Kansas State University Athletics
K-State Coordinators Preview TCU Game
Oct 09, 2025 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State offensive coordinator Matt Wells and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman met with members of the media on Thursday at the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview Saturday's game against TCU. Links to video and audio of both press conferences are above, and a transcript of select quotes are below.
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MATT WELLS, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On injuries affecting game planning during the week…
"Yeah, it does, especially when guys are working their butt off to be back, but they're limited during the week. Then, they're increased to limited and you're trying to get them to Saturday to be healthy. So, yeah, it makes it really hard because sometimes you don't know who you have until Saturday, and even at that, in the middle of the game. So, being pretty flexible and having a marker ready to change stuff, you have to. We're not the only ones, you know? I know there's a lot of other people, but we've certainly had that. It seems like we're getting a little healthier now, so I'm happy with that."
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On the play of running back Joe Jackson at Baylor…
"I like Joe because of his toughness. He's a mentally tough kid, and everything hasn't always gone his way. I can attest to that, personally. I like that in him. I think he's got a mental toughness. I think he's got a physical toughness to him, and he's smart. He does a good job. I think the way he played, it jumpstarted us a little bit. We needed his legs, and we needed Avery's legs on Saturday."
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On if the offensive performance at Baylor was the best of the season…
"I think so, probably, when you look at it in the totality of it, just throwing the ball and running the ball. It wasn't perfect, and bottom line, not good enough. I'm smiling because that ultimately is what we all talk about in this room as an offensive unit. Anytime you don't win, it's not good enough. That's a hard thing when you play well. We did. We played well. I've said that when we don't play well. Take the Arizona game – we stunk, and we still had a chance to win. We played really good this week and had a chance to win. The hard thing is you think about it five days later, man, when I'm answering your question directly, did we play? Well, yes. Was it good enough? No. I can think of six or seven plays that I wish this would have made the one four more points instead of a field goal. Something on a two-minute drive that the ball would have been a lot closer. Two things on a two-minute drive. You can think of those right now, but we all know that's the way football goes. You never know when that play is going to make the difference in the game."
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On if this is the most cohesive the offensive line has been…
"That's probably an accurate statement. I'm proud of them. They're playing well. Devin (Vass) has come in and played well. Another position, to your first question, initially, about the health, we've had some health issues on the o-line. Nothing season ending, but guys that we've had to manage throughout the week. So, to that point, we are trying to play a few guys, and those guys I thought played well together."
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On Jayce Brown's second-half production compared to the first half at Baylor…
"Honestly, I think it's sometimes the ball doesn't find you. I called plays for him, and it didn't find him – coverage, a pressure, a scramble. Then, sometimes, you call a play, and he's the third option, and the ball goes right to him. He's the second option, it goes right to him. So, I think some of that's just football. There are a few things that I think that you can go, 'That's his play,' but they bracket it or they roll up and play (Cover) 2 and take him away even if he's the first option on something. So, to my point, we've had receivers catch eight balls or seven balls or six balls, and you can go back and detail those and sometimes they're the second, third, fourth option, and the ball just finds them."
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On TCU's defense…
"I think they are very well coached, first of all. Andy (Avalos) is very good. Their secondary coaches do a really good job of the communication. They pass off routes, they match routes and pass off things. They do that extremely well."
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JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On playing good quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks…
"Yeah, they keep coming. I have a lot of respect for (TCU quarterback) Josh Hoover. I think he's as savvy of a guy as there is in the league. That's just what the Big 12 is. You have to face the facts. It's been proven year after year that the teams with the good quarterbacks are always going to be competitive. If you don't have one, you're going to have a hard time in this league. So, it's just kind of commonplace for us now. They might have different flavors – one might be more of a runner, one might be more of a thrower, one might be more of a game manager, one might be more of a wild card. Every week, it seems, there's no getting away from it."
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On TCU quarterback Josh Hoover…
"I think he really knows what he's doing with the football. He is athletic enough to keep plays alive, and they do a lot of stuff. Sometimes teams max up the protections and keep a lot of people in and try to protect the quarterback that way. These guys don't do that. They're a lot more what we would call, '50 Pro,' which means they're getting their back out a lot in the route and using just their five o-linemen for protection. You'd think that would lead to a lot of sacks – and he does take some hits – but it doesn't lead to that as much. I think what their thought is they want to give him as many options to throw the football and space you out as much as they possibly can. So, I think that fits him very well because he's athletic enough to escape some of the pressure that he gets. I think because he sees the field so well, having a fifth option out in the route a lot of times is beneficial to them."
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On if Josh Hoover is a running threat…
"That's not what he wants to do, but he has shown to hurt people with it sometimes. They don't design a lot of runs for him. They don't use him the way that sometimes teams would use kids that have his level of athleticism. I don't know if it's because they don't want to get him bang up or whatever. That's part of it too. We're going to have people with eyes on him for sure."
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On guys stepping up with Tobi Osunsanmi out…
"Jordan Allen will have a bigger role now. When Ryan Davis got back, we shuffled him around a little bit because he's good enough to be out there, but he just hasn't really found a home. If Tobi is out for a stretch, then we'll have to park Jordan in a place, which I think will be good for him so he can just learn one position. It's going to put more stress on guys like Travis Bates. It's going to put more stress on guys like Cody Stufflbean, who, frankly, are great players. They're doing a really good job for us. The thing that we're going to miss with Tobi, especially when it comes to third down and he'd be great in a game like this where he can just rush, and that's his forte. He's a threat in pass-rush game, and we'll miss that."
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On if it as fun to coach Qua Moss as it appears to be…
"Qua is an instinctive kid that loves football. We saw that on his film in recruiting. I don't think he was a heavily recruited guy. He was kind of under the radar, and we tried to keep it that way. He's getting more and more confident too, which I can appreciate. He's getting more and more football smart. He's instinctive, but I don't know if he really understood a lot of situational things. I think he's getting that better, now. I'm not saying he's Einstein or anything that way, but I think he's getting better that way. So, it's fun. Yeah, he's a good one to have at practice, and he challenges the guys, and we need it."
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On if he has any regrets from the Baylor game…
"I don't have any from the players' perspective. I don't fault those guys at all. They prepared hard. They had a good week of practice. They played hard. They were in the game. We made a ton of adjustments. They handled them. The players were awesome. My regrets are me. I didn't do a very good job of getting those guys in positions to have success. On the board things are one way, and then when you get in reality, there's matchups that maybe we're not going to win. I put those guys in too many of those matchups where we didn't win. Credit to Baylor – I thought a lot of the things they did, they kept making us fix it. They kept coming back to it. Sometimes people kind of stick and move. They just kept finding ways to create those matchups. That tight end (Michael Trigg) is going to be a tough matchup for anybody. I probably should have shuffled some pieces around sooner than I did to get a more favorable matchup for us on that guy. We did a good job of that third quarter. Then, at the end of the game, it got back away from us a little bit."
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MATT WELLS, OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On injuries affecting game planning during the week…
"Yeah, it does, especially when guys are working their butt off to be back, but they're limited during the week. Then, they're increased to limited and you're trying to get them to Saturday to be healthy. So, yeah, it makes it really hard because sometimes you don't know who you have until Saturday, and even at that, in the middle of the game. So, being pretty flexible and having a marker ready to change stuff, you have to. We're not the only ones, you know? I know there's a lot of other people, but we've certainly had that. It seems like we're getting a little healthier now, so I'm happy with that."
Â
On the play of running back Joe Jackson at Baylor…
"I like Joe because of his toughness. He's a mentally tough kid, and everything hasn't always gone his way. I can attest to that, personally. I like that in him. I think he's got a mental toughness. I think he's got a physical toughness to him, and he's smart. He does a good job. I think the way he played, it jumpstarted us a little bit. We needed his legs, and we needed Avery's legs on Saturday."
Â
On if the offensive performance at Baylor was the best of the season…
"I think so, probably, when you look at it in the totality of it, just throwing the ball and running the ball. It wasn't perfect, and bottom line, not good enough. I'm smiling because that ultimately is what we all talk about in this room as an offensive unit. Anytime you don't win, it's not good enough. That's a hard thing when you play well. We did. We played well. I've said that when we don't play well. Take the Arizona game – we stunk, and we still had a chance to win. We played really good this week and had a chance to win. The hard thing is you think about it five days later, man, when I'm answering your question directly, did we play? Well, yes. Was it good enough? No. I can think of six or seven plays that I wish this would have made the one four more points instead of a field goal. Something on a two-minute drive that the ball would have been a lot closer. Two things on a two-minute drive. You can think of those right now, but we all know that's the way football goes. You never know when that play is going to make the difference in the game."
Â
On if this is the most cohesive the offensive line has been…
"That's probably an accurate statement. I'm proud of them. They're playing well. Devin (Vass) has come in and played well. Another position, to your first question, initially, about the health, we've had some health issues on the o-line. Nothing season ending, but guys that we've had to manage throughout the week. So, to that point, we are trying to play a few guys, and those guys I thought played well together."
Â
On Jayce Brown's second-half production compared to the first half at Baylor…
"Honestly, I think it's sometimes the ball doesn't find you. I called plays for him, and it didn't find him – coverage, a pressure, a scramble. Then, sometimes, you call a play, and he's the third option, and the ball goes right to him. He's the second option, it goes right to him. So, I think some of that's just football. There are a few things that I think that you can go, 'That's his play,' but they bracket it or they roll up and play (Cover) 2 and take him away even if he's the first option on something. So, to my point, we've had receivers catch eight balls or seven balls or six balls, and you can go back and detail those and sometimes they're the second, third, fourth option, and the ball just finds them."
Â
On TCU's defense…
"I think they are very well coached, first of all. Andy (Avalos) is very good. Their secondary coaches do a really good job of the communication. They pass off routes, they match routes and pass off things. They do that extremely well."
Â
JOE KLANDERMAN, DEFENSIVE COORDINATOR
On playing good quarterbacks in back-to-back weeks…
"Yeah, they keep coming. I have a lot of respect for (TCU quarterback) Josh Hoover. I think he's as savvy of a guy as there is in the league. That's just what the Big 12 is. You have to face the facts. It's been proven year after year that the teams with the good quarterbacks are always going to be competitive. If you don't have one, you're going to have a hard time in this league. So, it's just kind of commonplace for us now. They might have different flavors – one might be more of a runner, one might be more of a thrower, one might be more of a game manager, one might be more of a wild card. Every week, it seems, there's no getting away from it."
Â
On TCU quarterback Josh Hoover…
"I think he really knows what he's doing with the football. He is athletic enough to keep plays alive, and they do a lot of stuff. Sometimes teams max up the protections and keep a lot of people in and try to protect the quarterback that way. These guys don't do that. They're a lot more what we would call, '50 Pro,' which means they're getting their back out a lot in the route and using just their five o-linemen for protection. You'd think that would lead to a lot of sacks – and he does take some hits – but it doesn't lead to that as much. I think what their thought is they want to give him as many options to throw the football and space you out as much as they possibly can. So, I think that fits him very well because he's athletic enough to escape some of the pressure that he gets. I think because he sees the field so well, having a fifth option out in the route a lot of times is beneficial to them."
Â
On if Josh Hoover is a running threat…
"That's not what he wants to do, but he has shown to hurt people with it sometimes. They don't design a lot of runs for him. They don't use him the way that sometimes teams would use kids that have his level of athleticism. I don't know if it's because they don't want to get him bang up or whatever. That's part of it too. We're going to have people with eyes on him for sure."
Â
On guys stepping up with Tobi Osunsanmi out…
"Jordan Allen will have a bigger role now. When Ryan Davis got back, we shuffled him around a little bit because he's good enough to be out there, but he just hasn't really found a home. If Tobi is out for a stretch, then we'll have to park Jordan in a place, which I think will be good for him so he can just learn one position. It's going to put more stress on guys like Travis Bates. It's going to put more stress on guys like Cody Stufflbean, who, frankly, are great players. They're doing a really good job for us. The thing that we're going to miss with Tobi, especially when it comes to third down and he'd be great in a game like this where he can just rush, and that's his forte. He's a threat in pass-rush game, and we'll miss that."
Â
On if it as fun to coach Qua Moss as it appears to be…
"Qua is an instinctive kid that loves football. We saw that on his film in recruiting. I don't think he was a heavily recruited guy. He was kind of under the radar, and we tried to keep it that way. He's getting more and more confident too, which I can appreciate. He's getting more and more football smart. He's instinctive, but I don't know if he really understood a lot of situational things. I think he's getting that better, now. I'm not saying he's Einstein or anything that way, but I think he's getting better that way. So, it's fun. Yeah, he's a good one to have at practice, and he challenges the guys, and we need it."
Â
On if he has any regrets from the Baylor game…
"I don't have any from the players' perspective. I don't fault those guys at all. They prepared hard. They had a good week of practice. They played hard. They were in the game. We made a ton of adjustments. They handled them. The players were awesome. My regrets are me. I didn't do a very good job of getting those guys in positions to have success. On the board things are one way, and then when you get in reality, there's matchups that maybe we're not going to win. I put those guys in too many of those matchups where we didn't win. Credit to Baylor – I thought a lot of the things they did, they kept making us fix it. They kept coming back to it. Sometimes people kind of stick and move. They just kept finding ways to create those matchups. That tight end (Michael Trigg) is going to be a tough matchup for anybody. I probably should have shuffled some pieces around sooner than I did to get a more favorable matchup for us on that guy. We did a good job of that third quarter. Then, at the end of the game, it got back away from us a little bit."
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How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Football, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.
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