From The Couch – Thoughts On K-State Football’s Loss To Cincinnati
My thoughts about K-State’s 31-26 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday night echoed how head coach Collin Klein started his post-game press conference…
“Very disappointing. Painful.”
That’s exactly how I felt watching the second half play out. K-State had a 17-10 lead at halftime and a chance to extend the lead on the first possession of the second half when quarterback Avery Johnson hit Derrick Salley on the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter for a 34-yard pass across the middle, but Salley fumbled the ball and Cincinnati recovered. It was the play that changed the course of the game. Here is the video:
The officials reviewed the play and the ball remained with the Bearcats. Cincinnati took all of the momentum and K-State imploded for the remainder of the third quarter. Two Cincinnati touchdowns in a row gave them a 24-17 lead. K-State was never able to regain the lead, even though they had a chance at the very end of regulation to drive for the game winning touchdown. They ran out of time.
K-State’s offense did enough to win this game, turnover aside. They outgained Cincinnati 447 yards to 436 yards. The difference was that the K-State defense couldn’t stop Cincinnati’s rushing attack, giving up 271 rushing yards. You’re not going to win many games giving up that many rushing yards. I mentioned a couple weeks ago that K-State’s defensive line is undersized and that I was expecting an upcoming opponent would take advantage of it, and it happened in this game. Unfortunately, I don’t think they can scheme their way around this deficiency. It is going to be an issue all season.
A 6-6 record is still doable for this team. A lot of fans on social media were very upset at this loss. I guess I don’t blame them and I love their passion, but this team was never going to go undefeated. There are many issues other than the defensive line that need to get shored up, but that’s the main problem. A first-year head coach was coaching his first road game, so we were bound to see some issues and struggles. I was hoping we wouldn’t, but that was wishful thinking.
“I just told them there’s no excuses for losing, it feels horrible and it should, and if it does, it means you’re invested and you care. As we continue to build this thing and go where we’re supposed to, and where we want to go, there are lessons that come out of these ballgames and these situations that we have to be able to take with us moving forward.”…Collin Klein, post-game
One positive I took away from the game after sleeping on it is that K-State didn’t play particularly well on defense and still had every chance to win the game at the end. It is not by any means a moral victory, but it is a positive takeaway.
Here is a clip showing how Cincinnati’s offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage most of the night.
And here are some game highlights that will remind you how well K-State played for much of the first half:
That’s about all I’ve got on this one. I’d like to forget it and move on, as I’m sure you are, too. K-State has a bye week this Saturday. The next game is against Houston at 2:30 on October 10th at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
