From The Couch – The Cowboys Wrangle The Wildcats

From The Couch – The Cowboys Wrangle The Wildcats

The Kansas State Wildcats appeared unprepared and overmatched against the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater yesterday. Oklahoma State scored touchdowns on their first three offensive drives of the game and kicked a field goal on the fourth en route to a 31-20 victory. A mostly inept K-State offense and a K-State fumble by quarterback Will Howard deep in their own territory that was recovered by Oklahoma State for a touchdown were all the points the Cowboys needed as they led 31-13 at halftime and hung on for the win.

K-State has some real problems to address. We were told that Will Howard was injured in the game, which is why third-string quarterback Jaren Lewis played most of the second half. Before the injury Howard was ineffective from the start of the game, completing only four of 12 pass attempts for 50 yards and the fumble that Oklahoma State recovered for a touchdown. K-State needs a quarterback. They need Skylar Thompson back or this is going to be a very long season. That said, the quarterback isn’t the only problem. The Oklahoma State offense moved through the K-State defense like a hot knife through butter in the first half before the Wildcat defense adjusted at halftime and played well in the second half. By then it was too late. The offensive line didn’t protect well and the receiving corps continues to leave a lot to be desired. Other than that, things are great.

Let’s dig in and review what went right and what went wrong last night…

“Credit Oklahoma State. They beat us today. We didn’t play our best game today. They beat us at the line of
scrimmage.”
…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Oklahoma State outrushed K-State 137 yards to 62 yards and almost doubled up K-State in total yardage 481 to 260. I’m a bit surprised the final margin of victory was only 11.

“He (Will Howard) got hurt in the first half, and he couldn’t go anymore in the first half. At halftime, they did some things to work on him. He tried to go in the second half and just couldn’t run the way he needed to run. Obviously, in that first series, we were able to get some quarterback run game going. When we lost Will, it took some of the play calling that Coach Messingham was wanting to do away because that’s Will’s forte and not as much Jaren.”…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: Who knows how bad the injury to Will Howard is. We may get an update sometime this week. I hope he is able to go on Saturday or it could be really ugly.

“Really frustrating the way we played in the first half defensively.”…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: It was really frustrating watching it from home, too.

“We’ve gotta clean it up, for sure. I didn’t see the replay well enough to see if this one was, but it obviously was. Daniel has to lower his target, and he’s gotta keep his eyes up, bottom line. We can’t afford to lose Daniel Green. He’s too good of a football player, and that’s two games out of four that we’ve lost him for a half. Fortunately, we get him back for next week. Nick Allen played very well. But Daniel has to change his game a little bit.”…Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: This was Daniel Green’s second targeting ejection in four games. K-State fans on social media en masse thought this was a bad call and that the refs were screwing K-State. I guess I’m in the minority and I agree with Klieman. Green lowered his helmet and led with his helmet on the play. Obvious targeting call. You can disagree with the rule if you want, but it was a warranted ejection based on the rule.

“Did some good things. Had the pick that he probably should’ve thrown away because we had a chance to get a field goal or at least points there. We weren’t getting a bunch of guys wide open, so there were some tight windows and they were rushing the passer well. He (Jaren Lewis) did some good things, a great learning experience for him.”...Chris Klieman, post-game

JM: I’ve been to three of the four games in person and Klieman is right when he says receivers aren’t getting open. Way too many times there is nowhere for the quarterback to throw the ball. I’m not sure this is fixable.

“OSU held Kansas State to just 260 total yards, well below its average of 374 in the first three games. OSU limited the stout rushing attack of the Wildcats to just 62 yards, including minus-3 in the final half.”…Jacob Unruh, The Oklahoman

JM: If K-State could have gotten anything done on offense in the second half, they could have won the game. Minus three yards rushing in the second half? You’re not gonna get it done that way.

Wildcats star running back Deuce Vaughn was limited to just 22 yards on 13 carries.“…Jacob Unruh, The Oklahoman

JM: Stopping the run was the key to the game for Oklahoma State. Deuce did have a 55-yard touchdown pass from Lewis in the second half, giving him 536 career receiving yards, which moved him into 5th place on the all-time K-State receiving yards list for running backs/fullbacks. Take a look at the touchdown here:

Let’s hope the team forgets about this one quickly and focuses on beating Oklahoma next Saturday. It won’t be easy, but Oklahoma hasn’t been as good as advertised so far this season.

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