Oklahoma Sooners
Your name is Bobby. Your visor is stupid. And this week you said that Steve Spurrier taught you more than Snyder. Eternal thumbs down, Bobby.
Players to watch
#1 Tony Jefferson - Safety. Jefferson went down in OU's last game with an ankle injury but Bobby has reported that he'll be available on Saturday. That's mostly bad news for K-State, as he seemed to be involved on every tackle in last year's game. All of our receivers will need to play more aggressively against Jefferson and Klein better be careful. It's been a long time since K-State's had a real safety. Jefferson will make you ache for the lynch mob of the 90's.
#26 Damien Williams - Running back. So far this season, Williams has been winning the headlines over Roy Finch and Dominique Whaley. I don't know if that's just a decoy and they've been saving the others for conference play, but the point here is that OU has some pretty scary depth at running back.
#16 Jaz Reynolds - Wide receiver. Kenny Stills has been named the go-to replacement for Ryan Broyles, but it's Jaz who I remember from last year with his one hand catch in the end zone and subsequent taunting of our section. No one deserves a beat-down from Arthur Brown more than this kid.
Strengths
Offense. That's right. I'm not going to even limit it to pass offense vs. rush offense. The whole offense is a strength. Their offensive stats are terrifying. More than that, their stable of reliable scorers is stupidly excessive. You're not going to wear them down. The only way to slow them down is to limit their chances and hope that they get anxious on the sideline and try to force some throws. They can run, they can pass, they can run the up-tempo, they even have a Klein clone if their Heisman QB decides to take a few downs off. Their weapons are limitless, and even if you beat them, they'll still put 300 yards on you.
Pass defense. They're #3 in the country in pass efficiency defense and #4 in overall pass defense. Ufft. I know that Collin is supposed to throw and have a balanced offense so that we can utilize the running game, but those numbers are not inspiring. Granted, they did come against UTEP and Florida A&M. My biggest fear with the pass defense is interceptions. I'm still not on the Mike Stoops bandwagon, and I think there are certainly holes to exploit, but Collin will need to use everything he learned at the Manning camp to survive this one.
Home field advantage. Much has been written and tweeted and talked about in reference to OU's insane home field advantage under Stoops. 44-2 at home against conference teams. 7-0 at home in Big 12 openers. 14-0 at home against ranked opponents. Beaten those ranked opponents at home by an average of 28 points. Only one ranked team has come within single digits of the Sooners at home. That ranked team? The Snyder Cats of course, in 2001. Statistically, historically, empirically, the Sooners play well at home. Luckily K-State and Snyder know a thing or two about changing football history.
Weaknesses
Offensive line. They're one of the youngest in the Big 12, and it showed in the opener against UTEP. Landry ran for his life most of the game and relied on big plays in the 4th quarter to finally pull away for the victory. I expect the bye week benefited them, but it'll be interesting to see if Meshak, Adam, Justin and Ryan can outlast the newbies.
Special teams. Stoops used to have the best punt blockers in the Big 12. Now they're on the receiving end. You hear that, Vai? Channel your inner Guidry and get those big mitts in the air. Manhattan wants a block party.
They called it a miracle in 1997 and in 2003 and last year when we won 10 games. It's not miraculous to us, but we're happy to have the scheme doctor on our side.
Fun Facts
The last time the Cats beat OU in Norman was 1997. It was the 5th consecutive victory over the Sooners and the last time we played them before Stoops took over. Currently it's the Sooners with 5 consecutive victories over K-State. Tsk, tsk. Unlucky number for you Bobby.
The 1997 victory was a crazy game. It was Bishop's first year and he ended with -2 yards rushing. Despite Michael's unprecedented struggle on the ground, OU couldn't get anything moving on offense and used three different quarterbacks to try and get things moving against that great 90's defense. One of the quarterbacks OU used? Their starting strong safety.
OU doesn't have the same QB problems now, but it is interesting to note that Landry Jones went an entire month last season without a touchdown pass and Bobby relied on Blake Bell to essentially be Collin Klein in the red zone in order for his team to score touchdowns. Landry hasn't looked the same since losing Ryan Broyles and if K-State is successful with the pass rush, expect to see Stoops bring Bell in on short yardage plays. That begs the question - will Snyder follow suit and bring in Sams? How many quarterbacks does it take to win a game in Norman?
Kansas State Wildcats
It's a big, big, big, big, big, big game this week. I've felt like this since Sunday.
Players to watch
#16 Tyler Lockett - Wide receiver. Other than the kick return last week, Tyler had a very quiet game. He had one reception in the game, late in the second half. We saw a little bit of his speed and a small sampling of the plays they've designed for him in the Miami game. Add to that the fact that he's an Oklahoma kid, playing against the big Oklahoma school that didn't try to recruit him, his Dad or his Uncle and you've got the perfect script for a big big day for Tyler.
#7 Collin Klein - QB1. Collin needs to have an amazing day to pull off this victory on the road. He got sacked 9 times in the OU game last year and ended up with a bruised sternum. Even when the game was far out of reach in the second half, he stayed in for every snap. We'll need his leadership, his vision, his positive attitude and his mental toughness to grind out the game plan this week. Collin's better than Landry. But it will be up to Collin to make sure that the rest of the offense is better than OU, all game long. (If you don't normally watch ESPN College Game Day on Saturday mornings, you might want to this week. They're doing a feature on Collin.)
#12 Ty Zimmerman - Safety. Ty's had a relatively quiet season so far. He's struggled a little bit with injuries, but has played in all three games. Last year Landry torched the defense for 505 yards passing on the day. Ty started in that game and will start in this one. It's up to him to lead the secondary and shut down Kenny Stills and Jaz Reynolds. The secondary has the most to prove on this team, and it's now or never.
Strengths
Special teams. It's repetitive because it's true. Special teams continue to be our most competitive advantage. OU had a punt blocked against UTEP and they returned it for their only touchdown of the night. OU is statistically strong in nearly all categories except for punting, where they rank 108th. The more opportunities for special teams to get involved, the better off we'll be.
Time of possession. Did you watch the Stanford/USC game last week? Stanford hung around by playing stifling defense, controlling the time of possession and keeping the score close into the 4th quarter. The Cats have played their best football in the 4th quarter this year. If we can find a way to keep the offense balanced, convert on 3rd and 1, and put together multiple 7 minute touchdown drives, we'll be right where we need to be heading into our favorite quarter.
Running game. The O-Line forgot to tackle last week, and that was unfortunate. However, the best offensive unit in the past three weeks has been the running game. Collin has looked great early and had tremendous success running against OU last year before getting stepped on. Hubert has looked a million times stronger than last year and Pease, well, I have sort of a conspiracy theory about Pease. He didn't play at all last week but was suited up, helmet on, standing on the sideline all game long. Then Coach took the time to mention in a press conference this week that he would be available for the game. Secret weapon? What about Sams? Would Coach dare use him on some sort of trick play? Either way, OU has been weak stopping the run, and Hubert, Wilson, Tannehill and Thompson have all stepped up their blocking abilities. Should be a fun day for the running backs.
Weaknesses
Pass defense. The secondary is the most uninspiring group of players on the field so far this season. Huge holes over the middle all the time, no pass break-ups, 1 interception, soft coverage, sloppy open field tackling. Better believe that the Stoops brothers have been salivating over that tape and will not hesitate to attack Malone, Zimmerman, Milo and Chapman. Malone had 2 interceptions in the OU game last season. He'll need some this year too. Chapman needs to prove himself, Zimmerman needs to lead and Milo has to find his inner Canty.
Passing game. It's improved, but we haven't faced a defense like this yet. Our receivers, for the most part, are undersized and inexperienced. Harper has a tendency to sulk mid-play and forget to knock down the interception. When nervous, they have a history of dropping passes. They take for-e-ver to get open. They have got to be surprising to keep the defense off-balance and the chains moving. They MUST be dangerous to get OU to back off the run.
Trap level
From the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Everyone is amped for this game.
Keys to victory
Good yardage on first down. Stuff the run. Make Landry scramble. We can't have three-and-outs on offense. The offense needs to hold the ball for as long as possible and put together multiple long sustained drives. OU has the defensive depth, so it's not a question of conditioning. It's simple keep away, and it doesn't work if we have 6 snaps in the first quarter like last week. OU has an arsenal of running backs so conditioning isn't an issue there either. We got lucky last year that Whaley broke his ankle on the first play of the game. This year they'll have Whaley, Finch, Williams and the Bell-dozer. Our defense cannot keep up with the schemes if we allow them any sort of offensive balance. Finally, we have to make Landry run. His passing efficiency sinks dramatically when he's on the run and he will do almost anything to avoid the sack. Our defensive ends and schemes have been more sack-happy this year, so this isn't a pipe dream. Hurry Landry and we'll force a few more of those punts they're so bad at.
Goal of the week
#10 - Never Give Up. Never Never Never. The boys gave up last year. They were still in it, but they let down their guard and the defense stopped making plays. We'll get behind in this one and face adversity and it should be a battle for the full 60 minutes. If we're mentally tough and refuse to give up, it should be anyone's game down to the final second. That was the main difference between the OU smackdown and the OSU thriller last year. Don't give up, boys. Never never never.
Prediction
There is absolutely no way to know how this game will go. OU hasn't been tested and hasn't looked consistent. K-State has played three games and yet there's still no telling what their strengths and weaknesses are on any given Saturday. No score will surprise me, so I'll tell you what I'd like to see: K-State wins it, 31-21.
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