Listening to the Inside Noise
Oct 11, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Last year, Kansas State followed each of its three regular-season losses with wins. This season, the Wildcats have already bounced back from a road loss at Missouri with a convincing win over UCF.
But K-State head coach Chris Klieman is looking for the team to block out the outside noise as the Wildcats, 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference, try to bounce back following a 29-21 loss at Oklahoma State.
"We've urged our guys, especially the new guys, especially the guys who whether or not you were on the team last year but didn't travel or you're brand new to it — just blocking out the outside noise of, 'Hey we're still in great shape and still have an opportunity,' and all this other stuff, but to lock into the inside noise. That inside noise is Austin Moore, Cooper Beebe, Phillip Brooks and Kobe Savage and guys who've been around here, and who say, 'Guys, we have to do this one day at a time, and we better win today's practice. If we can win today's practice, and prepare and get ready for Wednesday's practice, we have a great opportunity to be successful on Saturday,'" Klieman said at his weekly news conference.
"Right now, I think we're listening too much to the outside noise of what we can be rather than working on what we need to be."
Although the Wildcats allowed just one offensive touchdown, they took their lumps against the Cowboys last Friday and now are days away from seeking a comeback victory in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff against Texas Tech, 3-3 and 2-1, at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
"Another tough road trip this week and another night game on the road," Klieman said. "Texas Tech has a really good football team and Coach (Joey) McGuire has done a really good job. I have a ton of respect for him and his program. We had a good practice Monday coming off a couple 'off' days of Saturday and Sunday even though we met Saturday.
"Bottom line is we need to be better across the board. It doesn't matter if it's by position or by unit. We had a good practice Monday. We have to come up with great plans because it's going to be a big challenge."
Asked to detail the content of the Saturday meeting, Klieman replied, "It was rough, mainly because we know we can be better collectively. There really wasn't any finger pointing because all phases need to be better. All positions within the units need to be better."
Klieman on Tuesday said starting cornerback Jacob Parrish, who was out against Oklahoma State, is "day to day," and said that the other starting cornerback, Will Lee III, "hasn't practiced and will most likely be out."
K-State allowed Oklahoma State just one offensive touchdown. The Cowboys had a pick-six and five field goals as K-State held Oklahoma State to just one touchdown on six red zone appearances.
"I'm really proud that we played good red zone defense and held them to field goals and kept us in the game despite how poorly we were playing with the football," Klieman said. "The reality is they were having the ball so long and making the drives. Holding them to field goals isn't good enough."
K-State's 21 points at Oklahoma State snapped a three-game Big 12 regular-season streak of scoring at least 40 points.
Will Howard, one of five quarterbacks in K-State history to throw for 1,000 yards in three different seasons, had an uncharacteristic performance as he completed 15-of-32 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions against Oklahoma State.
Klieman stands by his quarterback an offensive coordinator Collin Klein.
"(Howard) has got to take care of the ball better," Klieman said. "I like him to be aggressive, but he can't be to a point where it's putting the team at risk. There were a couple throws last week that he knows he can't make, and he hasn't made those in the past. You know, we believe in Will. Let's not forget he helped us win a Big 12 Championship, so we're not going to give up on him like I think people want us to.
"We've got a guy that's running that room that knows what he's doing in Collin Klein. I love CK and have a ton of faith in him as everybody else should being K-Staters. We'll get this figured out."
Klieman is 104-35 all-time and 33-22 at K-State and his 75.0% career winning percentage ranks fourth among current FBS coaches that have led programs for at least 10 seasons.
Unfortunately, the schedule doesn't get any easier. K-State's 12 opponents during the regular season combined for a 60.8% winning percentage in 2022, which is the 10th-highest winning percentage in the FBS. Additionally, K-State is one of just four teams in the nation to play 11 games in 2023 against teams that made the postseason in 2022.
Steps must be made every day to mount a comeback.
"As a practice Monday, it was good, but how you bounce back mentally really is determined by when you get punched in the face again how do you respond," Klieman said. "Today's practice is going to be hard. It's going to be a physical practice, a hard practice. We're not keeping score, so to speak, but it's stacking those days. Then when we have that adversity — because we're going to have that on Saturday — being able to overcome and grow from it and stand up to it.
"That's something I know what Austin Moore is going to do and what Cooper Beebe is going to do, but it's some of the guys who maybe are pretty new to the stage and to the scene who got punched in the mouth last Friday night —hopefully they learned enough from it, and we can teach enough from that that we respond better."
Last year, Kansas State followed each of its three regular-season losses with wins. This season, the Wildcats have already bounced back from a road loss at Missouri with a convincing win over UCF.
But K-State head coach Chris Klieman is looking for the team to block out the outside noise as the Wildcats, 3-2 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference, try to bounce back following a 29-21 loss at Oklahoma State.
"We've urged our guys, especially the new guys, especially the guys who whether or not you were on the team last year but didn't travel or you're brand new to it — just blocking out the outside noise of, 'Hey we're still in great shape and still have an opportunity,' and all this other stuff, but to lock into the inside noise. That inside noise is Austin Moore, Cooper Beebe, Phillip Brooks and Kobe Savage and guys who've been around here, and who say, 'Guys, we have to do this one day at a time, and we better win today's practice. If we can win today's practice, and prepare and get ready for Wednesday's practice, we have a great opportunity to be successful on Saturday,'" Klieman said at his weekly news conference.
"Right now, I think we're listening too much to the outside noise of what we can be rather than working on what we need to be."
Although the Wildcats allowed just one offensive touchdown, they took their lumps against the Cowboys last Friday and now are days away from seeking a comeback victory in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff against Texas Tech, 3-3 and 2-1, at Jones AT&T Stadium in Lubbock, Texas.
"Another tough road trip this week and another night game on the road," Klieman said. "Texas Tech has a really good football team and Coach (Joey) McGuire has done a really good job. I have a ton of respect for him and his program. We had a good practice Monday coming off a couple 'off' days of Saturday and Sunday even though we met Saturday.
"Bottom line is we need to be better across the board. It doesn't matter if it's by position or by unit. We had a good practice Monday. We have to come up with great plans because it's going to be a big challenge."
Asked to detail the content of the Saturday meeting, Klieman replied, "It was rough, mainly because we know we can be better collectively. There really wasn't any finger pointing because all phases need to be better. All positions within the units need to be better."
Klieman on Tuesday said starting cornerback Jacob Parrish, who was out against Oklahoma State, is "day to day," and said that the other starting cornerback, Will Lee III, "hasn't practiced and will most likely be out."
K-State allowed Oklahoma State just one offensive touchdown. The Cowboys had a pick-six and five field goals as K-State held Oklahoma State to just one touchdown on six red zone appearances.
"I'm really proud that we played good red zone defense and held them to field goals and kept us in the game despite how poorly we were playing with the football," Klieman said. "The reality is they were having the ball so long and making the drives. Holding them to field goals isn't good enough."
K-State's 21 points at Oklahoma State snapped a three-game Big 12 regular-season streak of scoring at least 40 points.
Will Howard, one of five quarterbacks in K-State history to throw for 1,000 yards in three different seasons, had an uncharacteristic performance as he completed 15-of-32 passes for 152 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions against Oklahoma State.
Klieman stands by his quarterback an offensive coordinator Collin Klein.
"(Howard) has got to take care of the ball better," Klieman said. "I like him to be aggressive, but he can't be to a point where it's putting the team at risk. There were a couple throws last week that he knows he can't make, and he hasn't made those in the past. You know, we believe in Will. Let's not forget he helped us win a Big 12 Championship, so we're not going to give up on him like I think people want us to.
"We've got a guy that's running that room that knows what he's doing in Collin Klein. I love CK and have a ton of faith in him as everybody else should being K-Staters. We'll get this figured out."
Klieman is 104-35 all-time and 33-22 at K-State and his 75.0% career winning percentage ranks fourth among current FBS coaches that have led programs for at least 10 seasons.
Unfortunately, the schedule doesn't get any easier. K-State's 12 opponents during the regular season combined for a 60.8% winning percentage in 2022, which is the 10th-highest winning percentage in the FBS. Additionally, K-State is one of just four teams in the nation to play 11 games in 2023 against teams that made the postseason in 2022.
Steps must be made every day to mount a comeback.
"As a practice Monday, it was good, but how you bounce back mentally really is determined by when you get punched in the face again how do you respond," Klieman said. "Today's practice is going to be hard. It's going to be a physical practice, a hard practice. We're not keeping score, so to speak, but it's stacking those days. Then when we have that adversity — because we're going to have that on Saturday — being able to overcome and grow from it and stand up to it.
"That's something I know what Austin Moore is going to do and what Cooper Beebe is going to do, but it's some of the guys who maybe are pretty new to the stage and to the scene who got punched in the mouth last Friday night —hopefully they learned enough from it, and we can teach enough from that that we respond better."
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