D
Derek Young
Guest
OFFENSE
The passing game never really got going. The receivers weren’t regularly open and Thompson was off on throws. His worst one by far was his first-half interception that had no business being thrown. For one, he threw it late and the safety picked it off, easily. Secondly, He missed an open Dalton Schoen. His second interception came in the fourth quarter and was into triple coverage. It was a poor decision as well but about as good of a punt in the situation.
A second poor ball came in the second half on a well-called and well-executed play. Alex Barnes leaked out of the backfield and was wide open for a touchdown and Thompson made it too difficult for a running back to catch, and probably impossible. The bad part of it was that it was followed by a missed field goal from Nick McLellan so it was a drive that should have resulted in seven points but came up with zero.
He did have one fantastic throw to make note of, and that was his game-tying touchdown pass to Dalvin Warmack to knot the score up at 34 late in the fourth quarter. It was a great call, a great wheel route by Warmack and perfect timing and delivery by Thompson.
Thompson, like just about everyone else, had plenty of success on the ground and showed off that he can be a dual-threat weapon as well. That kind of leads me to believe that they should play around with more RPO (Run/pass option) plays for him. He had the long touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave them a 27-20 lead.
While Skylar Thompson certainly recognized and felt the pressure a little bit better today against the Baylor, Kansas State had all kinds of problems pass protecting against the blitz. It’s impossible to know what the exact culprit of the breakdowns were and if it was set up right, and who sets up the protections, but it didn’t work. The blitz caused problems all day. Sometimes they whiffed on the block and sometimes the protections weren’t set up correctly.
Today’s best game on offense was had by Alex Barnes. He certainly had a lot more room to run with the threat of a passing game (though they didn’t necessarily prove it today). Barnes has had lots more success on the ground this year with Thompson under center than Barnes and that is because there aren’t eight or nine guys in the box. Despite Thompson playing below average in the contest, the threat of his arm certainly enabled the success that Barnes had. There was more space for Barnes and a bit more comfort for an offensive line that was able to get downhill and mash in the power-running game a bit more.
Speaking of which, they probably should have resorted to the running game even more. Not only did Barnes break out, but Warmack had his best runs of the season as well. In fact, removing sacks, Kansas State averaged 10.8 yards per carry. We said before the game how poor the Bears’ rushing defense was.
Kansas State’s big plays on offense kept them in the game. They weren’t sustaining drives, necessarily. However, they did begin to in the third quarter. The Wildcats were 2-0 on the year headed into the game when they converted on more than 40 percent of their third downs. They were only 1/5 on third downs in the first half. In the third quarter, they were 4/5 alone on third down.
DEFENSE
Kansas State decided to use the Tom Hayes defense today in Waco and it probably wasn’t a bad idea. They gave up a lot of yards and fell into a bend-but-don’t-break type of philosophy, but with a bit of a twist. They also called some timely blitzes as well and benefited from Charlie Brewer’s terrible pocket presence. Kendall Adams got home on a blitz, Reggie Walker had a sack and Wyatt Hubert came up with the first of his career as well.
In fact, it was a great day in the opponent backfield for the Wildcats. They had four sacks and seven tackles for loss. And it could have been even better if not for all of the poor tackling we saw. There has been poor tackling at different times this year and most of it has been due to being out-athleted. That wasn’t the case today. They weren’t missing tackles because they were not there or because they did not have the ability to corral them in a short space. They were missing tackles even when they did have them wrapped up and cornered. Baylor’s go-ahead touchdown to jump back on top of K-State 34-27 was due to awful tackling once again.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, one touchdown was on an exceptional play in the end zone by Denzel Mims. It could not have been covered any better by Kevion McGee who actually got a hand on the ball as well. Another touchdown came on just a 19-yard drive following Isaiah Zuber’s fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half.
Though, to be fair, the Bears gave one to the Kansas State defense, too. They threw away a promising drive by resorting to a trick play where the running back threw an easy interception to Kendall Adams in the end zone.
And Kansas State’s defense seemed to wear down some in the second half and the Bears were able to do just about anything they wanted. Not only that, but stupid penalties by Da’Quan Patton and Reggie Walker crushed the Wildcats. They couldn’t stop just about anything in the fourth quarter and then inflicted more damage themselves on top of that.
But I’m still left dumbfounded that they did not use timeouts in Baylor’s final drive that resulted in a game-winning field goal. Had Bill Snyder and Kansas State elected to use their two timeouts earlier, they could have given their offense a shot. Instead, the Bears were able to chew as much time off as they wanted so they ran it all the way down to where they won the game on nearly the final play.
We had been advocating for more playing time for Justin Hughes and we got it today. Unfortunately, he’d probably agree it wasn’t close to one of his better performances. However, he did begin to turn it around and improved after the first quarter of play. And then he missed a few possessions with an injury. Hughes did return afterwards.
I’m not sure it’s even a discussion right now. Eli Walker is the best player on this defense. Duke Shelley has the experience, a leader for them and had an incredible interception. But Eli Walker makes play after play after play for this defense right now. He’s taking improved and better angles than he did a year ago. He’s much more under control. He’s everywhere for the Wildcats.
Simply put, there was a chance for Kansas State to have another strong defensive performance but poor tackling, stupid penalties and a second half stumble did them in.
SPECIAL TEAMS
This was by far the worst unit for both teams. Baylor missed three field goals and an extra point. Nick McLellan did not fare much better for the Wildcats as he continues to replace Blake Lynch as their place kicker. He missed a field goal of his own and had a critical extra point blocked.
That wasn’t the extent of K-State’s issues in this particular department. Isaiah Zuber fumbled away a kick return and nearly gave a punt return away. He was not back to receive on the following kick returns and we instead saw Dalvin Warmack back there with Duke Shelley.
The good news for Baylor is that Connor Martin redeemed himself with a 29-yard field goal that won them the game.
PERSONNEL
Skylar Thompson was given all the quarterback snaps today. Alex Delton made the trip but did not dress out for the game. Matt Jones was used early and often as a tight end but played less and less as the game progressed. Finally, on offense, Josh Rivas subbed in for Abdul Beecham in the second half, which has been standard for most of the season.
On defense, Justin Hughes got the nod ahead of Sam Sizelove at linebacker. Jonathan Durham started at nickel with Walter Neil still not healthy. Cody Fletcher was next up at linebacker when Patton was removed from the game. Sam Sizelove was the back-up to Justin Hughes.
Wyatt Hubert did enter the game quickly for Reggie Walker and Kevion McGee did the same for A.J. Parker. When Jonathan Durham left the game with an injury, A.J. Parker moved to nickel and McGee became the cornerback on the field. Drew Wiley and Joe Davies were both used as reserve defensive tackles.
Denzel Goolsby dressed out for the first time in three or four weeks and subbed in for Kendall Adams often while Eli Walker remained on the field.
Chase Johnston played his first action of the year and was a regular on the kick return unit. Dalvin Warmack stepped in as a returner today when they chose to remove Zuber or Shelley from the unit.
The passing game never really got going. The receivers weren’t regularly open and Thompson was off on throws. His worst one by far was his first-half interception that had no business being thrown. For one, he threw it late and the safety picked it off, easily. Secondly, He missed an open Dalton Schoen. His second interception came in the fourth quarter and was into triple coverage. It was a poor decision as well but about as good of a punt in the situation.
A second poor ball came in the second half on a well-called and well-executed play. Alex Barnes leaked out of the backfield and was wide open for a touchdown and Thompson made it too difficult for a running back to catch, and probably impossible. The bad part of it was that it was followed by a missed field goal from Nick McLellan so it was a drive that should have resulted in seven points but came up with zero.
He did have one fantastic throw to make note of, and that was his game-tying touchdown pass to Dalvin Warmack to knot the score up at 34 late in the fourth quarter. It was a great call, a great wheel route by Warmack and perfect timing and delivery by Thompson.
Thompson, like just about everyone else, had plenty of success on the ground and showed off that he can be a dual-threat weapon as well. That kind of leads me to believe that they should play around with more RPO (Run/pass option) plays for him. He had the long touchdown run in the fourth quarter that gave them a 27-20 lead.
While Skylar Thompson certainly recognized and felt the pressure a little bit better today against the Baylor, Kansas State had all kinds of problems pass protecting against the blitz. It’s impossible to know what the exact culprit of the breakdowns were and if it was set up right, and who sets up the protections, but it didn’t work. The blitz caused problems all day. Sometimes they whiffed on the block and sometimes the protections weren’t set up correctly.
Today’s best game on offense was had by Alex Barnes. He certainly had a lot more room to run with the threat of a passing game (though they didn’t necessarily prove it today). Barnes has had lots more success on the ground this year with Thompson under center than Barnes and that is because there aren’t eight or nine guys in the box. Despite Thompson playing below average in the contest, the threat of his arm certainly enabled the success that Barnes had. There was more space for Barnes and a bit more comfort for an offensive line that was able to get downhill and mash in the power-running game a bit more.
Speaking of which, they probably should have resorted to the running game even more. Not only did Barnes break out, but Warmack had his best runs of the season as well. In fact, removing sacks, Kansas State averaged 10.8 yards per carry. We said before the game how poor the Bears’ rushing defense was.
Kansas State’s big plays on offense kept them in the game. They weren’t sustaining drives, necessarily. However, they did begin to in the third quarter. The Wildcats were 2-0 on the year headed into the game when they converted on more than 40 percent of their third downs. They were only 1/5 on third downs in the first half. In the third quarter, they were 4/5 alone on third down.
DEFENSE
Kansas State decided to use the Tom Hayes defense today in Waco and it probably wasn’t a bad idea. They gave up a lot of yards and fell into a bend-but-don’t-break type of philosophy, but with a bit of a twist. They also called some timely blitzes as well and benefited from Charlie Brewer’s terrible pocket presence. Kendall Adams got home on a blitz, Reggie Walker had a sack and Wyatt Hubert came up with the first of his career as well.
In fact, it was a great day in the opponent backfield for the Wildcats. They had four sacks and seven tackles for loss. And it could have been even better if not for all of the poor tackling we saw. There has been poor tackling at different times this year and most of it has been due to being out-athleted. That wasn’t the case today. They weren’t missing tackles because they were not there or because they did not have the ability to corral them in a short space. They were missing tackles even when they did have them wrapped up and cornered. Baylor’s go-ahead touchdown to jump back on top of K-State 34-27 was due to awful tackling once again.
Unfortunately for the Wildcats, one touchdown was on an exceptional play in the end zone by Denzel Mims. It could not have been covered any better by Kevion McGee who actually got a hand on the ball as well. Another touchdown came on just a 19-yard drive following Isaiah Zuber’s fumble on the opening kickoff of the second half.
Though, to be fair, the Bears gave one to the Kansas State defense, too. They threw away a promising drive by resorting to a trick play where the running back threw an easy interception to Kendall Adams in the end zone.
And Kansas State’s defense seemed to wear down some in the second half and the Bears were able to do just about anything they wanted. Not only that, but stupid penalties by Da’Quan Patton and Reggie Walker crushed the Wildcats. They couldn’t stop just about anything in the fourth quarter and then inflicted more damage themselves on top of that.
But I’m still left dumbfounded that they did not use timeouts in Baylor’s final drive that resulted in a game-winning field goal. Had Bill Snyder and Kansas State elected to use their two timeouts earlier, they could have given their offense a shot. Instead, the Bears were able to chew as much time off as they wanted so they ran it all the way down to where they won the game on nearly the final play.
We had been advocating for more playing time for Justin Hughes and we got it today. Unfortunately, he’d probably agree it wasn’t close to one of his better performances. However, he did begin to turn it around and improved after the first quarter of play. And then he missed a few possessions with an injury. Hughes did return afterwards.
I’m not sure it’s even a discussion right now. Eli Walker is the best player on this defense. Duke Shelley has the experience, a leader for them and had an incredible interception. But Eli Walker makes play after play after play for this defense right now. He’s taking improved and better angles than he did a year ago. He’s much more under control. He’s everywhere for the Wildcats.
Simply put, there was a chance for Kansas State to have another strong defensive performance but poor tackling, stupid penalties and a second half stumble did them in.
SPECIAL TEAMS
This was by far the worst unit for both teams. Baylor missed three field goals and an extra point. Nick McLellan did not fare much better for the Wildcats as he continues to replace Blake Lynch as their place kicker. He missed a field goal of his own and had a critical extra point blocked.
That wasn’t the extent of K-State’s issues in this particular department. Isaiah Zuber fumbled away a kick return and nearly gave a punt return away. He was not back to receive on the following kick returns and we instead saw Dalvin Warmack back there with Duke Shelley.
The good news for Baylor is that Connor Martin redeemed himself with a 29-yard field goal that won them the game.
PERSONNEL
Skylar Thompson was given all the quarterback snaps today. Alex Delton made the trip but did not dress out for the game. Matt Jones was used early and often as a tight end but played less and less as the game progressed. Finally, on offense, Josh Rivas subbed in for Abdul Beecham in the second half, which has been standard for most of the season.
On defense, Justin Hughes got the nod ahead of Sam Sizelove at linebacker. Jonathan Durham started at nickel with Walter Neil still not healthy. Cody Fletcher was next up at linebacker when Patton was removed from the game. Sam Sizelove was the back-up to Justin Hughes.
Wyatt Hubert did enter the game quickly for Reggie Walker and Kevion McGee did the same for A.J. Parker. When Jonathan Durham left the game with an injury, A.J. Parker moved to nickel and McGee became the cornerback on the field. Drew Wiley and Joe Davies were both used as reserve defensive tackles.
Denzel Goolsby dressed out for the first time in three or four weeks and subbed in for Kendall Adams often while Eli Walker remained on the field.
Chase Johnston played his first action of the year and was a regular on the kick return unit. Dalvin Warmack stepped in as a returner today when they chose to remove Zuber or Shelley from the unit.
