky doesn't lie, the film doesn't lie," added senior right tackle Dalton Risner. "Whenever you actually watch it, on 20 plays from Saturday's game there's one guy doing something wrong and that one guy making that mistake, including me, that makes the play go bad and that changes that whole rotation of the game."
The Wildcats and their head coach echoed that all of these are easily fixable mistakes. This week, that's been their focus.
"Visually they truly are (correctable) but you have to invest yourself in doing it and have that commitment and persistence to make that happen and do it on a daily basis so it creates habits because we're all a product of what our habits are," Snyder said, adding: "You could see the determination (on Monday) that was ever present in their faces and their actions."
Holtorf said he also saw a different level of urgency at practice at Monday's practice. He added this was partly because K-State (1-1) closes out its non-conference schedule against UTSA (0-2) this Saturday at 3 p.m., so the Wildcats know the time to get better is now. He also said it's because they know they are better than they have played the past two weeks.
"There's no waiting around. It has to happen now. Everybody knows we need to get things corrected and they need to be corrected yesterday," he said. "So, there's a sense of urgency. You could feel it in practice (Monday). Everybody's still excited. We're trying to get better every way we can every day with every rep we take."
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