A Historic Pace, but ‘There’s Still More In Them’
Oct 30, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Texas Tech quarterback Jake Strong completed an 8-yard touchdown to Jerand Bradley with 7 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter of a game against Kansas State on October 14 in Lubbock, Texas.
That's the answer to the trivia question.
The question: When is the last time K-State has allowed a touchdown?
No. 25 K-State, 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12 Conference, has been playing lights-out football and hasn't allowed a touchdown in nine quarters. The only score surrendered during that period was a first-quarter field goal by TCU on October 21.
Convincing victories at Texas Tech (38-21) and against TCU (41-3) and Houston (41-0) have the Wildcats in elite status as they rank No. 14 in the FBS scoring defense in giving up just 15.9 points per game heading into November.
It's on pace for the best scoring defense by a K-State team since the 2002 squad ranked No. 1 in scoring defense at 11.8 points per game.
"We're eight games into it now," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "I'm excited and I think there's more in them on defense. I think we can continue to play better."
As for K-State's latest statement against the Cougars? It marked the first shutout by a Big 12 team in league play. K-State, which blanked Southeast Missouri State (45-0) in Game 1, is the only Big 12 team with multiple shutouts this season.
Big 12 teams have posted four shutouts in 2023. K-State is responsible for two of them. The Wildcats are one of just five teams nationally to post multiple shutouts this year, joining Louisville, Navy, Penn State and SMU.
"Makes my job really easy," quarterback Will Howard said. "Those are two really good offenses in TCU and Houston that we've held to three points combined. Whenever you have your defense playing like that, it's hard not to win games. We're scoring a lot of points, but all we had to do was score one point against Houston and we would've won. It makes it really easy."
K-State hasn't allowed a team to reach the end zone in the last 25 possessions.
"It feels good to show how good our defense is," safety Marques Sigle said. "Each week we want to do the same thing."
K-State ranks sixth in the FBS in third-down defense percentage in allowing opponents to convert on third down just 28.9% of the time. It also ranks third nationally in red-zone touchdown conversion percentage, allowing teams to reach the end zone just 30.0% of the time that they're inside the 20-yard line.
Houston didn't reach the red zone against K-State. Its deepest penetration stalled at the K-State 28.
"We're playing at an elite level, which is what we've been trying to achieve the whole year," defensive end Nate Matlack said. "It feels good to be playing at this level, shutting guys out or holding them to one score. That's the goal."
Klieman applauds defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and the defensive coaches for putting their players into position to achieve such success.
"We're really detailed in our work as coaches with Joe leading it and the other guys with Steve (Stanard), Buddy (Wyatt), Van (Malone) and Tui (Mike Tuiasosopo)," Klieman said. "We have really good, smart guys in there. We've simplified some things since early in the season, which I think has helped some of our younger players continue to progress and get better.
"We just continue to challenge those guys every day, not just on Saturday."
There are video highlights — some from more than 20 years ago — that K-State players look to for inspiration.
K-State defenses ranked top 20 in scoring defense 10-straight years from 1994 to 2003.
Current players aspire to live up to the Mob mentality standard.
"It's just a fast-paced, confident group of guys," safety Kobe Savage said. "They may not be the biggest, fastest or strongest, but they're guys running to the ball, swarming, having fun, throwing up the Mob sign — Josh Buhl, Jaime Mendez, Terence Newman and Arthur Brown — guys wearing the Powercat with that much pride.
"It just gives us a boost of energy. They laid down a foundation for us. We want to live up to that standard. There's a lot of tradition here, and we want to live up to that."
K-State will get its chance to make another Mob-like statement when it visits No. 7 Texas, 7-1 and 4-1, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff (FOX) at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
It'll truly be a top-25 battle as K-State ranks 14th in scoring defense and Texas ranks 24th in scoring offense (34.5 points per game).
"The preparation stays the same," Savage said. "Just a higher intensity and higher focus. I mean, it's getting down to the wire with this conference race. It should be a pretty fired-up game."
Texas Tech quarterback Jake Strong completed an 8-yard touchdown to Jerand Bradley with 7 minutes, 31 seconds remaining in the third quarter of a game against Kansas State on October 14 in Lubbock, Texas.
That's the answer to the trivia question.
The question: When is the last time K-State has allowed a touchdown?
No. 25 K-State, 6-2 overall and 4-1 in the Big 12 Conference, has been playing lights-out football and hasn't allowed a touchdown in nine quarters. The only score surrendered during that period was a first-quarter field goal by TCU on October 21.
Convincing victories at Texas Tech (38-21) and against TCU (41-3) and Houston (41-0) have the Wildcats in elite status as they rank No. 14 in the FBS scoring defense in giving up just 15.9 points per game heading into November.
It's on pace for the best scoring defense by a K-State team since the 2002 squad ranked No. 1 in scoring defense at 11.8 points per game.
"We're eight games into it now," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "I'm excited and I think there's more in them on defense. I think we can continue to play better."
As for K-State's latest statement against the Cougars? It marked the first shutout by a Big 12 team in league play. K-State, which blanked Southeast Missouri State (45-0) in Game 1, is the only Big 12 team with multiple shutouts this season.
Big 12 teams have posted four shutouts in 2023. K-State is responsible for two of them. The Wildcats are one of just five teams nationally to post multiple shutouts this year, joining Louisville, Navy, Penn State and SMU.
"Makes my job really easy," quarterback Will Howard said. "Those are two really good offenses in TCU and Houston that we've held to three points combined. Whenever you have your defense playing like that, it's hard not to win games. We're scoring a lot of points, but all we had to do was score one point against Houston and we would've won. It makes it really easy."
K-State hasn't allowed a team to reach the end zone in the last 25 possessions.
"It feels good to show how good our defense is," safety Marques Sigle said. "Each week we want to do the same thing."
K-State ranks sixth in the FBS in third-down defense percentage in allowing opponents to convert on third down just 28.9% of the time. It also ranks third nationally in red-zone touchdown conversion percentage, allowing teams to reach the end zone just 30.0% of the time that they're inside the 20-yard line.
Houston didn't reach the red zone against K-State. Its deepest penetration stalled at the K-State 28.
"We're playing at an elite level, which is what we've been trying to achieve the whole year," defensive end Nate Matlack said. "It feels good to be playing at this level, shutting guys out or holding them to one score. That's the goal."
Klieman applauds defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and the defensive coaches for putting their players into position to achieve such success.
"We're really detailed in our work as coaches with Joe leading it and the other guys with Steve (Stanard), Buddy (Wyatt), Van (Malone) and Tui (Mike Tuiasosopo)," Klieman said. "We have really good, smart guys in there. We've simplified some things since early in the season, which I think has helped some of our younger players continue to progress and get better.
"We just continue to challenge those guys every day, not just on Saturday."
There are video highlights — some from more than 20 years ago — that K-State players look to for inspiration.
K-State defenses ranked top 20 in scoring defense 10-straight years from 1994 to 2003.
Current players aspire to live up to the Mob mentality standard.
"It's just a fast-paced, confident group of guys," safety Kobe Savage said. "They may not be the biggest, fastest or strongest, but they're guys running to the ball, swarming, having fun, throwing up the Mob sign — Josh Buhl, Jaime Mendez, Terence Newman and Arthur Brown — guys wearing the Powercat with that much pride.
"It just gives us a boost of energy. They laid down a foundation for us. We want to live up to that standard. There's a lot of tradition here, and we want to live up to that."
K-State will get its chance to make another Mob-like statement when it visits No. 7 Texas, 7-1 and 4-1, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff (FOX) at Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas.
It'll truly be a top-25 battle as K-State ranks 14th in scoring defense and Texas ranks 24th in scoring offense (34.5 points per game).
"The preparation stays the same," Savage said. "Just a higher intensity and higher focus. I mean, it's getting down to the wire with this conference race. It should be a pretty fired-up game."
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