From The Couch – Sunflower Mowdown
Deuce Vaughn had another great all-around game for the Wildcats as they laid a beatdown on Kansas 35-10 on Saturday. Skylar Thompson was solid once again and the defense played great. K-State improved to 6-3 on the season and became bowl eligible with the victory. Here are some notes and quotes from the big victory over Kansas.
“Big win, excited for our guys, excited for our team, excited for K-State nation out there. Excited for all the former players because this one means an awful lot to those guys. It means an awful lot to the state. It means a ton to the almost 60 kids we have on our team from the state of Kansas and just more happy with the way the guys started in the first half and started in the second half.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: How did the Wildcats start the game? They received the kickoff and went on an eight-play, 72-yard scoring drive on a one-yard touchdown run by Deuce Vaughn. That’s right, they averaged nine yards a play on their first drive of the game. How did they start the second half? An amazing 80-yard touchdown run by Deuce Vaughn. Deuce finished the game with 162 yards rushing on 11 carries, averaging 14.7 yards per rush. He also scored three touchdowns on the ground. He also had five catches for 60 yards. Skylar Thompson barely overthrew him in the endzone in the 4th quarter when he was wide open or he would have had four touchdowns on the day.
“Although we had some laps in defense, we got the stops when we needed to. So excited for the guys, we’re 6-3. We’re bowl eligible…”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: The schedule lightened up at the right time. Three games, and three victories, in a row against Texas Tech, TCU, and Kansas has K-State looking great at 6-3. Remember how you felt three weeks ago when the team was 3-3? Compare that with how you feel today. I know it’s a total 180-degree turn for me.
“It was big. Malik left the game last week with an injury and missed a little bit of time this week and then felt great late in the week. Give our o-line credit, great protection and we ran into a double post concept and Malik gets a step on people. Not very many people are going to catch him and Skylar (Thompson) put it on the money and that was a huge play at the time. It was 7-3 and to get a 68-yard pass in a two-play series.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: This was a huge play in the game. It seemed like Skylar Thompson had 20 seconds in the pocket and Malik Knowles did a great job to keep running to get open. No KU defender was within five yards of Skylar in the pocket. Just a great play by everyone.
“It’s unfortunate. It’s frustrating and Lance (Leipold) is class and he’ll address it but it happened. Shoot, we hit their quarterback and got a couple penalties. Some of it is bang-bang stuff and but he’s fine. He’s healthy. He’s ready to go back and get it again next week.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: The late hit on Skylar Thompson out of bounds by KU’s Gavin Potter was the dirtiest hit I’ve seen all season. Klieman took the high road in his comments, but Potter should have been kicked out of the game. After the play, Joe Ervin shoved Potter and Potter did a flop that would make an international soccer player blush. Check out the video here:
“We’re doing some things really well and you can tell we’re playing with confidence and we’re playing with a little bit of an edge and a little bit of swagger and playing faster. Overall, I think the guys’ bodies are pretty fresh, which is something we’ve focused on because last year was so odd. This is a new year. You’re retraining guys to play a 12-game season and I think we’re fast. We’re fresh. We’ve got a really tough opponent coming into our place that I think our guys are playing with some confidence.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Winning the Texas Tech game was HUGE for this program. The team is definitely playing better, but I still believe a lot of it is schedule-driven. Regardless, they won the games and it feels good to be 6-3.
“Well, we rushed for what, 242 yards on 30 attempts which is not very many, so I think we played pretty well up front. Bunch of Kansas kids again. Excited for those guys from the state because we’ve got a bunch of guys from the state of Kansas led by our captain Noah Johnson that this game meant a lot to them.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: The Wildcats averaged 8.1 yards per carry on the day. Kudos to the offensive line. They played great!
“845 – Career receiving yards by Deuce Vaughn, ranking second in school history among running backs/fullbacks.”…K-Statesports.com
JM: Not too shabby.
“13– Consecutive victories by K-State in the series, which is tied for the fourth-longest in the FBS in active uninterrupted winning streaks.”…K-Statesports.com
JM: Let’s keep the streak going. It’s a lot of fun watching this game every year.
Up next for K-State is a game in Manhattan against West Virginia next Saturday at 11:00. All of a sudden, this looks like a very winnable game. Hope to see you there.
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