Preparing for a Tough Environment
Sep 13, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
A few teachable moments have done nothing to derail No. 15 Kansas State as it has gone about scoring 87 points in its first two wins while possessing one of the top defenses in the FBS early in the college football season.
One week after thumping Southeast Missouri, 45-0, the Wildcats last Saturday posted a 42-13 win over Troy to snap the Trojans' 12-game winning streak.
The Wildcats know they can perform even better.
"We are still making some mental errors and alignment errors and communication errors, little things you may or may not see on film or from the stands that we need to continue to get better at," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "We're continuing to learn, and we're continuing to get better. We still have to continue to improve.
"We're by no means a finished product."
Senior quarterback Will Howard is tied for first in the nation with 27.0 points responsible for per game and threw three touchdowns while rushing for two more scores against Troy. His efforts helped him to be named to the Davey O'Brien Award Great 8 List for Week 2.
"I'm my own biggest critic and I get frustrated with myself when I don't have success all the time, but I think my ability to flush that away and move onto the next play when I don't have perfect plays has been good. I'm proud of that," says Howard, who has thrown for 547 yards and five touchdowns to two interceptions, and he has added 38 rushing yards and three scores on the ground in two games.
"I don't know how many points I'm responsible for, but I'm a guy that's always going to focus first on the bad plays and try to fix that."
Meanwhile, the Wildcats' dominant defense has surrendered just a single touchdown and ranks No. 1 in the country in allowing just 38.0 rushing yards per contest.
"Little things to clean up for sure, but pretty decent to start the season off," K-State senior linebacker Daniel Green says. "We're dominating with our nose tackles and defensive ends, and we've been getting to the line of scrimmage. It makes everything easier when you own the line of scrimmage."
K-State joins Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Penn State as FBS teams to rank top-20 in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
Now K-State, 2-0, gets a chance to test itself against an SEC foe as it visits Missouri, 2-0, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff (SEC Network) at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.
"It's going to be a great environment for college football," Klieman says. "It's going to be a great game, a regional, non-conference game and rivalry. It's going to be a great test of our guys because we're going to be going into these type of environments as we get into the Big 12, and it's a great measuring stick. It's going to be a great opportunity for our guys to measure themselves against a tremendous football team on the road."
Missouri announced that Saturday will mark its first sellout for a non-conference home game since facing Arizona State in 2012. Memorial Stadium has a listed capacity of 62,621.
"I think there will be some purple there," Klieman says. "Our fans will find some tickets. I know they will. We have a great fan base."
The Tigers staved off an upset with a 23-19 victory over Middle Tennessee last Saturday after starting their campaign with a 35-10 win over South Dakota.
"It definitely wasn't pretty," Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said following the narrow victory over Middle Tennessee.
Now the Tigers seek revenge after K-State handed them a 40-12 defeat last season in Manhattan.
"I think we have all been kind of looking towards it," Drinkwitz says. "It's a big game. We have a lot to improve from (the Middle Tennessee game) in order to be competitive."
Klieman is 5-0 against non-conference Power 5 opponents in regular-season clashes. That includes three such wins since he arrived at K-State: Mississippi State, Stanford, and Mizzou.
Missouri, which has won 14 straight non-conference games at home, hopes to maintain its prowess at home.
"I expect the fans to be there and for it to be a great game," Missouri running back Nathaniel Peat says. "I expect the offense to be clicking on all cylinders, defense on all cylinders, and it's going to be the best Mizzou they're gonna get."
Saturday will mark the 99th meeting between the old Big Eight/12 rivals on the gridiron. K-State dominated last season's matchup. It wasn't until the final play of the game following a roughing-the-quarterback penalty that Missouri scored its only touchdown on a 1-yard run during an untimed down. Ten of 13 Missouri drives gained 20 or fewer yards.
K-State's biggest star of last year's game, running back Deuce Vaughn (145 rushing yards and two touchdowns) is now a member of the Dallas Cowboys, but the Wildcats believe they have talent to hang with virtually anyone.
Including on the road.
"We've talked about it. We talked about it last year that we think we were the best road team in the Big 12, and that's a big reason why we won the Big 12," Howard says. "It's exciting. It's that us-against-the-world mentality. We love that. We love being on the road."
A few teachable moments have done nothing to derail No. 15 Kansas State as it has gone about scoring 87 points in its first two wins while possessing one of the top defenses in the FBS early in the college football season.
One week after thumping Southeast Missouri, 45-0, the Wildcats last Saturday posted a 42-13 win over Troy to snap the Trojans' 12-game winning streak.
The Wildcats know they can perform even better.
"We are still making some mental errors and alignment errors and communication errors, little things you may or may not see on film or from the stands that we need to continue to get better at," K-State head coach Chris Klieman says. "We're continuing to learn, and we're continuing to get better. We still have to continue to improve.
"We're by no means a finished product."
Senior quarterback Will Howard is tied for first in the nation with 27.0 points responsible for per game and threw three touchdowns while rushing for two more scores against Troy. His efforts helped him to be named to the Davey O'Brien Award Great 8 List for Week 2.
"I'm my own biggest critic and I get frustrated with myself when I don't have success all the time, but I think my ability to flush that away and move onto the next play when I don't have perfect plays has been good. I'm proud of that," says Howard, who has thrown for 547 yards and five touchdowns to two interceptions, and he has added 38 rushing yards and three scores on the ground in two games.
"I don't know how many points I'm responsible for, but I'm a guy that's always going to focus first on the bad plays and try to fix that."
Meanwhile, the Wildcats' dominant defense has surrendered just a single touchdown and ranks No. 1 in the country in allowing just 38.0 rushing yards per contest.
"Little things to clean up for sure, but pretty decent to start the season off," K-State senior linebacker Daniel Green says. "We're dominating with our nose tackles and defensive ends, and we've been getting to the line of scrimmage. It makes everything easier when you own the line of scrimmage."
K-State joins Georgia, Notre Dame, Oklahoma and Penn State as FBS teams to rank top-20 in both scoring offense and scoring defense.
Now K-State, 2-0, gets a chance to test itself against an SEC foe as it visits Missouri, 2-0, in Saturday's 11 a.m. kickoff (SEC Network) at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Missouri.
"It's going to be a great environment for college football," Klieman says. "It's going to be a great game, a regional, non-conference game and rivalry. It's going to be a great test of our guys because we're going to be going into these type of environments as we get into the Big 12, and it's a great measuring stick. It's going to be a great opportunity for our guys to measure themselves against a tremendous football team on the road."
Missouri announced that Saturday will mark its first sellout for a non-conference home game since facing Arizona State in 2012. Memorial Stadium has a listed capacity of 62,621.
"I think there will be some purple there," Klieman says. "Our fans will find some tickets. I know they will. We have a great fan base."
The Tigers staved off an upset with a 23-19 victory over Middle Tennessee last Saturday after starting their campaign with a 35-10 win over South Dakota.
"It definitely wasn't pretty," Missouri head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said following the narrow victory over Middle Tennessee.
Now the Tigers seek revenge after K-State handed them a 40-12 defeat last season in Manhattan.
"I think we have all been kind of looking towards it," Drinkwitz says. "It's a big game. We have a lot to improve from (the Middle Tennessee game) in order to be competitive."
Klieman is 5-0 against non-conference Power 5 opponents in regular-season clashes. That includes three such wins since he arrived at K-State: Mississippi State, Stanford, and Mizzou.
Missouri, which has won 14 straight non-conference games at home, hopes to maintain its prowess at home.
"I expect the fans to be there and for it to be a great game," Missouri running back Nathaniel Peat says. "I expect the offense to be clicking on all cylinders, defense on all cylinders, and it's going to be the best Mizzou they're gonna get."
Saturday will mark the 99th meeting between the old Big Eight/12 rivals on the gridiron. K-State dominated last season's matchup. It wasn't until the final play of the game following a roughing-the-quarterback penalty that Missouri scored its only touchdown on a 1-yard run during an untimed down. Ten of 13 Missouri drives gained 20 or fewer yards.
K-State's biggest star of last year's game, running back Deuce Vaughn (145 rushing yards and two touchdowns) is now a member of the Dallas Cowboys, but the Wildcats believe they have talent to hang with virtually anyone.
Including on the road.
"We've talked about it. We talked about it last year that we think we were the best road team in the Big 12, and that's a big reason why we won the Big 12," Howard says. "It's exciting. It's that us-against-the-world mentality. We love that. We love being on the road."
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