A New Season Awaits
Sep 01, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
It's been 274 days since Kansas State hoisted the Big 12 Championship Trophy following one of the most nail-biting games in Big 12 Conference history. Now the 16th-ranked Wildcats open their 2023 season knowing one fundamental truth: It's a new season.
"The expectations are elevated," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "This is a new team and a new day and a new everything. It hits me when you say we're the defending Big 12 champs because it's not easy to do and it doesn't happen that often."
Klieman, who owns the fourth-highest winning percentage by a current FBS head coach with at least 10 years of experience in the profession, knows plenty about expectations, as he captured four FCS national titles in five years as head coach at North Dakota State.
The Wildcats, who host upset-minded SEMO in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff at sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium, come off a 10-4 season capped by their first league title in a decade and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl. They were picked second in the Big 12 preseason poll, the program's highest since they were picked to win the league title in 2004.
As for Klieman's advice for this squad?
"To not listen to the media," he says. "We're focused in. We want to eliminate those distractions of high expectations and focus on what we need to do every time in order to be successful."
As for K-State's potential?
"It's a special team, man. We're not taking anything for granted," senior quarterback Will Howard says. "A lot of the guys in this room can tell you that. Everyone has a story, especially the old guys. We've taught those younger guys and we've said, 'Listen, we had a lot of success last year, but it wasn't always like that.' We went through a tumultuous 2020 year and had so many different things. We're battle tested. We know what it takes to win and to win in this conference, and if we do what we're capable of doing, it's going to be special."
K-State has reason for optimism with Howard under center while the entire starting offensive line is back along with All-Big 12 tight end Ben Sinnott. Wide receivers Phillip Brooks and RJ Garcia II return along with running back DJ Giddens, who a year ago had the third most rushing yards by a freshman in school history. Meanwhile, Saturday will mark the Wildcat debut of two key transfers in wide receiver Keagan Johnson and running back Treshaun Ward.
"Working with Treshaun is cool, seeing him make different cuts and spin moves," Giddens says. "It's encouraging me to try to make people miss more and not just run downhill. A lot of people say I'm more of a downhill runner, and he'll take the ball outside. I can do both, and he can do both. It'll be fun to see."
Last season, K-State ranked top 10 all-time in school history in multiple offensive categories, including the second-most total offensive yards at 5,863.
Second-year K-State offensive coordinator Collin Klein knows it could take some time before this offense forms its true identity.
"We're going to go through this year just like we did last year," Klein says. "It's going to take some learning from all of us to build what this offense is ultimately going to be. When you're in camp, you're putting those pieces together, but, ultimately, it's going to be how you build it throughout the season with live bullets and seeing what we're made of and what we can and can't do. It'll be a growth process both from their part and my part."
Defensively, top tackler Austin Moore is back at weakside linebacker along with sixth-year senior middle linebacker Daniel Green while sophomore Desmond Purnell will get the start at strongside linebacker as well. While it appears the availability of senior defensive tackle Uso Seumalo is a game-time decision Saturday, sophomore Damian Ilalio is ready to go. Khalid Duke has switched from linebacker to his home as an edge rusher and will start alongside Brendan Mott. All-Big 12 safety Kobe Savage will lead a defensive backfield that returns sophomore safety VJ Payne and sophomore cornerback Jacob Parrish, and that welcomes new faces such as transfer free safety Marques Sigle.
"I'm ready to go out there and play fast and free and make plays," Payne says. "I'm ready to attack the opportunity I have."
K-State held all of its Big 12 opponents under their season average at the time of their meeting last season.
However, this is a new season.
"It's going to be a work in progress for several weeks, would be my guess," defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman says. "We have an interesting mixture of guys who've played a lot of football and we feel pretty comfortable with and other guys who are going to have pretty big key roles, probably bigger as time goes on, who we haven't seen yet.
"Seeing how all those guys are going to respond to the lights is going to be a big thing."
K-State, which is 29-4 in season openers since 1990, figures to play a bunch of different players harboring youth and inexperience one week from facing a key non-conference game against Troy.
"Our wins don't just happen by showing up," Moore says. "It's an everyday thing, and we have to take care of business one day at a time. We've done a really good job so far. We just have to live in the moment."
SEMO is the reigning Ohio Valley Conference champion, returns a bevy of starters, including running back Geno Hess — he needs 1,038 yards to break the Ohio Valley's career rushing record of 5,149 yards — and enters ranked No. 11 in the FCS poll. K-State marks just the second ranked Power 5 team that they have faced in the history of their program, which is led by ninth-year head coach Tom Matukewicz, a native of Silver Lake, Kansas.
"Our biggest challenge, I think, is just going to be ourselves. Our ego," Matukewicz told The Associated Press. "We do have a lot of great things going for us, but I struggle with my ego and I'm 50. What do you think a 20-year-old does? We just have to make sure we check our egos, have the courage to do the things it takes to keep ourselves on track."
K-State would like to derail any of SEMO's hopes early.
"We're worried about scoring 50 every single game," Howard says, "and however we have to do it, we're going to do it."
Klein downplays that suggestion, saying, "It's more of a mentality than anything."
"As long as you get one more point than the other team," Klein continues, "that's the ultimate goal."
That's virtually how it played out in the Wildcats' 31-28 overtime win over TCU to capture the Big 12 title last season.
However, this is a new season.
"There's always going to be extra juice going into game one with the energy coming from the fans for the first time in however many months," Sinnott says.
It's actually been nine months.
This is a new season.
It's been 274 days since Kansas State hoisted the Big 12 Championship Trophy following one of the most nail-biting games in Big 12 Conference history. Now the 16th-ranked Wildcats open their 2023 season knowing one fundamental truth: It's a new season.
"The expectations are elevated," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "This is a new team and a new day and a new everything. It hits me when you say we're the defending Big 12 champs because it's not easy to do and it doesn't happen that often."
Klieman, who owns the fourth-highest winning percentage by a current FBS head coach with at least 10 years of experience in the profession, knows plenty about expectations, as he captured four FCS national titles in five years as head coach at North Dakota State.
The Wildcats, who host upset-minded SEMO in Saturday's 6 p.m. kickoff at sold-out Bill Snyder Family Stadium, come off a 10-4 season capped by their first league title in a decade and an appearance in the Sugar Bowl. They were picked second in the Big 12 preseason poll, the program's highest since they were picked to win the league title in 2004.
As for Klieman's advice for this squad?
"To not listen to the media," he says. "We're focused in. We want to eliminate those distractions of high expectations and focus on what we need to do every time in order to be successful."
As for K-State's potential?
"It's a special team, man. We're not taking anything for granted," senior quarterback Will Howard says. "A lot of the guys in this room can tell you that. Everyone has a story, especially the old guys. We've taught those younger guys and we've said, 'Listen, we had a lot of success last year, but it wasn't always like that.' We went through a tumultuous 2020 year and had so many different things. We're battle tested. We know what it takes to win and to win in this conference, and if we do what we're capable of doing, it's going to be special."
K-State has reason for optimism with Howard under center while the entire starting offensive line is back along with All-Big 12 tight end Ben Sinnott. Wide receivers Phillip Brooks and RJ Garcia II return along with running back DJ Giddens, who a year ago had the third most rushing yards by a freshman in school history. Meanwhile, Saturday will mark the Wildcat debut of two key transfers in wide receiver Keagan Johnson and running back Treshaun Ward.
"Working with Treshaun is cool, seeing him make different cuts and spin moves," Giddens says. "It's encouraging me to try to make people miss more and not just run downhill. A lot of people say I'm more of a downhill runner, and he'll take the ball outside. I can do both, and he can do both. It'll be fun to see."
Last season, K-State ranked top 10 all-time in school history in multiple offensive categories, including the second-most total offensive yards at 5,863.
Second-year K-State offensive coordinator Collin Klein knows it could take some time before this offense forms its true identity.
"We're going to go through this year just like we did last year," Klein says. "It's going to take some learning from all of us to build what this offense is ultimately going to be. When you're in camp, you're putting those pieces together, but, ultimately, it's going to be how you build it throughout the season with live bullets and seeing what we're made of and what we can and can't do. It'll be a growth process both from their part and my part."
Defensively, top tackler Austin Moore is back at weakside linebacker along with sixth-year senior middle linebacker Daniel Green while sophomore Desmond Purnell will get the start at strongside linebacker as well. While it appears the availability of senior defensive tackle Uso Seumalo is a game-time decision Saturday, sophomore Damian Ilalio is ready to go. Khalid Duke has switched from linebacker to his home as an edge rusher and will start alongside Brendan Mott. All-Big 12 safety Kobe Savage will lead a defensive backfield that returns sophomore safety VJ Payne and sophomore cornerback Jacob Parrish, and that welcomes new faces such as transfer free safety Marques Sigle.
"I'm ready to go out there and play fast and free and make plays," Payne says. "I'm ready to attack the opportunity I have."
K-State held all of its Big 12 opponents under their season average at the time of their meeting last season.
However, this is a new season.
"It's going to be a work in progress for several weeks, would be my guess," defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman says. "We have an interesting mixture of guys who've played a lot of football and we feel pretty comfortable with and other guys who are going to have pretty big key roles, probably bigger as time goes on, who we haven't seen yet.
"Seeing how all those guys are going to respond to the lights is going to be a big thing."
K-State, which is 29-4 in season openers since 1990, figures to play a bunch of different players harboring youth and inexperience one week from facing a key non-conference game against Troy.
"Our wins don't just happen by showing up," Moore says. "It's an everyday thing, and we have to take care of business one day at a time. We've done a really good job so far. We just have to live in the moment."
SEMO is the reigning Ohio Valley Conference champion, returns a bevy of starters, including running back Geno Hess — he needs 1,038 yards to break the Ohio Valley's career rushing record of 5,149 yards — and enters ranked No. 11 in the FCS poll. K-State marks just the second ranked Power 5 team that they have faced in the history of their program, which is led by ninth-year head coach Tom Matukewicz, a native of Silver Lake, Kansas.
"Our biggest challenge, I think, is just going to be ourselves. Our ego," Matukewicz told The Associated Press. "We do have a lot of great things going for us, but I struggle with my ego and I'm 50. What do you think a 20-year-old does? We just have to make sure we check our egos, have the courage to do the things it takes to keep ourselves on track."
K-State would like to derail any of SEMO's hopes early.
"We're worried about scoring 50 every single game," Howard says, "and however we have to do it, we're going to do it."
Klein downplays that suggestion, saying, "It's more of a mentality than anything."
"As long as you get one more point than the other team," Klein continues, "that's the ultimate goal."
That's virtually how it played out in the Wildcats' 31-28 overtime win over TCU to capture the Big 12 title last season.
However, this is a new season.
"There's always going to be extra juice going into game one with the energy coming from the fans for the first time in however many months," Sinnott says.
It's actually been nine months.
This is a new season.
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