A New Environment

By: D. Scott Fritchen

This is new territory for No. 13 Kansas State.

The Wildcats have never won a game in the state of Utah. They haven't played at an altitude higher than 4,000 feet since a date against the Colorado Buffaloes in 2010. And it's believed that this is the first time K-State has played a regular-season game at 9:30 p.m. CT.

It's a new experience in this new Big 12 Conference for K-State, 3-0, which comes off a monster non-conference home win against then-No. 20 Arizona (31-7) and now travels to face BYU, 3-0, as the teams kick off their Big 12 seasons late Saturday night at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah. The game will be shown on ESPN.

"It's going to be a different environment for us," said electrifying sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson, who threw for 156 yards and two touchdowns and added 110 rushing yards against Arizona. "Elevation will be up. That stadium can get pretty loud. We're definitely going to have to come ready to compete and ready to play."

K-State is 0-3 all-time at BYU. Its last trip to Provo resulted in a 39-0 loss on September 10, 1977. More immediate, however, BYU has lost its last three meetings against AP Top 25 opponents. Its last such win was a 26-20 double-overtime thriller against No. 9 Baylor on September 10, 2022.

"K-State is a very dangerous team," said head coach Kalani Sitake, who is 63-41 in his ninth season with the Cougars. "This is going to be a true test for us. They're one of the teams that are favored to win this conference and are highly ranked, so we're looking forward to the matchup."

K-State was picked second in the Big 12 in the preseason while BYU, which went 2-7 in the Big 12 last season, was picked 13th in the preseason poll.

However, the Cougars are seemingly flying high after wins against Southern Illinois (41-13), at SMU (18-15) and at Wyoming (34-14). They are holding nothing back to rev up their expected crowd of 62,073 on Saturday.

The BYU football team will take the field wearing the white uniforms worn in 1996 when the Cougars defeated K-State, 19-15, in the 1997 Cotton Bowl. BYU will also honor members of the 1996 team at the game. BYU fans are encouraged to wear white in what should be an impressive atmosphere.

BYU is 261-85 (.754) all-time at LaVell Edwards Stadium.

"I know that football is really important at BYU," said K-State head coach Chris Klieman, who on Monday was named The Dodd Trophy Coach of the Week. "They've had great tradition of football, and they're off to a 3-0 start, so that as well as the fact it's a great setting, a night game on ESPN is going to attract a lot of viewers and a lot of fans.

"The fact that you've got two undefeated teams that are both playing pretty well now, it's going to be a great atmosphere for football."

Which means the Wildcats, who have won four of their last five games played away from Manhattan, must be ready to roll.

"You definitely have to have an attitude going in and playing on the road," junior offensive lineman Andrew Leingang said. "You have to walk into that environment and embrace that it's you against everybody. That BYU atmosphere — they're 3-0, too — so it's definitely going to be a cool atmosphere. Embrace it, soak it all in, and use it as motivation, and do what you have to do to take care of business."

After starting out at 3-0 last season, BYU was up and down in league play and ended the season with five straight losses.

These Cougars appear to be improved.

After failing to reach 400 total yards in a game last season, BYU has already done so twice this season.

BYU topped 300 passing yards two times last season and has already hit the mark twice in this season. BYU ranks third nationally with 16 passing plays of 20-plus yards.

The Cougars rank ninth in scoring offense (31.0), sixth in total offense (440.3), 10^th in rushing offense (151.0), and fifth in passing offense (289.3).

They'll face a K-State defense that could carry some momentum after holding an Arizona team that entered averaging 42.0 points per game to just one touchdown.

K-State ranks fourth in the Big 12 in scoring defense (13.0), 10^th in total defense (316.3), third in rushing defense (80.3), and 11^th in passing defense (236.0).

"I still don't know what this group is," K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "We've got a good core group of guys that I know are going to compete every week and understand every detail and I have no fear about them in any one-on-one situations. They're as good as there is in the country.

"Then we've got about a half a dozen of them that are developing and we're going to go as they go. If they're really good, we're going to be really good on defense."

BYU quarterback Jake Retzlaff ranks 17^th nationally in averaging 14.75 yards per completion and his seven touchdown passes ranks 18^th in the FBS. His 318.0 passing yards per game ranks 13^th in the FBS.

"He's a really talented guy," Klieman said. "He'll be one of the better dual-threat guys we've faced thus far. This guy is going to scramble to throw it, and scramble to run, and then you're going to see some designed runs for him, too. We've got to be able to try and slow him down. He has the explosive run or the explosive pass play and that's going to be a big challenge."

On the other side of the football, BYU ranks fifth in the Big 12 in scoring defense (14.0), second in total defense (236.3), fourth in rushing defense (105.67) and fourth in the FBS with a pass efficiency defense (76.27).

"I feel good about the team," Sitake said. "People can realize that we're a different team than last year's team, and we'll keep working on it. We are sitting at 3-0 and there's some good things that we're doing."

Added defensive end Tyler Batty: "We're significantly ahead of where we were last year. We learned a lot from last season. We've put a lot of that into our preparation this offseason and getting ready for this fall. So, I think we're ready for it."

BYU must contend with one of the most exciting quarterbacks in college football. The 6-foot-2, 192-pound Johnson, who enters his fifth game as a starter, seemingly gets better with each game. He was named to the Davey O'Brien Award Great 8 List on Monday after his performance against Arizona.

"Avery is a dynamic runner," Sitake said. "They have the ability to just call QB runs, and he can take a small gap and turn it into a big-time play. He's super athletic, so he can create on his feet even in the passing game, and he can create more time in the pocket and he's always a threat to scramble and hurt you that way. He's a complete player when it comes to quarterback, and when you look at different types of threats, he's got a lot of weapons.

"He's a tough kid, too, and I think he's got a great command of the offense. They've done a great job setting him up for success, but we can do anything you need a quarterback to do, so I've been really impressed with him on film."

K-State offensive coordinator Conor Riley believes this is just the start.

"He's continuing to grow, and I think he'd be the first to admit that he's still a 19-year-old kid, but he is seeing things so much better and progressing through things so much better," Riley said. "He's seeing some things that he has to do with protections, and then obviously knowing if protections aren't turned a particular way, where that free hitter is coming from. He's getting such a better, better feel for it.

"What it comes down to in my estimation is getting those repetitions in an uncontrolled environment where you aren't wearing a green practice jersey, you can get hit, and you don't have a script or know exactly what that defense is running that particular play. With each rep that he's getting, I see him continuing to grow and improve throughout the week. There's still a lot of growth out there and that's exciting."

Coming off its dominant win over Arizona, K-State, one of the top teams in college football last week, carries purple-passion excitement to Provo.

The Wildcats are packing their humble attitude for the trip as well.

"We have that mindset that, 'We still ain't (anything),'" senior safety Marques Sigle said.

BYU marks the first of three road games that the Wildcats will face in their next four outings. After BYU, the Wildcats host No. 14 Oklahoma State before a bye and then back-to-back road games at Colorado and at West Virginia.

"I'm really excited starting the Big 12 on the road," sophomore linebacker Austin Romaine said. "We can show people that we're going to be a really good road team. We didn't show it too well at Tulane (a 34-27 comeback win) and we still came out with a win.

"We can show everybody what we're about on the road against BYU."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Avery Johnson

Andrew Leingang

Austin Romaine

Marques Sigle

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