Holding Each Other Accountable to the Standard

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Kansas State began preparing for Army in the spring, as coaches studied film, and players performed walk-throughs with purpose to get a feel for the uniqueness of a Black Knights' triple option-oriented offensive attack that led them to their winningest season in history in 2024.

The preparation continued into the summer months, and after a Monday review session following K-State's 38-35 win over North Dakota, all eyes focused on a dangerous Army squad that can cause fits at any moment.

Now the moment is here.

The Wildcats, 1-1 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12 Conference, will look to solve Army, 0-1, and its attack in Saturday's 6:00 p.m. meeting on Fort Riley Day at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

"We've had a good week of practice," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "We watched the film and were very critical of it on Monday and put it to bed and moved onto Army. I'm proud of our kids. We've had really physical practices on Tuesday and Wednesday. The energy level is up. The players are doing what I hoped they would do, which is to hold each other accountable to the standard we all expect."

K-State, recognized as one of the most successful FBS programs in the last four years, is looking to perform to its standard with its best showing of this early season on Saturday. After entering the season ranked No. 17 in the AP Top 25 Poll, K-State suffered a 24-21 loss to No. 22 Iowa State in Ireland before needing a game-winning drive and defensive stop to prevent North Dakota from capturing arguably its biggest win in history last weekend.

Now, K-State, which last hosted a service academy in 1987 in Manhattan and hasn't beaten Army in three tries, could certainly use a good spirit-salving performance to end its home non-conference slate before heading to Arizona to play next Friday.

"We're not in crisis mode," Klieman said, "but the kids know we have to be more urgent in everything we're doing."

Army, the defending AAC Champion, is 16-3 in its last 19 games dating to November 2023 — a stretch that ranks second nationally in winning percentage (.889), trailing only Oregon.

But Army heads to the road for the first time this year after squandering a two-touchdown second-half lead in a 30-27 home loss to FCS member Tarleton State, snapping a 17-game winning streak against FCS opponents. Led by quarterback Dewayne Coleman's 129 passing yards (with two touchdowns) and 100 rushing yards (with one touchdown), and 124 total yards from slotback Noah Short, the Black Knights racked up 400 total yards, including 280 on the ground.

"(Short) is a tremendous player and has been a really good player for a long time," Klieman said. "I've talked to a couple coaches who's played him, and they've said they have a lot of good options schemes, but you better know where that kid is at. Whether it's in the passing game, the jet sweep or in the option game, he really makes them go. We have to make sure we know where he's at. He's a really talented guy."

Army hasn't played a Power 4 opponent since it faced Missouri in the 2021 Armed Forces Bowl and hasn't beaten a Big 12 opponent since a 27-24 overtime win against Baylor on September 23, 2006.

"I hope we can play a lot better and give ourselves a much better chance this Saturday than the last time out," said 12^th-year head coach Jeff Monken, who is 82-58 at Army. "We're grateful for the opportunity to play a great team like Kansas State. It's one of the things that our guys really cherish in their experience at West Point is their ability to play in games like this against teams like this.

"They're a great team. It'll take our very best effort, the best we can muster, to be in the game with them. Hopefully, we can come up with that kind of effort and be competitive on Saturday night."

The Black Knights have the Wildcats' full attention.

"This will be a really good football team and a four-quarter game," Klieman said. "It's a game of possessions because they want to hang onto the football with long, sustained drives after leading the nation in time of possession and in fourth-down conversions last year. It's going to be a big challenge. We have to win the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball.

"This will be a big game. You don't often get a chance to have a service academy come in here, and Army is best of the best."

Nearly one week after Klieman lamented the inability of some of his defensive players to maintain proper "eye discipline," suggesting that he would march out 11 defenders who demonstrated proper eye discipline for Saturday, K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said, "It's a good time to play Army" following the Wildcats' recent lapses with eye discipline.

"There wasn't anything that happened Saturday that our guys weren't capable of doing," Klanderman said. "Guys get keyed up, want to do too much, let themselves drift out of doing their job, and try to do somebody else's job, and you're not going to be able to do that against Army. That's how they make their hay. Guys have to be dialed into what they're doing."

The triple option is primarily run out of the flexbone formation, a running-focused system that has been a staple of the service academies for years. On a triple-option play, the quarterback makes a decision during the play based on how the defense reacts. The quarterback can either hand the ball to the fullback diving up the middle, or he can fake the handoff and keep the ball and run toward the outside, or he can pitch the ball to one of the slotbacks running in motion on the outside.

A key reason why the triple option can baffle an undisciplined defense? Because the offense is designed to confuse the defense, forcing defenders to hesitate and account for multiple running threats on every play. It's about disciplined execution.

One possible plus for K-State? Its defense has held opponents to an average of 2.9 yards per rush on 79 attempts and has 16 tackles for loss and seven sacks, which ranks 24^th in the FBS. Linebacker Austin Romaine leads with 18 tackles, including 10 against North Dakota. Defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi has a team-leading 3.0 sacks and 3.5 tackles for loss.

"It's not only the style of offense, but they're really well coached in what they do," Klanderman said. "They're going to be physical, you're going to come out of this game sore, but it is what it is, and if you are what you hope that you are, it doesn't matter if you're see triple option or air raid or whatever, you should be able to defend it."

"It's eye discipline and having discipline in your keys and in what you do. Everything should be able to fit. Now we have to execute. That's the biggest thing. I'm sure they're going to have wrinkles and make adjustments, and I hope we can stay ahead of it."

Early preparation for the Black Knights has apparently been helpful.

"And it's necessary," Klanderman said. "This is a really hard offense to prepare for in four days. I think we did a decent job getting ahead of it."

Meanwhile, Army will try to stay ahead of a K-State offense that has totaled at least 375 total yards in 34 games since 2022, which is tied for fourth among Power 4 teams.

Avery Johnson, who is set to make his 17^th career start, has a 157.7 pass efficiency rating this season, and is 49-of-73 passing for 591 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. After competing 58.3% of his passes a year ago, Johnson has completed 67.1% of his throws in 2025.

"The zero turnovers I'm most proud of," offensive coordinator Matt Wells said. "We did put the ball into harm's way about four times, and we were living right on Saturday night. If you continue to play with fire, you're going to get your butt burned. He knows that, and we both know that. The throwing percentage should be higher. We've missed eight balls that were inaccurate, and we've had a few drops. That's the cost of doing business when you're throwing the ball. You're going to have a few drops and off targets.

"He's shown leadership and maturity, and so far, he's thrown a handful of deep balls better, a big thing through the offseason, and an improvement for him. I see growth with him."

Eleven different players have recorded catches this season, and junior Jayce Brown comes off his best performance yet with a 12-catch, 109-yard effort with one touchdown, while Jaron Tibbs and Jerand Bradley have made an impact. Against North Dakota, Tibbs caught one touchdown while Bradley hauled in a 65-yard catch-and-run score of his own against Iowa State.

While K-State's tight ends appear to be as productive as ever, sophomore running back Joe Jackson and redshirt freshman DeVon Rice continue to work hard in an attempt to pick up the slack in the absence of junior starter Dylan Edwards, who's last full game resulted in a 196-yard rushing effort in the 2024 Rate Bowl.

Klieman indicated that he was unsure about Edwards' status for Saturday's game. Edwards was injured while attempting to field a punt early against Iowa State and did not return.

"Dylan is getting better and better," Klieman said. "He's running around out there. I can't tell you what his status is for this week yet but we're making really good progress."

Apparently true freshman Linkon Cure continues to make progress as well. The top-rated high school tight end in the Class of 2025 and highest-rated signee in K-State history has yet to play this season after sustaining an injury during the summer.

"Linkon has been out for a long time in fall camp," Klieman said. "I wouldn't say he's 100% but he's probably 80%, and he's practicing and doing a really good job. He just has to get some rust knocked off him and get into the flow. He's helping our scout team because he isn't ready physically, but in time he will be, and he'll help us."

Monken believes that Army will have its hands plenty full Saturday.

And he believes that Big 12 opponents will have their hands full in the coming weeks, as well.

"Their quarterback is really fast and throws great and they have running backs, receivers who are really talented and productive, and an offensive line that isn't giving up sacks," Monken said. "They do a great job controlling football games. That's what you want an offense to do. There's a lot of concern with how talented they are and how confident they play and how well-coached they are. It's a really hard team to beat.

"Ask anybody in the Big 12. Not a lot of teams can beat Kansas State."

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Jerand Bradley

Jayce Brown

Linkon Cure

Dylan Edwards

Joe Jackson

Avery Johnson

Tobi Osunsanmi

DeVon Rice

Austin Romaine

Jaron Tibbs

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