Taking on a Stingy Opponent in Different Elements

By: D. Scott Fritchen

No. 17 Kansas State worked out a few kinks and rolled to a 41-6 win over UT Martin in its season opener. Tulane gave new coach Jon Sumrall his first victory in a 52-0 thumping of Southeastern Louisiana as well.

Now the Wildcats, 1-0, and Green Wave, 1-0, both of which admittedly played partly vanilla in their blowouts, prepare to square off Saturday at 11 a.m. (ESPN) at Yulman Stadium in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Although the teams are different from 2022 — Tulane played 10 first-time starters in its opener while Avery Johnson made his second career start under center for the Wildcats — bitterness has wafted around the Vanier Family Football Complex this week.

K-State suffered an emotional 17-10 home loss to Tulane on September 17, 2022.

"A lot of people are not happy that we lost that game a couple years ago, and that'll be a big point of emphasis this week, not to overlook anybody. I think a lot of people still have that bad taste in their mouth going into the game this week," said Johnson, who completed 14-of-21 passes for 153 yards with two touchdowns and one interception against UT Martin. "We're going to attack it the way we'll attack any other team. We're just going to go out there and compete and find a way to win Saturday."

Added sixth-year senior defensive end Brendan Mott: "I'd say there's a little motivation for the 2022 kids that did play in that game, but our team and our players set goals early on, and Tulane is just another opponent in the way of our goals and this journey.

"We're super excited to go down there and show what we can do."

Although sixth-year K-State head coach Chris Klieman said that "we have a lot of things we haven't shown yet," Sumrall, who broke in a new quarterback — redshirt freshman Darian Mensah went 10-of-12 passing for 205 yards and two touchdowns — was astute in his weekly news conference ahead of the clash between Big 12 and AAC schools.

K-State was picked second in the Big 12 preseason poll, and Tulane was picked third by the AAC in the preseason.

"We played a really average game, and we're getting ready to play a really good opponent. It's a top-20 team, and we're not a top-20 team, and we didn't play like one Thursday of last week," Sumrall said. "If we play like we played last Thursday, we will get destroyed coming up. It will not even be close."

Sumrall, 24-5 in his third season as a head coach, arrived at Tulane in December after the Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year guided Troy to 23 wins in two seasons, trailing only Georgia, Michigan and Washington over that span. Sumrall replaced Willie Fritz, who after eight seasons took the head coaching position at University of Houston.

Klieman faced Sumrall last season, as K-State walked away with a 42-13 win over Troy in Manhattan.

"This is a Tulane program that wins," Klieman said. "When they had the coaching change, the brought in a terrific coach from Troy that knows what he's doing, and they're a veteran team that knows how to win."

Tulane brings back three of the team's five starters on the offensive line and AAC leading rusher Makhi Hughes. The 5-foot-11, 210-pound Hughes had 258 carries for 1,378 yards (5.3 yards per attempt) and seven touchdowns a year ago.

"He has great contact balance," K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "He's just a real physical runner and doesn't fumble. Not one time did he put it on the ground. Sometimes they say 'Group of 5,' but he's one of the better running backs in the country, I think."

Tulane also returns two of the team's top four receivers from a year ago in Alex Bauman and Yulkeith Brown.

"They run motions and condensed splits and varied tempos," Klanderman said. "I really have a lot of respect for their offensive staff and how they go about it. They have a really good idea of who they are and what they hang their hat on and the variations that come off that.

"At the end of the day, there probably aren't a great volume of different type of run schemes, but they present it in a million different ways, and you never know which way it's coming from. That's part of who they are and that's a great way for them to set up some of their play-action shots, too. That's going to be the biggest task for our guys is getting lined up."

Tulane also returns the team's top three tacklers in Jesus Machado, Tyler Grubbs and Bailey Despanie, and three of the six leading defensive players in tackles for loss in Patrick Jenkins, Kameron Hamilton and Grubbs.

The 6-foot-2, 293-pound Jenkins, a transfer from TCU, is a candidate for the Outland Trophy, the Bronko Nagurski Trophy, the Wuerffel Trophy, the Bednarik Award and the Lombardi Award.

"They are fast, they are physical, and they are aggressive," K-State offensive coordinator Conor Riley said. "The defensive line is probably the greatest indicator of that. They do not make a ton of mistakes."

On Monday, Rayshawn Pleasant was named ACC Defensive Player of the Week after the sophomore turned in a spectacular 100-yard interception return for a touchdown against Southeastern Louisiana, becoming only the second AAC player to go end-to-end on a pick six and the first since East Carolina's Josh Hawkins on October 17, 2015.

"On defense, there's just the multitude of looks they give you," Klieman said. "They're sound in their defense but they can bring pressure, they can play coverage, they can play man, they can play cover-2, they just do a lot of different things. It's still Game 2, so you're still learning about an opponent just like people are learning about us.

"How much do you take from a 41-6 win, and how much do we take from them in their blowout, too?"

Mensah said that he felt comfortable in the season opener, which represented the first action of his collegiate career. The 6-foot-3, 200-pound native of San Luis Obispo, California, threw for 2,256 yards and 25 touchdowns his senior season at Saint Joseph High School.

"I was ready to execute," Mensah said. "I wasn't nervous. I don't get nervous like that. I'm just really confident. I have a lot of guys around me who believe in me. I've prepared for this moment my whole life, really."

Same goes for Johnson, the 6-foot-2, 192-pound native of Wichita was rated the No. 1 dual-threat passer in the nation coming out of Maize High School.

Sumrall had some film to watch on Johnson this week. Aside from the performance at UT Martin, Johnson came off the sideline to score five rushing touchdowns at Texas Tech and led the Wildcats to a victory in the Pop-Tarts Bowl last season.

"It's unique," Sumrall said. "He throws the ball well. He's a good passer, but he's so athletically gifted and fast that that makes him different. That makes him a little bit unique from what you typically see. He can create and extend plays, and if he decides to run it, look out. He can go-go. He has ridiculous top-end speed. That's what separates him and makes him a different type of player is those athletic traits he has."

He isn't afraid to share the ball, either.

Junior running back DJ Giddens rushed 13 times for 124 yards against UT Martin. Sophomore transfer Dylan Edwards in his highly anticipated debut rushed for one touchdown and caught another. Seven different players made a reception in the contest, which represented the first home game for offensive line coach Conor Riley as offensive coordinator. While Riley sat in the coaches' booth, co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Matt Wells spent time with Johnson on the sideline between offensive series.

"We want to work on a lot of our pocket passing, our play-action stuff, and continue to get more receivers and tight ends and backs involved," Klieman said. "We could've had a different game plan with 15-18 designed runs and the kid could've run for 300 yards maybe, but that's not going to help us in the future. What's going to help us in the future is continuing to get better with a lot of the designed throwing game."

Johnson, who made his first career start in a game played in Manhattan, is now eager for his first career start in a true road game.

"It's exciting just being able to go on the road and play," he said. "I love playing at home more than anything just because you have the support of your fans and just the traditions that we have even before and after the game, but road games are fun, too, because you get to be a villain and go in and experience new adversity.

"I have a lot of fun with that type of stuff."

One variable that could be in play on Saturday? The weather.

The clash between K-State and Tulane is expected to feature balmy temperatures in the 80s with 76% humidity and a chance of showers throughout the day, according to the Weather Channel.

"It's going to be a tough environment," Klieman said. "We know there's going to be a lot of heat and humidity and there are also going to be a lot of good football players we're going to play against.

"We haven't had the weather here to prepare us. Last week was our last week and we tried like heck to simulate that the best we can. We're going to take more bodies and use more bodies because it's going to be a big challenge, not only a terrific football team at their place and a lot of noise, but we'll have to deal a little bit with the elements that aren't normal for us."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Dylan Edwards

DJ Giddens

Avery Johnson

Brendan Mott

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