D
Derek Young
Guest
This is nothing new. This is what Eyes Don't Lie used to be. Just changing the title. Dig in and enjoy. I think you'll find some good stuff in here.
OFFENSE
I mean, there were some good things. Byron Pringle broke out a bit after a couple shaky ball games. He did drop a pass down the field from Skylar Thompson that was delivered on target. It was the play he got injured on, but returned. He had 5 receptions for 87 yards and a score.
It can be separated into two halves. The first half was with Alex Delton at quarterback and then Skylar Thompson took the reins after Delton was re-injured.
Early on in the first half, Kansas State was creating manageable down and distances. They were balancing the run with the pass very well. We saw a touchdown out of Dalvin Warmack in the ‘Wildcat’ formation, two very good runs from Justin Silmon, and a couple solid ones from Alex Barnes.
Delton also got into a rhythm. He started three for six because his accuracy was not on point to begin the ball game. He threw it behind his wideouts on three separate occasions. The one was a late throw he telegraphed and that should have been intercepted by Texas Tech. Another was a throw to the right flat was caught just short of a first down. An accurate thrower and the receiver has some room to convert the first down. There was also a ball to a wide-open Isaiah Zuber that was thrown behind him.
The other four incompletions from Delton came in the second quarter. Three of them were balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. His size had a lot to do with that. He’s got to move a little bit to create better windows.
But his accuracy drastically improved in the second quarter. It might have been his best quarter of his career thus far. Unfortunately, he got injured. He wasn’t throwing behind his receivers anymore in the second quarter and they were moving the ball through the air. Even the touchdown pass to Dimel that was called back was a beauty. By the way, they had a few scores called back. D.J. Reed took a punt to the house that was called back and Zuber caught a touchdown that was called back because of illegal touching.
But in my opinion, they fell in love with it too much. They got very pass-happy and too QB-centric. Delton finished the half with 20 passes and 10 carries. That’s a lot of load for one guy in one half. He also ended up injured if that tells you anything. It’s even more of a head-scratcher when you consider the contributions and effectiveness of guys like Alex Barnes, Justin Silmon and Dalvin Warmack in the first half. It didn’t have to be the Alex Delton show, especially in the running game.
The second half was Skylar Thompson time. And the third quarter was not pretty. They tallied zero yard of offense on five plays. Now, the defense shoulders some of that blame. Five plays in one quarter isn’t enough by any standard.
Alex Barnes wasn’t lighting the world on fire in this one but it was odd to see him disappear for another long stretch. We actually saw more Dalvin Warmack, and out of the ‘Wildcat’ formation. Barnes was not given a carry in the second or third quarter. There’s little beef with that but I still think the running backs, as a group, should have been more involved during that time period.
For the record, they did go back to the well and got a chunk of yardage from Barnes in the overtime period.
Thompson had three incompletions on seven attempts in the second half. One was the pass where he was running towards the line of scrimmage. I don’t necessarily think that’s a wise play-call for his skill set. One was the dropped deep ball by Pringle where he got hurt it and it was on target. The other was Zuber’s drop near the sideline in the red zone where he would have been outside anyways. Two of his incompletions were not his fault.
But perhaps I’m crazy on the running pass because Skylar Thompson executed it perfectly during the first overtime for a touchdown to Byron Pringle.
A couple of the sacks might have been his fault. He has to be able to get rid of the ball at times or get away. That is my only complaint. It also might be nit-picking. He’s not as effective as Delton or Ertz at escaping trouble, at least not yet.
Simply put though, following a dud of a third quarter from everyone for Kansas State, Thompson was fantastic. He’s accurate, has more zip, and has more ability to make more throws within this offense than any of the other quarterbacks.
He’s not as lethal on the ground. That is fair to say. But he’s not terrible at it. He was relentless on the run during the final drive of regulation where he sliced and diced his way to the one yard line to set up the QB sneaks.
On the same drive, he had two terrific throws and they were both to Dalton Schoen. The out route, which might have been a bit of a pick play, was a heck of a throw. You have to put enough velocity on that ball to get it out there before a defender can recover. That’s a throw that requires the arm strength that Skylar has. If you’re going to miss on the throw, it has to be out front as well. On that throw, if you throw it behind, it’s an interception. There’s more difficulty on that one than meets the eye.
The best throw of the day from Skylar was the long one to Dalton Schoen to get into the red zone. Schoen did extend the play, breaking free for a moment and breaking some tackles. But Thompson layered that ball in there perfectly. He got it over top the linebacker, but in front of the two safeties that were collapsing. It was layered, it was on target, it was catchable, and it was in a bunch of traffic. It was a ball that he literally threw Dalton Schoen open.
I don’t want to overreact, and I don’t think that I am, but with the health of the other quarterbacks, and just the glimpses that Skylar showed and in come-from-behind fashion on the road in the Big 12, I think he should be the starter at quarterback for Kansas State moving forward.
DEFENSE
Well, reports were that Boom Massie would start at defensive end. He did not start. But he did go in rather quickly following the first snaps of the game. It was the first time he received that some kind of extended action. All things considered, I thought he did well. The pass rush was probably an improvement today. It still wasn’t great by any means, and perhaps not even average, but they made the quarterback a bit more uncomfortable than they have all year.
Kyle Ball did not play and was out with an injury. The start went to Tanner Wood and Reggie Walker at defensive end so it was nothing out of the ordinary. I thought today was one of Walker’s better games as well. It doesn’t mean I don’t think he can be better. I still think there’s a lot more we haven’t seen from him that he is more than capable of and I hope to see it before the season is complete.
Let’s also point out the one positive sign. The defense was excellent in the first quarter. They pitched a shut-out and held the Red Raiders to under 60 yards.
To everyone’s delight, I imagine, Kansas State did play a lot of press coverage today on Texas Tech. They pressed the heck out of the Red Raider wideouts all game long. It was fun to watch and it’s also probably why they leaked all over the place in the second half. It’s also why Duke Shelley got his pick-six.
It was the third game in a row where they have surrendered over 400 yards through the air. Part of that is miscommunication, though. There were disagreements in the second half on who was supposed to be where. There’s also some occasions where they get out-schemed and Eli Walker is stuck in man coverage with prolific receiver Keke Coutee. Reed also tended to struggle with the size of Cantrell.
It’s another reason why there’s some value to Denzel Goolsby as a safety, in comparison to Walker. Big 12 offenses like to throw. I know he has his shortcomings as well, there are no perfect players on the K-State defense, but Goolsby is much more serviceable in coverage than Walker at this stage.
The defense does a poor job following up a strong performance from the offense of Kansas State with one of their own.
This game went a lot like the Texas game, which is funny, because both went into overtime. There were a lot of parallels. The Longhorns scored immediately in Austin when K-State jumped out to a 10-0 lead. They did the same thing when the Wildcats went up 17-7. Before you knew it, Texas was up 21-17 and the rest was history.
That happened today. Each time K-State went up 10, the defense allowed a quick score and it made it impossible to sustain any kind of momentum. The offense and defense haven’t clicked at the same time from game to game, but also not even within the game.
And yes, I agree, the one touchdown was cheap. Coutee beat Cre Moore on a fade route, but he did push off. However, let’s not get it twisted. Moore still got beat.
The fourth TD by Tech to go up 28-24 was a cheap one as well. It was the fourth down play where Shimonek shoveled it forward for a score. The play was defended beautifully. K-State sniffed it out. Walker was right there and got to the play. He just didn’t make the play, or finish it. That was disappointing. Hayes won that battle of wits, and Walker did everything right but make the tackle and Shimonek made the play instead.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kansas State always wins the special teams battle. Today was no different. McCrane was perfect again. Pringle had a strong kick return.
D.J. Reed was electric with the ball in his hands as well, of course. He actually just may be one of the best returners I’ve ever seen. Even when he doesn’t return it for a house call, he’s getting a large chunk. He had a punt called back that went for a score and then almost took a few others back as well.
Any compliments you can give Reed at this point in regard to his special teams work is not hyperbole.
OFFENSE
I mean, there were some good things. Byron Pringle broke out a bit after a couple shaky ball games. He did drop a pass down the field from Skylar Thompson that was delivered on target. It was the play he got injured on, but returned. He had 5 receptions for 87 yards and a score.
It can be separated into two halves. The first half was with Alex Delton at quarterback and then Skylar Thompson took the reins after Delton was re-injured.
Early on in the first half, Kansas State was creating manageable down and distances. They were balancing the run with the pass very well. We saw a touchdown out of Dalvin Warmack in the ‘Wildcat’ formation, two very good runs from Justin Silmon, and a couple solid ones from Alex Barnes.
Delton also got into a rhythm. He started three for six because his accuracy was not on point to begin the ball game. He threw it behind his wideouts on three separate occasions. The one was a late throw he telegraphed and that should have been intercepted by Texas Tech. Another was a throw to the right flat was caught just short of a first down. An accurate thrower and the receiver has some room to convert the first down. There was also a ball to a wide-open Isaiah Zuber that was thrown behind him.
The other four incompletions from Delton came in the second quarter. Three of them were balls batted down at the line of scrimmage. His size had a lot to do with that. He’s got to move a little bit to create better windows.
But his accuracy drastically improved in the second quarter. It might have been his best quarter of his career thus far. Unfortunately, he got injured. He wasn’t throwing behind his receivers anymore in the second quarter and they were moving the ball through the air. Even the touchdown pass to Dimel that was called back was a beauty. By the way, they had a few scores called back. D.J. Reed took a punt to the house that was called back and Zuber caught a touchdown that was called back because of illegal touching.
But in my opinion, they fell in love with it too much. They got very pass-happy and too QB-centric. Delton finished the half with 20 passes and 10 carries. That’s a lot of load for one guy in one half. He also ended up injured if that tells you anything. It’s even more of a head-scratcher when you consider the contributions and effectiveness of guys like Alex Barnes, Justin Silmon and Dalvin Warmack in the first half. It didn’t have to be the Alex Delton show, especially in the running game.
The second half was Skylar Thompson time. And the third quarter was not pretty. They tallied zero yard of offense on five plays. Now, the defense shoulders some of that blame. Five plays in one quarter isn’t enough by any standard.
Alex Barnes wasn’t lighting the world on fire in this one but it was odd to see him disappear for another long stretch. We actually saw more Dalvin Warmack, and out of the ‘Wildcat’ formation. Barnes was not given a carry in the second or third quarter. There’s little beef with that but I still think the running backs, as a group, should have been more involved during that time period.
For the record, they did go back to the well and got a chunk of yardage from Barnes in the overtime period.
Thompson had three incompletions on seven attempts in the second half. One was the pass where he was running towards the line of scrimmage. I don’t necessarily think that’s a wise play-call for his skill set. One was the dropped deep ball by Pringle where he got hurt it and it was on target. The other was Zuber’s drop near the sideline in the red zone where he would have been outside anyways. Two of his incompletions were not his fault.
But perhaps I’m crazy on the running pass because Skylar Thompson executed it perfectly during the first overtime for a touchdown to Byron Pringle.
A couple of the sacks might have been his fault. He has to be able to get rid of the ball at times or get away. That is my only complaint. It also might be nit-picking. He’s not as effective as Delton or Ertz at escaping trouble, at least not yet.
Simply put though, following a dud of a third quarter from everyone for Kansas State, Thompson was fantastic. He’s accurate, has more zip, and has more ability to make more throws within this offense than any of the other quarterbacks.
He’s not as lethal on the ground. That is fair to say. But he’s not terrible at it. He was relentless on the run during the final drive of regulation where he sliced and diced his way to the one yard line to set up the QB sneaks.
On the same drive, he had two terrific throws and they were both to Dalton Schoen. The out route, which might have been a bit of a pick play, was a heck of a throw. You have to put enough velocity on that ball to get it out there before a defender can recover. That’s a throw that requires the arm strength that Skylar has. If you’re going to miss on the throw, it has to be out front as well. On that throw, if you throw it behind, it’s an interception. There’s more difficulty on that one than meets the eye.
The best throw of the day from Skylar was the long one to Dalton Schoen to get into the red zone. Schoen did extend the play, breaking free for a moment and breaking some tackles. But Thompson layered that ball in there perfectly. He got it over top the linebacker, but in front of the two safeties that were collapsing. It was layered, it was on target, it was catchable, and it was in a bunch of traffic. It was a ball that he literally threw Dalton Schoen open.
I don’t want to overreact, and I don’t think that I am, but with the health of the other quarterbacks, and just the glimpses that Skylar showed and in come-from-behind fashion on the road in the Big 12, I think he should be the starter at quarterback for Kansas State moving forward.
DEFENSE
Well, reports were that Boom Massie would start at defensive end. He did not start. But he did go in rather quickly following the first snaps of the game. It was the first time he received that some kind of extended action. All things considered, I thought he did well. The pass rush was probably an improvement today. It still wasn’t great by any means, and perhaps not even average, but they made the quarterback a bit more uncomfortable than they have all year.
Kyle Ball did not play and was out with an injury. The start went to Tanner Wood and Reggie Walker at defensive end so it was nothing out of the ordinary. I thought today was one of Walker’s better games as well. It doesn’t mean I don’t think he can be better. I still think there’s a lot more we haven’t seen from him that he is more than capable of and I hope to see it before the season is complete.
Let’s also point out the one positive sign. The defense was excellent in the first quarter. They pitched a shut-out and held the Red Raiders to under 60 yards.
To everyone’s delight, I imagine, Kansas State did play a lot of press coverage today on Texas Tech. They pressed the heck out of the Red Raider wideouts all game long. It was fun to watch and it’s also probably why they leaked all over the place in the second half. It’s also why Duke Shelley got his pick-six.
It was the third game in a row where they have surrendered over 400 yards through the air. Part of that is miscommunication, though. There were disagreements in the second half on who was supposed to be where. There’s also some occasions where they get out-schemed and Eli Walker is stuck in man coverage with prolific receiver Keke Coutee. Reed also tended to struggle with the size of Cantrell.
It’s another reason why there’s some value to Denzel Goolsby as a safety, in comparison to Walker. Big 12 offenses like to throw. I know he has his shortcomings as well, there are no perfect players on the K-State defense, but Goolsby is much more serviceable in coverage than Walker at this stage.
The defense does a poor job following up a strong performance from the offense of Kansas State with one of their own.
This game went a lot like the Texas game, which is funny, because both went into overtime. There were a lot of parallels. The Longhorns scored immediately in Austin when K-State jumped out to a 10-0 lead. They did the same thing when the Wildcats went up 17-7. Before you knew it, Texas was up 21-17 and the rest was history.
That happened today. Each time K-State went up 10, the defense allowed a quick score and it made it impossible to sustain any kind of momentum. The offense and defense haven’t clicked at the same time from game to game, but also not even within the game.
And yes, I agree, the one touchdown was cheap. Coutee beat Cre Moore on a fade route, but he did push off. However, let’s not get it twisted. Moore still got beat.
The fourth TD by Tech to go up 28-24 was a cheap one as well. It was the fourth down play where Shimonek shoveled it forward for a score. The play was defended beautifully. K-State sniffed it out. Walker was right there and got to the play. He just didn’t make the play, or finish it. That was disappointing. Hayes won that battle of wits, and Walker did everything right but make the tackle and Shimonek made the play instead.
SPECIAL TEAMS
Kansas State always wins the special teams battle. Today was no different. McCrane was perfect again. Pringle had a strong kick return.
D.J. Reed was electric with the ball in his hands as well, of course. He actually just may be one of the best returners I’ve ever seen. Even when he doesn’t return it for a house call, he’s getting a large chunk. He had a punt called back that went for a score and then almost took a few others back as well.
Any compliments you can give Reed at this point in regard to his special teams work is not hyperbole.
