Week of Development
Sep 27, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State was a preseason top-15 team, picked second in the Big 12 Conference, and seeking even bigger things after capturing the league title last season.
A Big 12 Championship Game berth and more is still possible for the Wildcats, 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12, as they come off a 44-31 win over UCF and work during a bye week ahead of traveling to Oklahoma State next Friday.
K-State head coach Chris Klieman suggests that fans haven't seen the best out of the Wildcats yet.
"We have the ability to be a lot better across the board," Klieman said. "That's what we talked about in the team meeting on Monday is we had a really good win over a really good UCF team, but we're not playing at all to where we think we need to be in this league or to go where we want to go."
K-State is outscoring its opponents 39.5 to 18.5, and its defensive front is downright scary with 36 tackles for loss (fifth in the FBS) and 3.50 sacks per game (11th).
The Wildcats and their young defensive secondary hope to shore up their propensity for giving up explosive plays. They have given up 16 pass plays of 20-plus yards, which is tied for next-to-last in the league.
"It's eyes and technique," Klieman said. "We're fully capable. We have good enough players back there. Sometimes it's maybe a split-second lack of focus. They're correctable errors. We have a chance to be a really good defense, and we are a really good rush defense. We just need to complement that by eliminating explosives in the pass game."
DJ Giddens was named Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week after ripping off 207 rushing yards on 30 carries and scoring four touchdowns — the only FBS player to rush for 200 yards and score four rushing touchdowns in a single game this season. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound Giddens added eight catches for 86 yards against the Knights. His 293 scrimmage yards ranked third in K-State history.
But was Giddens' load too great?
"He was fine," Klieman said. "He was a little sore, but he felt great on Monday. You hope you don't have to have that. It's hard for DJ, even though he's a big back, to have that kind of load week in and week out."
Klieman said that the bye week would allow players such as wide receivers Keagan Johnson and RJ Garcia II to return to full health. Running back Treshaun Ward remains on the mend as well.
There's a delicate balance, too, of maintaining continuity, which becomes important for players such as right tackle Christian Duffie, who against UCF played for the first time this season and can use practice reps with the rest of the starting offensive line.
"You need to continue to try and get healthy," Klieman said. "This is our one shot to get as healthy as we can, but we need continuity with our offensive line. It'd be easy to say shelf Duff, but he needs continuity with the offensive line. It'd be easy to say give (starting linebackers) Austin Moore and Desmond Purnell all the time off, but they need continuity with Jake Clifton (who just returned from injury)."
Senior quarterback Will Howard ranks third in the Big 12 in passing yards (268.0), fourth in completion percentage (65.5%), fourth in passing touchdowns (eight) and is tied for next-to-last in interceptions (four). He also is tied for first in the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns (five).
"It's easy to say don't force throws when we're sitting here on Tuesday and there aren't kids flying at you," Klieman said. "He's always overcome it because he's made 10 times more plays with his legs and his arm than he has with the one mistake each game. That's something to avoid and not make mistakes but his aggressiveness is what's leading us to score so many points."
Oklahoma State, 2-2 and 0-1, could find difficulty keeping pace with Howard and the Wildcats on the scoreboard.
The Cowboys rank 12th in the league in averaging 22.0 points per game.
Oklahoma comes off a 34-27 loss at Iowa State last Saturday in Ames, Iowa. The Cowboys are in the midst of a bye week of their own.
Klieman shared the goal of the Wildcats' bye week.
"Developing guys is our number-one thing," he said. "We're always going to be a developmental program. The number-one thing for us in an open week is to find more and more players maybe for 2023 and maybe for 2024 and reassess where we're at from a scouting report standpoint.
"Are we doing too many things out of this formation? What are we doing on first-and-10 on either side of the ball, as well as shore up all the special teams. There's only so much time."
Kansas State was a preseason top-15 team, picked second in the Big 12 Conference, and seeking even bigger things after capturing the league title last season.
A Big 12 Championship Game berth and more is still possible for the Wildcats, 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12, as they come off a 44-31 win over UCF and work during a bye week ahead of traveling to Oklahoma State next Friday.
K-State head coach Chris Klieman suggests that fans haven't seen the best out of the Wildcats yet.
"We have the ability to be a lot better across the board," Klieman said. "That's what we talked about in the team meeting on Monday is we had a really good win over a really good UCF team, but we're not playing at all to where we think we need to be in this league or to go where we want to go."
K-State is outscoring its opponents 39.5 to 18.5, and its defensive front is downright scary with 36 tackles for loss (fifth in the FBS) and 3.50 sacks per game (11th).
The Wildcats and their young defensive secondary hope to shore up their propensity for giving up explosive plays. They have given up 16 pass plays of 20-plus yards, which is tied for next-to-last in the league.
"It's eyes and technique," Klieman said. "We're fully capable. We have good enough players back there. Sometimes it's maybe a split-second lack of focus. They're correctable errors. We have a chance to be a really good defense, and we are a really good rush defense. We just need to complement that by eliminating explosives in the pass game."
DJ Giddens was named Doak Walker National Running Back of the Week after ripping off 207 rushing yards on 30 carries and scoring four touchdowns — the only FBS player to rush for 200 yards and score four rushing touchdowns in a single game this season. The 6-foot-1, 212-pound Giddens added eight catches for 86 yards against the Knights. His 293 scrimmage yards ranked third in K-State history.
But was Giddens' load too great?
"He was fine," Klieman said. "He was a little sore, but he felt great on Monday. You hope you don't have to have that. It's hard for DJ, even though he's a big back, to have that kind of load week in and week out."
Klieman said that the bye week would allow players such as wide receivers Keagan Johnson and RJ Garcia II to return to full health. Running back Treshaun Ward remains on the mend as well.
There's a delicate balance, too, of maintaining continuity, which becomes important for players such as right tackle Christian Duffie, who against UCF played for the first time this season and can use practice reps with the rest of the starting offensive line.
"You need to continue to try and get healthy," Klieman said. "This is our one shot to get as healthy as we can, but we need continuity with our offensive line. It'd be easy to say shelf Duff, but he needs continuity with the offensive line. It'd be easy to say give (starting linebackers) Austin Moore and Desmond Purnell all the time off, but they need continuity with Jake Clifton (who just returned from injury)."
Senior quarterback Will Howard ranks third in the Big 12 in passing yards (268.0), fourth in completion percentage (65.5%), fourth in passing touchdowns (eight) and is tied for next-to-last in interceptions (four). He also is tied for first in the Big 12 in rushing touchdowns (five).
"It's easy to say don't force throws when we're sitting here on Tuesday and there aren't kids flying at you," Klieman said. "He's always overcome it because he's made 10 times more plays with his legs and his arm than he has with the one mistake each game. That's something to avoid and not make mistakes but his aggressiveness is what's leading us to score so many points."
Oklahoma State, 2-2 and 0-1, could find difficulty keeping pace with Howard and the Wildcats on the scoreboard.
The Cowboys rank 12th in the league in averaging 22.0 points per game.
Oklahoma comes off a 34-27 loss at Iowa State last Saturday in Ames, Iowa. The Cowboys are in the midst of a bye week of their own.
Klieman shared the goal of the Wildcats' bye week.
"Developing guys is our number-one thing," he said. "We're always going to be a developmental program. The number-one thing for us in an open week is to find more and more players maybe for 2023 and maybe for 2024 and reassess where we're at from a scouting report standpoint.
"Are we doing too many things out of this formation? What are we doing on first-and-10 on either side of the ball, as well as shore up all the special teams. There's only so much time."
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