SE: K-State Football Leaning on Season’s Lessons in Liberty Bowl Battle with No. 21 Navy
Dec 31, 2019 | Football, Sports Extra
By Corbin McGuire
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ask any of K-State's football players what lessons they took away from this first season under head coach Chris Klieman, specifically when it comes to team success, and a handful of different answers will come out.
The Wildcats (8-4) will need to use all of them against No. 21 Navy (10-2) in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Tuesday at 2:45 p.m., on ESPN.
Preparation, for starters. How to prepare at a high level and its general importance were big topics in the press conferences leading up to K-State's ninth bowl game this decade.
The Midshipmen have presented a unique challenge to prepare for, especially their triple-option offense that has them ranked No. 1 in the country in rushing yards per game (363.7). K-State, which has never played Navy, needed every bit of the extended bowl preparation to install and learn how to defend an offense most have never faced. If they have, it was in high school.
Still, the Wildcats had a foundation to lean on. All season, they were pushed to take their preparation to another level.
"Coach Klieman, you always hear him talk about, 'Focus on the details.' That's really where you get your edge, especially going up against a team like Navy where they have so many different things that they can do in formations that look very similar," senior safety Denzel Goolsby said. "So, for us, it's all about the details. I think if we take care of those details, then we'll get a win on Tuesday."
Senior center Adam Holtorf, while on the other side of the ball, pointed to a complementary lesson to the one Goolsby referenced. It's another calling card of Klieman's, one he specifically emphasized after K-State dominated Kansas, 38-10, in November. Again, it will come into play in Tuesday's battle.
"I think the biggest thing, for me, that I've taken away and has really helped me this year is that process-based mentality that Coach Klieman always talks about. We're a process-based program and not focused on the results or being a results-based program," Holtorf said. "Because when you get focused on results, you start tensing up and thinking about things that end up being out of your control, but when you focus on that process, I know I can feel that weight kind of get lifted off. It's one play at a time and if that one play doesn't go well, you can't get it back and it has no bearing on the next one.
"Coach (Conor) Riley always says, 'So what, now what?' That focus on the process, I think, is something that's really helped me, and I've really come to enjoy that thought process."
Along the same lines, Goolsby said this coaching staff and team have done a great job of staying level-headed. Graduate transfer running back James Gilbert agreed.
K-State started the season 3-0, capped by a win at Mississippi State — the program's first win at an SEC venue and its first of three ranked wins in the regular season.
"After the Mississippi State game…that's when I realized we have something special and I feel like that's when everybody started to believe," Gilbert said. "I feel like everybody started to believe in the process, started to believe in the coaches and just believe in what we were doing. We didn't second-guess nothing. We just kept pounding the stone and doing what we do."
Including after setbacks.
After the 3-0 start, the Wildcats dropped their first two Big 12 games. They responded by winning three in a row, with a win over No. 5 Oklahoma in the middle. They then lost two consecutive games by a combined seven points but bounced back with consecutive wins to end the regular season.
"I think that we've done a really great job of staying motivated every week in practice and never getting too high, never getting too low after a loss," Goolsby said. "I think that's important so you can continue to see what you can get better at and really just focus day in and day out."
There was also a different level of buy-in from the beginning. Some of it stemmed from the increased ownership in the program Klieman offered the Wildcats upon his arrival. Most of the success that followed, however, came from how they have handled that ownership and how the leadership embraced a new set of voices in the front of the room.
"Probably the thing I'd come back to more is the players and how well they accepted us and jumped on board," offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham said. "That's what gave us the opportunity to be successful was the buy-in from the players."
It was crucial in exceeding outside expectations, as K-State was picked ninth in the Big 12 and finished in a tie for third.
"You have to be 100 percent bought in," true freshman Joshua Youngblood, who's earned several All-America honors, said. "Everybody has to be bought in."
With this total buy-in came a complete trust in one another. Defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton used another word for it, and he said it's been a core piece of his group's success — the Wildcats hold four top-30 defensive rankings, including the No. 1 mark in third-down defense (25.9 percent).
"I think that these guys truly love one another. I think that's a big part of it, where they go out there and they don't care who makes the play," Hazelton said. "They understand that they're all part of it. It allows a trust between them all, where if my job is to rush the passer and I get a chance to hit the quarterback and he threw the ball and we got a pick because of that, that's how a unit works together."
More than anything, the Wildcats have embraced opportunities. Big or small, each role or task has been taken seriously.
This bowl game offers a lot of opportunities — reach nine wins for the fifth time in 10 years, record three straight bowl victories for the first time in school history, set the tone for 2020, among others.
"It would finish the chapter, finish the story," Klieman said on Monday. "We have one more chapter, one more story to write with our seniors."
Trey Dishon, one of those 27 Wildcat seniors, agreed.
"A lot of people look at a bowl game as a privilege to go play in another game, but we need to approach this as we still have one more chapter to write," Dishon said. "If we approach it that way, we'll have no problem."
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Ask any of K-State's football players what lessons they took away from this first season under head coach Chris Klieman, specifically when it comes to team success, and a handful of different answers will come out.
The Wildcats (8-4) will need to use all of them against No. 21 Navy (10-2) in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl on Tuesday at 2:45 p.m., on ESPN.
Preparation, for starters. How to prepare at a high level and its general importance were big topics in the press conferences leading up to K-State's ninth bowl game this decade.
The Midshipmen have presented a unique challenge to prepare for, especially their triple-option offense that has them ranked No. 1 in the country in rushing yards per game (363.7). K-State, which has never played Navy, needed every bit of the extended bowl preparation to install and learn how to defend an offense most have never faced. If they have, it was in high school.
Still, the Wildcats had a foundation to lean on. All season, they were pushed to take their preparation to another level.
"Coach Klieman, you always hear him talk about, 'Focus on the details.' That's really where you get your edge, especially going up against a team like Navy where they have so many different things that they can do in formations that look very similar," senior safety Denzel Goolsby said. "So, for us, it's all about the details. I think if we take care of those details, then we'll get a win on Tuesday."
Senior center Adam Holtorf, while on the other side of the ball, pointed to a complementary lesson to the one Goolsby referenced. It's another calling card of Klieman's, one he specifically emphasized after K-State dominated Kansas, 38-10, in November. Again, it will come into play in Tuesday's battle.
"I think the biggest thing, for me, that I've taken away and has really helped me this year is that process-based mentality that Coach Klieman always talks about. We're a process-based program and not focused on the results or being a results-based program," Holtorf said. "Because when you get focused on results, you start tensing up and thinking about things that end up being out of your control, but when you focus on that process, I know I can feel that weight kind of get lifted off. It's one play at a time and if that one play doesn't go well, you can't get it back and it has no bearing on the next one.
"Coach (Conor) Riley always says, 'So what, now what?' That focus on the process, I think, is something that's really helped me, and I've really come to enjoy that thought process."
Along the same lines, Goolsby said this coaching staff and team have done a great job of staying level-headed. Graduate transfer running back James Gilbert agreed.
K-State started the season 3-0, capped by a win at Mississippi State — the program's first win at an SEC venue and its first of three ranked wins in the regular season.
"After the Mississippi State game…that's when I realized we have something special and I feel like that's when everybody started to believe," Gilbert said. "I feel like everybody started to believe in the process, started to believe in the coaches and just believe in what we were doing. We didn't second-guess nothing. We just kept pounding the stone and doing what we do."
Including after setbacks.
After the 3-0 start, the Wildcats dropped their first two Big 12 games. They responded by winning three in a row, with a win over No. 5 Oklahoma in the middle. They then lost two consecutive games by a combined seven points but bounced back with consecutive wins to end the regular season.
"I think that we've done a really great job of staying motivated every week in practice and never getting too high, never getting too low after a loss," Goolsby said. "I think that's important so you can continue to see what you can get better at and really just focus day in and day out."
There was also a different level of buy-in from the beginning. Some of it stemmed from the increased ownership in the program Klieman offered the Wildcats upon his arrival. Most of the success that followed, however, came from how they have handled that ownership and how the leadership embraced a new set of voices in the front of the room.
"Probably the thing I'd come back to more is the players and how well they accepted us and jumped on board," offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham said. "That's what gave us the opportunity to be successful was the buy-in from the players."
It was crucial in exceeding outside expectations, as K-State was picked ninth in the Big 12 and finished in a tie for third.
"You have to be 100 percent bought in," true freshman Joshua Youngblood, who's earned several All-America honors, said. "Everybody has to be bought in."
With this total buy-in came a complete trust in one another. Defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton used another word for it, and he said it's been a core piece of his group's success — the Wildcats hold four top-30 defensive rankings, including the No. 1 mark in third-down defense (25.9 percent).
"I think that these guys truly love one another. I think that's a big part of it, where they go out there and they don't care who makes the play," Hazelton said. "They understand that they're all part of it. It allows a trust between them all, where if my job is to rush the passer and I get a chance to hit the quarterback and he threw the ball and we got a pick because of that, that's how a unit works together."
More than anything, the Wildcats have embraced opportunities. Big or small, each role or task has been taken seriously.
This bowl game offers a lot of opportunities — reach nine wins for the fifth time in 10 years, record three straight bowl victories for the first time in school history, set the tone for 2020, among others.
"It would finish the chapter, finish the story," Klieman said on Monday. "We have one more chapter, one more story to write with our seniors."
Trey Dishon, one of those 27 Wildcat seniors, agreed.
"A lot of people look at a bowl game as a privilege to go play in another game, but we need to approach this as we still have one more chapter to write," Dishon said. "If we approach it that way, we'll have no problem."
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