D
Derek Young
Guest
WILL HOWARD’S THIRD QUARTER
What we saw in the third quarter needs to be a taste of what is to come when it comes to Courtney Messingham calling plays and trusting his young quarterback, and Will Howard finding a rhythm and comfort level within the offense.
It was pitch and catch for Howard in the third frame. He had some marvelous throws, too. The ones that stand out are the long toss to Chabastin Taylor inside the three and the touchdown toss to Briley Moore while under pressure.
His best trait is his knack of finding a way to unload the ball while under pressure and not taking sacks. That is no small thing and is one of his best attributes at this time. It also isn’t reminiscent of a young quarterback. He always knows where to locate an outlet because he is so knowledgeable and understanding of the offense and where guys should be at all times.
Another promising item would be the cohesion and chemistry that Howard is seemingly building with Taylor and Moore. Initially, it was just with D.J. Render, due to their time together in developmental phases of practice.
The growth we were hoping to see came during that span of drives coming out of halftime. To be quite frank, the first half performance was a bit discouraging. It wasn’t totally on Howard. The play-calling was a bit conservative to say the least and there were a few drops and rarely a clean pocket.
If they can build on the third quarter, there is a lot to be excited about in Wildcat nation. Howard finished his second career start 17 of 24 for 243 yards and 2 scores.
It was interesting, that in the postgame press conference, head coach Chris Klieman was blunt in the criticism of the offense. He said they did not play well and should have been able to score much more than they did.
DEUCE MAKES POTTER LOOK STUPID
I’m making this one of the downs in our recap because I can and because it is funny.
For those that need some background on the reference, I’ll explain it. Gavin Potter was a linebacker from Broken Arrow High in Oklahoma that had been committed to Blake Seiler and Kansas State before the coaching change.
He hung with them for a bit but decided to have some Signing Day flare. He held a ceremony on Signing Day, where he was wearing a K-State sweatshirt. He took it off to reveal a cheaply made Texas Tech shirt.
It didn’t stop there. Potter took off the Texas Tech shirt to unveil his decision to sign with Les Miles and Kansas. He had his chest pained blue and had written KU on his body.
Fast forward to today and he was abused and embarrassed by Deuce Vaughn on the field. Vaughn mowed through him for a touchdown and he broke his ankles with an elusive juke in the open field.
It all came up Wildcats.
NON-OFFENSIVE SCORES
Despite only having three more yards than the Jayhawks and committing seven first quarter penalties, Kansas State held a 34-7 halftime lead and eventually won the game 55-14. How the heck did that happen?
Well, the traditionally strong special teams came up strong for K-State. Also, the traditionally poor play and coaching from Kansas also was on full display.
For some reason, they kept punting the ball to Phillip Brooks and he made them pay. The returns were well-blocked, but they were also pretty low on the difficulty barometer. Brooks just had to run to the opposite sideline, and it was void of any Jayhawks.
Brooks had two touchdowns on punt returns but also had two others that went for more than 40 yards.
Justin Gardner also had a pick six in what was another dominant defensive performance.
THE CRINGEY STUFF
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and it would be ignorant of me not to touch on some of the concerns. I hate to end on a bad note, but I will.
The first is the first quarter. It was poor offensive performance, like Klieman had noted in his postgame press conference, and they committed seven penalties alone in the first frame. That was an ugly first quarter, and moving forward, coming out that slow could cost them a win in the future.
Secondly, and finally, A.J. Parker did leave the game right before the half with an obvious ankle injury. It looked like he rolled it pretty badly. The severity of the injury is not known, and Klieman did not have an update after the game.
Klieman was only told that he wasn’t going to be available the rest of the contest Saturday, which he had no problem with since they were already on top, 34-7.
What we saw in the third quarter needs to be a taste of what is to come when it comes to Courtney Messingham calling plays and trusting his young quarterback, and Will Howard finding a rhythm and comfort level within the offense.
It was pitch and catch for Howard in the third frame. He had some marvelous throws, too. The ones that stand out are the long toss to Chabastin Taylor inside the three and the touchdown toss to Briley Moore while under pressure.
His best trait is his knack of finding a way to unload the ball while under pressure and not taking sacks. That is no small thing and is one of his best attributes at this time. It also isn’t reminiscent of a young quarterback. He always knows where to locate an outlet because he is so knowledgeable and understanding of the offense and where guys should be at all times.
Another promising item would be the cohesion and chemistry that Howard is seemingly building with Taylor and Moore. Initially, it was just with D.J. Render, due to their time together in developmental phases of practice.
The growth we were hoping to see came during that span of drives coming out of halftime. To be quite frank, the first half performance was a bit discouraging. It wasn’t totally on Howard. The play-calling was a bit conservative to say the least and there were a few drops and rarely a clean pocket.
If they can build on the third quarter, there is a lot to be excited about in Wildcat nation. Howard finished his second career start 17 of 24 for 243 yards and 2 scores.
It was interesting, that in the postgame press conference, head coach Chris Klieman was blunt in the criticism of the offense. He said they did not play well and should have been able to score much more than they did.
DEUCE MAKES POTTER LOOK STUPID
I’m making this one of the downs in our recap because I can and because it is funny.
For those that need some background on the reference, I’ll explain it. Gavin Potter was a linebacker from Broken Arrow High in Oklahoma that had been committed to Blake Seiler and Kansas State before the coaching change.
He hung with them for a bit but decided to have some Signing Day flare. He held a ceremony on Signing Day, where he was wearing a K-State sweatshirt. He took it off to reveal a cheaply made Texas Tech shirt.
It didn’t stop there. Potter took off the Texas Tech shirt to unveil his decision to sign with Les Miles and Kansas. He had his chest pained blue and had written KU on his body.
Fast forward to today and he was abused and embarrassed by Deuce Vaughn on the field. Vaughn mowed through him for a touchdown and he broke his ankles with an elusive juke in the open field.
It all came up Wildcats.
NON-OFFENSIVE SCORES
Despite only having three more yards than the Jayhawks and committing seven first quarter penalties, Kansas State held a 34-7 halftime lead and eventually won the game 55-14. How the heck did that happen?
Well, the traditionally strong special teams came up strong for K-State. Also, the traditionally poor play and coaching from Kansas also was on full display.
For some reason, they kept punting the ball to Phillip Brooks and he made them pay. The returns were well-blocked, but they were also pretty low on the difficulty barometer. Brooks just had to run to the opposite sideline, and it was void of any Jayhawks.
Brooks had two touchdowns on punt returns but also had two others that went for more than 40 yards.
Justin Gardner also had a pick six in what was another dominant defensive performance.
THE CRINGEY STUFF
It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows and it would be ignorant of me not to touch on some of the concerns. I hate to end on a bad note, but I will.
The first is the first quarter. It was poor offensive performance, like Klieman had noted in his postgame press conference, and they committed seven penalties alone in the first frame. That was an ugly first quarter, and moving forward, coming out that slow could cost them a win in the future.
Secondly, and finally, A.J. Parker did leave the game right before the half with an obvious ankle injury. It looked like he rolled it pretty badly. The severity of the injury is not known, and Klieman did not have an update after the game.
Klieman was only told that he wasn’t going to be available the rest of the contest Saturday, which he had no problem with since they were already on top, 34-7.
