K-State's offense overcame a 3 and out to start each half, a key 2nd half turnover, and multiple penalties for false starts and holds to do just enough to win in Lubbock. K-State finished with a respectable 2.88 points per drive and gained 60% of the available yards, both above average marks. Considering the number of self inflicted errors, the offense put together an effective performance, though it didn't hurt that Tech's defense ranks 9th in the league only ahead of KU.
I expected a heavy dose of Deuce Vaughn and Joe Ervin on Saturday, but Tech's defense stepped up to limit K-State's running game. The Cats only averaged 3.1 yards per carry and that was boosted by a pair of scrambles from Skylar Thompson and a couple of jet sweeps from Malik Knowles. Ervin and Vaughn combined for only 43 yards, a 35.3% success rate, and 2.5 yards per carry. Fortunately Skylar Thompson and the passing game stepped up and had a big day. Thompson wasn't perfect, but he made enough throws to complete 80% of his throws and gained 300 yards through the air (the official scorer messed up the yardage on 2 plays), good for over 10 yards per pass attempt (sacks are included in my passing yard above). 11 (!) different Cats caught a pass. Play action pass was big for the Cats, gaining 15 yards per snap and a 75% success rate. Perhaps they are fixing some of the tells I've been suspecting.
This highlights the struggles with the run game. Vaughn did end up with an okay success rate because he was used in a couple of short yardage situations and picked up 1st downs/TDs. We did give it to him once on jet with Ervin in the backfield which was one of his better runs of the day. Thompson was clearly not 100% in the called run game and not close on his 2 option keeps, but he's still effective moving in the pocket and had a couple of nice scrambles on passing plays. Ervin only got 4 carries, but with the lack of run game as the game progressed that's not a big surprise. I don't have it included here, but Knowles had a couple nice runs on jet sweeps as well. The running game definitely needs to be better, but I do like that fact that we have a counter to teams loading the box and Saturday highlighted that.
I expected a heavy dose of Deuce Vaughn and Joe Ervin on Saturday, but Tech's defense stepped up to limit K-State's running game. The Cats only averaged 3.1 yards per carry and that was boosted by a pair of scrambles from Skylar Thompson and a couple of jet sweeps from Malik Knowles. Ervin and Vaughn combined for only 43 yards, a 35.3% success rate, and 2.5 yards per carry. Fortunately Skylar Thompson and the passing game stepped up and had a big day. Thompson wasn't perfect, but he made enough throws to complete 80% of his throws and gained 300 yards through the air (the official scorer messed up the yardage on 2 plays), good for over 10 yards per pass attempt (sacks are included in my passing yard above). 11 (!) different Cats caught a pass. Play action pass was big for the Cats, gaining 15 yards per snap and a 75% success rate. Perhaps they are fixing some of the tells I've been suspecting.
This highlights the struggles with the run game. Vaughn did end up with an okay success rate because he was used in a couple of short yardage situations and picked up 1st downs/TDs. We did give it to him once on jet with Ervin in the backfield which was one of his better runs of the day. Thompson was clearly not 100% in the called run game and not close on his 2 option keeps, but he's still effective moving in the pocket and had a couple of nice scrambles on passing plays. Ervin only got 4 carries, but with the lack of run game as the game progressed that's not a big surprise. I don't have it included here, but Knowles had a couple nice runs on jet sweeps as well. The running game definitely needs to be better, but I do like that fact that we have a counter to teams loading the box and Saturday highlighted that.
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