From The Couch – K-State Football Is Terrible
It has been a long time since I watched a K-State football game where I was pretty confident they would lose. Last night’s Arizona game was a debacle of epic proportions. I haven’t watched a K-State team this bad fundamentally in a long time. Probably since 2008. They miss blocks on offense, they miss tackles on defense, they allow wide-open receivers all over the field, and they appear discombobulated and confused most of the time. Other than that, they are a joy to watch.
Arizona won the game 23-17, but the score did not accurately reflect the lopsided nature of the game. Arizona out-gained K-State 412 yards to 193 and possessed the ball for 13 minutes more than K-State did. Arizona led 17 to 3 at halftime, and despite K-State rallying to tie the game at 17, Arizona was able to kick two field goals in the second half to win by six.
Arizona is not a particularly good team. They are poorly coached at times, and they don’t strike me as a team that will do any damage whatsoever in the Big 12. They let K-State hang around and, after a missed field goal with a minute and 55 seconds left in the game that could have put the game away, gave K-State one final chance to win it with a touchdown drive. Unfortunately, K-State couldn’t get anything going. I blame the play-calling by offensive coordinator Matt Wells. Here is the last set of downs for K-State from their own 40-yard line:
1st and 10: Incomplete pass down the middle from Avery Johnson to Jayce Brown.
2nd and 10: Three-yard pass from Avery Johnson to Jemyri Davis.
3rd and 7: Avery Johnson threw a one-yard pass to Sterling Lockett that fell incomplete. Yes, they threw a one-yard pass on 3rd and 7 with 1:06 left in the game, needing 60 yards to score a touchdown.
4th and 7: Avery Johnson threw a pass short over the middle to Jayce Brown that fell incomplete.
Game over.
This isn’t K-State football. This is coaching malpractice. And it’s not the only time playcalling was an issue in the game.
I’ve watched a lot of football in my 52 years. Only terrible football teams with terrible coaching staffs do things like this.
Avery Johnson completed 13-of-29 passes for 88 yards and had seven carries for minus-16 yards and one rushing touchdown. Your four-star, blue-chip, supposed dual-threat quarterback ran seven times for minus 16 yards!!?
K-State rushed for 105 yards as a team. Their leading rusher was wide receiver Jayce Brown, whose 75-yard touchdown run out of the Wildcat formation down the right side on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter gave K-State hope and drew the Wildcats to within 17-10. Brown had one carry for 75 yards and also led K-State with six catches for 68 yards.
Why will they run Jayce Brown like this, a wide receiver playing the quarterback position, but they refuse to run their quarterback, Avery Johnson, like this? In my opinion, there is only one answer. Coaching malpractice.
Take away those 75 yards from the team rushing total, and K-State rushed for 30 yards on 23 carries.
“We had a chance with 2 minutes left to go down and score and win. Maybe we didn’t deserve to be in that position, but because we have kids with resolve, tough kids, and kids that are all in, we had that chance.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Arizona missed a 46-yard field goal with 1:55 left in the game, which gave K-State a final chance. They also missed a 62-yarder to end the first half.
“We need to reset We need to make some adjustments offensively and defensively to give our kids a chance to be successful. We have to get together as a staff. Right now, I don’t know what our identity is. I thought I knew after the first game, but that has not been sustained with our identity. That’s not an excuse, that’s the reality, that I don’t know what our identity is.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: The identity of Chris Klieman-coached teams has always been establishing the run game, wearing down the defense, toughness, and playing solid, assignment-sound defense. This team is the complete opposite of all of that.
K-State had two of its star players available for the game: running back Dylan Edwards and tight end Linkon Cure. Edwards had four carries for 13 yards before leaving with an injury in the first half, and Cure recorded no receptions while taking only a handful of snaps.
“We couldn’t get off the field really well on defense. We couldn’t sustain drives. We wore down on defense because we couldn’t sustain drives.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Sound familiar? Anyone watch the Army game?
“We were trying to get stops and get something going. We knew we had to throw the ball to be successful because they were stunting and blitzing and doing a good job to not allow us to gain traction running the ball. We had to throw it, and they pinned their ears back.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Does this sound like K-State football to you? Can you imagine Bill Snyder saying something like this?
“We’re going to give our kids some rest. It’s been a gauntlet here in this four-game stretch with the travel and stuff, but that’s what we signed up for. It’s not an excuse, so we have to find some ways to recalibrate and get the guys rested and come back. We have the meat of our schedule ahead of us.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: UCF is next up in two weeks. There are no games left on the schedule you can count on as wins if the team continues to play this poorly.
“I just felt like we were real slow in all aspects. It was the offensive line, running backs, receivers, me at the quarterback position. It was like we had no fire.”…K-State quarterback Avery Johnson, post-game
JM: I appreciate the honesty, but this is the supposed leader of your team saying this. Not good.
“I think it’s pretty evident that when you take a guy like Dylan Edwards out of this offense, it’s a big hit to us. And he tried to go, I applaud Dylan. He gave it a go and gave it an effort, and got a couple of runs. But for whatever reason, I knew he wasn’t gonna last that long, and he didn’t. The kid tried, I appreciate that.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Why don’t you have a backup running back that can be at least a little effective? Take away Jayce Brown and Dylan Edwards, and the K-State running backs had 12 carries for 33 yards. Backup running back Joe Jackson didn’t play. Where was he? I have no idea. The offensive line also doesn’t get absolved of blame. They were mostly awful.
Sorry for the downer of an article today, but I have to call it like I see it. I didn’t see many positives in the game last night, and I don’t have much hope that Chris Klieman can get this turned around. Why won’t they let their star “dual threat” quarterback run the ball? It’s a mystery that nobody has the answers to. The point of playing football games is to win. Not to take away your number one weapon. It is perplexing and infuriating at the same time.
A buddy of mine texted me this morning and said, “at least there is a bye week next week so we don’t have to watch this crappy team again for two weeks.” That’s what has become of K-State football, and it is very sad.
2 thoughts on “From The Couch – K-State Football Is Terrible”
Did anyone ask why Avery is not running when had several chances
No, but that should have been one of the first questions!