North Texas recap - That old queasy feeling

  

The Mean Green played meaner than we did on the line all game long.  So much for cupcake stomping.

North Texas came to town and it was as frustrating as I worried it would be.  We forgot to practice, forgot how to stop the run, forgot to communicate on defense, forgot to play gap sound football, forgot, forgot, forgot.  This is K-State football, and this is what happens.  It happens every year, and it's frustrating every year, and every week is a brand new emotional adventure.  So even though I am SO MAD at them for wasting a great opportunity to improve and rotate guys in and keep people healthy and try out new things and improve our stats... I will remember that we won and look at the reasons why we won and be thankful for the win and remember that we could be USC and it could be worse and I'm so sorry Matt Barkley that must be awful. Deep breaths.

The Good

  

Special teams is getting really good at saving us from utter humiliation.  Thanks, guys.  

Special Teams.  Yet again, special teams saved the day.  The first quarter was abysmal, and on the same drive that Arthur Brown went down and we all stopped breathing, North Texas walked into the end zone, untouched.  It's the first time we've been behind all year, and the first time people looked panicked.  Then, on the ensuing kick-off, baby Lockett returns it 96 yards for a score and it's like nothing ever happened.  Unfortunately, the stubborn defense refused to sustain momentum for longer than 2 plays a drive so Vai Lutui had to block a field goal.  From here on out, only kickers with traumatic brain injuries will kick to Lockett, so we're going to need a new get out of jail free card.

Arthur Brown.  Arthur proved that he is an absolute boss, and will lead this defense whether they like it or not.  I hate that Arthur got hurt helping with a tackle that should've easily been managed by one person.  I hate that Arthur had to come back in when he was clearly hurt because Tre couldn't lead the defense.  I hate how when we got a glimpse of Arthur working with the trainers, his head jerked up when the crowd booed about something.  Arthur and Collin are absolutely indispensable to our team and that makes them huge targets for other teams like mercenary OU and WVU.  This family needs to step it up and start acting like one.

Tramaine Thompson.  Tramaine had a huge day and is easily the most consistent receiver we have right now.  Though Harper and Klein are supposedly bffs,  Thompson seems to have the best timing with Klein right now.  He always gets open, he never drops passes and he makes sure he knows where he is and comes down with the big receptions in the end zone.  More than that, he does all the little things that don't get talked about.  On Lockett's kick return, he ran right behind him and sealed off the kicker to make sure he got in the end zone.  On Hubert's big bursts to the outside, he was always the one on the edge, sealing off the corner so Hubert could get out.  For a guy who's 5'8 and 160 lbs, that's pretty impressive.  Keep it up #86. 

Braden Wilson.  Braden had a small moment in the second quarter that I just loved.  After his run on 3rd and 1 ended up a little close for comfort, he immediately went to #89 Zach Nemechek to tell him where he should have been and how that play should have looked.  I like using Braden on those 3rd and short situations because it gives Nemechek valuable time in the ballgame at fullback, takes a hit off Klein and surprises the defense a little bit.  Naturally those look a little uglier right now than when Braden's the one doing the blocking, but this effort to spread the power run game out is really valuable and I like the immediate feedback Braden is giving to his back-up.  Leadership in action.  Braden had a great game, because Braden always has a great game, and I like how happy Coach was on the sideline when Braden got the first down.  Coach likes Braden too, and that's the best endorsement you can get.    

Collin Klein.  Collin looked a little suspect in the first quarter, but he woke up a lot faster than the defense did.  He's making great strides in the passing game and I was impressed with the coaches for calling Harper's number repeatedly after they didn't connect.  They're still a little out of sync, and Klein has over/under thrown Harper more than anyone else this season.  Props to the coaches for sticking with the call until the guys got it right.  His vision on the option is such a pretty thing to watch and Hubert is becoming as good as Wilson blocking for him.  In the 4th quarter, the announcers mentioned that Klein went to Snyder late in the game and said, "Hey Coach, I'm passing the ball quite a bit today."  Snyder just smiled and walked away.  I think we can take that to mean that Klein isn't calling his plays anymore.  

Sacks.  We got three sacks in the first half which is three more than LSU got, so that's good. My guy Ryan Mueller got his first career sack, and it was a high energy never-give-up kind of play, which made my heart happy.  Mueller and Brown and Milo (Gooooolsby) never give up on a play and I like it.  Zimmerman keeps coming up short, but he's trying.  They'll get there. 

Fourth quarter.  This team really knows how to finish.  In the last three games we've scored more points in the fourth than any other quarter.  Now if we could just get the first quarter on board.  And then of course the second and third.  But I'd settle for starting with the first.

Daniel Sams being human.  This is controversial and might be crazy but I'm happy that Sams didn't score a touchdown in this game.  I was already hearing grumbling around me in the second quarter from people wanting Snyder to put Sams in the game.  It made me sort of sadistically happy to see everyone deflate after Sams got 4 yards on his first carry of the ballgame instead of 46.  He's human, Klein is king, everybody just calm down and stop acting #life crazy.  

The Bad

 

It's not a sneaky camera angle.  He really was this untouched heading into the end zone.    

Run defense.  The run defense that looked so strong in the first two games just completely imploded in this one.  It's like they knew the game plan was to stop the run, so they just assumed that they could stop the run and then forgot to work this week on actually stopping the run.  Or maybe the secondary is just really really bad and they had some deal with them to be inefficient so that North Texas wasn't forced to throw the ball.  I don't know.  I'm stooping to conspiracy theories to make sense out of this game.  That's how baffling the drop-off in skill was.  It must be so frustrating for Snyder to have his players continually handle success so poorly.  Don't you want nice things?  

John Hubert.  After two great games, Hubert was due for a step back.  I don't know how much of it was his fault, how much was the play calling and how much was the offensive line that got beat all day long.  But I do know that John fumbled in the red zone, all by his lonesome.  You can't do that, 33.  That'll put you on the bad list every single time, no matter how many touchdowns you get or how many blocks you pick up for Collin.  No more dropsies.

Stupid backwards pitch option play.  Can we please retire this play now?  I don't remember a single time that it worked for more than a 3 yard gain and about half the time it results in a loss.  Does it reset the defense somehow?  I don't get it, but it doesn't seem like we've had the speed to pull it off since the Sproles era. 

Jarell Childs.  Jarell seemed to be on the wrong page all day long.  He looked slow, he looked flat, he looked out of position and he didn't seem to be feeling anything about any of it.  He came in for Arthur in the first and second quarter and was completely out of position during the first North Texas touchdown play.  When he realized what was happening when little Chancellor swept around the side, he took a couple of halfhearted steps and let him go.  No no no no no.  If you're out of position and someone is going to score on you, you better run and make an effort, just in case.  No giving up. 

Allen Chapman.  Bubba seems to have a different idea about tackling than the rest of the team. More than anyone else in this game, he was actively trying to strip the ball instead of just wrapping up and making solid tackles.  No heroics, Bubba.  Just learn to wrap up your guy, and maybe, every once in awhile, be in the right position to knock the ball away.  He did have a few nice open field tackles and at least seemed to swarm toward the ball, unlike Jarell, who seemed to give up on plays before they began.

The Ugly

 

The most heart-stopping image of our season.  

 
Tackling.  What happened to the fundamentals?  Why did guys just bounce off and through our much bigger, stronger, faster, experienced defenders?  Coach said at the end of the game that the team had a bad attitude and I agree.  They didn't take this game seriously and it showed.  Nice primetime debut guys.  You had all those impressive defensive stats wasted in three hours.  Sure, you got the victory, but you also got Arthur hurt.  Sure the offense scored four touchdowns, but you got Finney hurt.  Sure you got another non-offensive touchdown for Lockett, but you've essentially burned that secret weapon.  So many missed opportunities because of sloppy fundamentals.   

First Quarter.  6 snaps, -1 total yardage, no first downs, time of possession 3:05.  Remember how much fun the Miami game was?  Remember how we all cheered and that spurred the defense and you got all those sacks and turnovers and touchdowns?  We'll stay in our seats for a good game just as long as we will for a sloppy one.  No need to make it closer than it should be. 

Line of scrimmage.  We lost the battle at the line all game long.  That's just simple, physical football and we gave it up all day, on both sides of the ball.  No heart, no fear, no urgency, no excitement in this game.  The special teams did their best to fire everyone up, and it would carry over for a couple of plays and then fall flat.  This team has got to learn to play every down and show up for every game.  The fact that three of our four offensive touchdowns had to be reviewed does not bode well.  You've got to do more than just enough.  I suppose, technically, you don't.   But still, if you can, you should. 

Mental toughness.  What frustrated me the most about this game was the lack of focus.  The team would play well for a couple of downs, then make a mistake and completely unravel for three minutes.  They gave up long drives and huge chunks of time.  North Texas beat us in the time of possession battle by almost 15 minutes.  That's insane.  If we had some momentum going and got called for a penalty, the very next play would be a 20 yard gain.  The defense got burned on simple plays all day long.  That inside shovel pass?  We made it look like the sneakiest trick play around.  Their two touchdowns were scored on the exact same play (jet sweep left) and they walked into the end zone untouched both times.  I don't know what the strategy was for the OU game, but it seems like we just gift-wrapped two surefire plays for them.  

Final Thoughts

I'm frustrated by the lack of consistency with this team and a little bit concerned about the leadership.  The secondary doesn't seem to be improving and the defense is wildly inconsistent.  Which team will show up next week to face OU?  Will they be deterred by early mistakes?  Is this a defense that will continue to fight?  Do they just play to the level of the competition?  Have they learned anything from this or are they just happy to get the win?  Are they motivated by team statistics as much as they seem to be about their own?  It wasn't all bad, but it's got to be a whole lot better.  Was that the strategy, Coach?  Play poorly so that OU wouldn't see us coming?  It might have worked.  I have no idea what to expect next week.