D
Derek Young
Guest
SKYLAR THE GAMER
Though we didn’t really get to see it last season, a trend in his career is that Skylar Thompson certainly has a flare for the late-game heroics. Most notably, he’s been on the winning side of it in almost every case as well.
It wasn’t late-game, but he showed a penchant for the big moment when he shined against Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2017, too. The ones we all remember are his finishes in Lubbock against Texas Tech two seasons ago and the finale inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium versus Iowa State.
He delivered on the second to last drive as well, culminating in the winning touchdown for Kansas State. The Wildcats won because of the damage he did with his arm out of play-action, especially his two balls to Dalton Schoen.
Not only that, his throw to Nick Lenners while under pressure on the previous drive in a tie-game was outstanding as well. He is a gamer. Thompson is very reliable in crunch time.
SPECIAL TEAMS AND OTHER MISCUES
Not going to lie, there was many. And it wasn’t just on Kansas State’s side, both teams played a fairly sloppy game.
Two personal fouls for K-State (on Wayne Jones) were pretty costly, especially the last one. The muffed punts could have been a killer, one by each of Seth Porter and Jordon Brown. There were also two muffed punts last week, by Phillip Brooks.
It is a bit prophetic now, but I mentioned last week the impact of special teams. I don’t think it can dictate necessarily, but it leaves a mark. It’s one of those things where it probably won’t really win you a game, but it can definitely lose it.
Kansas State certainly tried to lose it in that phase, but it was bailed out by Malik Knowles’ kick return for a score.
Another thing that cannot happen is the touchdown that was surrendered at the end of the first half. The big play is what you are aiming to prevent in that situation, and it’s exactly what they allowed.
The benefit of this game is that they still walked away with a road victory in an SEC environment with a lot of moments and plays to seriously learn from moving forward.
DEFENSE WON THE GAME
For as much as they were on the field in the second half and kept making enough plays to get off the field, this isn’t even a debate, to me. They won the game, easily. When their backs were against the wall, on multiple occasions, they rose to the occasion on a consistent basis.
The pass rush was phenomenal. The defensive line played a heck of a game, and probably the best I’ve seen from a K-State front in some time. The cornerbacks were also strong.
A key statistic that has made them very effectively is their third down success. Bowling Green didn’t convert a single one and Mississippi State only converted four on 12 tries. Not only that, I think they all may have come in the third quarter.
It’s certainly looking like Scottie Hazelton is going to be an expensive coach sooner rather than later.
KEEPING PERSPECTIVE
There were mistakes. It seemed like a winnable game that might slip away, and it would have left everyone pretty distraught and outraged. However, Kansas State was the one that made the big plays late in the game.
I think it’s still important to keep perspective. Mississippi State is a team that thoroughly dominated the Wildcats a season ago. A year later, K-State defeats them without the services of Wyatt Hubert, Walter Neil, Cody Fletcher and Justin Hughes. There’s not any point in the offseason where I wouldn’t have called you crazy if you told me that it would unfold that way.
That’s a testament to how they played late in the game, the defensive effort and great performance, making plays when they needed to and how both the offensive and defensive line came out and answered the bell after being knocked around a year ago.
Though we didn’t really get to see it last season, a trend in his career is that Skylar Thompson certainly has a flare for the late-game heroics. Most notably, he’s been on the winning side of it in almost every case as well.
It wasn’t late-game, but he showed a penchant for the big moment when he shined against Oklahoma State in Stillwater in 2017, too. The ones we all remember are his finishes in Lubbock against Texas Tech two seasons ago and the finale inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium versus Iowa State.
He delivered on the second to last drive as well, culminating in the winning touchdown for Kansas State. The Wildcats won because of the damage he did with his arm out of play-action, especially his two balls to Dalton Schoen.
Not only that, his throw to Nick Lenners while under pressure on the previous drive in a tie-game was outstanding as well. He is a gamer. Thompson is very reliable in crunch time.
SPECIAL TEAMS AND OTHER MISCUES
Not going to lie, there was many. And it wasn’t just on Kansas State’s side, both teams played a fairly sloppy game.
Two personal fouls for K-State (on Wayne Jones) were pretty costly, especially the last one. The muffed punts could have been a killer, one by each of Seth Porter and Jordon Brown. There were also two muffed punts last week, by Phillip Brooks.
It is a bit prophetic now, but I mentioned last week the impact of special teams. I don’t think it can dictate necessarily, but it leaves a mark. It’s one of those things where it probably won’t really win you a game, but it can definitely lose it.
Kansas State certainly tried to lose it in that phase, but it was bailed out by Malik Knowles’ kick return for a score.
Another thing that cannot happen is the touchdown that was surrendered at the end of the first half. The big play is what you are aiming to prevent in that situation, and it’s exactly what they allowed.
The benefit of this game is that they still walked away with a road victory in an SEC environment with a lot of moments and plays to seriously learn from moving forward.
DEFENSE WON THE GAME
For as much as they were on the field in the second half and kept making enough plays to get off the field, this isn’t even a debate, to me. They won the game, easily. When their backs were against the wall, on multiple occasions, they rose to the occasion on a consistent basis.
The pass rush was phenomenal. The defensive line played a heck of a game, and probably the best I’ve seen from a K-State front in some time. The cornerbacks were also strong.
A key statistic that has made them very effectively is their third down success. Bowling Green didn’t convert a single one and Mississippi State only converted four on 12 tries. Not only that, I think they all may have come in the third quarter.
It’s certainly looking like Scottie Hazelton is going to be an expensive coach sooner rather than later.
KEEPING PERSPECTIVE
There were mistakes. It seemed like a winnable game that might slip away, and it would have left everyone pretty distraught and outraged. However, Kansas State was the one that made the big plays late in the game.
I think it’s still important to keep perspective. Mississippi State is a team that thoroughly dominated the Wildcats a season ago. A year later, K-State defeats them without the services of Wyatt Hubert, Walter Neil, Cody Fletcher and Justin Hughes. There’s not any point in the offseason where I wouldn’t have called you crazy if you told me that it would unfold that way.
That’s a testament to how they played late in the game, the defensive effort and great performance, making plays when they needed to and how both the offensive and defensive line came out and answered the bell after being knocked around a year ago.
