OU recap - You just got Snydered

  

It feels so good to leave Norman happy.

We're only 4 games in, but this is the most fun I've had in years.  The boys played a near perfect game on Saturday night, and executed in that tough, slow, suffocating way that always ends in victory for K-State and bewildering frustration for the opponent.  I knew when we were able to run on our first possession of the game that it was going to be a good one.  I knew more when we were able to hold OU to a field goal on the second.  These little victories add up to huge points at the end and for the fourth week in a row, K-State scored more points in the 4th quarter than any other.  It may have looked lucky to the casual observer, but K-State fans know that this was Snyder Ball at its finest.

Good

 

It took Harper awhile, but he came through with a huge big-boy catch to keep things going tonight.  Welcome back, Chris.

Special Teams.  The MVP of special teams this week was Ryan Doerr.  All 5 of Ryan's punts pinned OU inside their own 20 yard line.  Given how easily OU was able to move the ball at times, that field position was key to slowing down the game and creating added tension for Landry and his offensive line.  The return unit and kick-off coverage teams took a step back for the first time this season.  The coverage unit allowed a couple of 20+ yard returns and Cantele wasn't consistent with his kick-off placement.  In the return game, Tramaine bobbled a low kick-off and Tyler had a near fatal flaw on a punt return in the 4th quarter.  They'll need to be better moving forward, but today, I'm sure thankful for Doerr.

Better

 

A sign our luck is changing?  A gesture like this would've been instantly flagged for excessive celebration in 2011.

On Friday I said that the offense would need to be better on first down in order to eat up clock and keep OU anxiously thumb-twiddling on the sidelines.  They executed that to perfection.  It wasn't always pretty, and we seemed to live by the 3rd and 6 more than the 3rd and 3, but they found a way to get it done.  No three and outs in the first quarter, solid yardage on run plays, excellent blocking by the offensive line all game long and wonderful patience and decision making by Klein.  The offense struggled at times, but they made huge plays when they needed to, all game long.  In the end, the game came down to the offense, and they did everything they were supposed to.  Bonus?  No turnovers.

Quarterback battle: I said it Friday and it was clear during the game, Klein is better than Jones.  I read a lot of chatter on twitter about running secret trick plays with Sams and needing to get him involved to win.  In the end, we didn't need any trick plays or extra signal callers.  Klein did what he always does, good and bad, and won us the close game by keeping everyone focused, tough and together.  He didn't have a career day passing the football, but he made the throws when he needed to, and you know what?  I think that might have been even more frustrating for OU.  

Tight End play: We bust out the tight-end plays in the 4th quarter and they worked perfectly, because they always work perfectly.  In the first two games, Snyder called a tight-end play exactly once a game.  In the last two games he's bumped it up to twice a game. Slow and steady?  Still no McDonald sighting in the offensive line-up in this game.

Receivers: Harper looked a little out of step early, but had a BIG-TIME catch in the third quarter that pretty much erased every mistake he's made so far this season.  It was a huge, momentum-turning catch that no one else on the team could have made.  You're forgiven, Chris. 

MVP: John Hubert was the MVP of the offense earning 135 yards on the day and a huge touchdown in the 4th quarter.  Hubert personified Goal #10 better than anyone in this game.  In addition to his running, Hubert had an excellent day blocking, including a huge block on Klein's TD run also in the 4th quarter.  Hubert, Lockett, Wilson and Harper all had great individual moments, but their blocking was consistent and effective all game long. 

Best

 Our defensive crew of transfers, Kansas kids and former QBs played together and came up with big plays all day long.  I love this group and they are so exciting to watch. 

It was up to the offense to finish strong, but the defense won this game.  The zone pass coverage is still chock full of holes, but the third down coverage is getting tighter and the pass rush improves every week.  What I like most about this defense is the variety of playmakers and the effort by everyone involved.

Pass rush: Justin Tuggle had the sack in the second quarter that led to the fumble and the touchdown by Jarell Childs.  Jarell - my apologies for the harsh words last week.  You are also forgiven.  Then, during the 2 point conversion play, Tuggle got his big mitt in the way and knocked down the pass, effectively crushing OU's offensive momentum.  I called out Bubba Chapman last week for his strip-happy tackling, but he was back in fine form tonight with some excellent ankle tackles in the open field that prevented huge gains.  He flew around the field this game and refused to be out-muscled by OU's bigger and stronger receivers.  

Improving: My guy Ryan Mueller is starting to see more playing time too, graduating from the 3rd down pass rush package to 2nd down pass coverage and gave amazing effort on each and every down.  He's never the one that gets the solo tackle or the fumble or the sack or the interception, but when those big plays happen, it's usually because Mueller has created some sort of disruption.  On Ty's interception, Landry was backing away from Mueller who had gotten knocked down but was still struggling to get back up and pursue him.  On Tuggle's sack, Landry was initially running away from pressure from Mueller, which led him right back into Tuggle's waiting arms.  He simply creates chaos whenever he's involved.

Run defense: The run defense looked much better than last week and Arthur Brown delivered a monster of a hit to OU freshman receiver Trey Metoyer who looked skittish the rest of the night.  Go back and watch that again.  It's like all the bones in Metoyer's body have turned to dust as he goes straight rag doll in the air.  You do not want to be hit by Arthur Brown.

MVP: The defensive MVP goes to Ty Zimmerman who had the biggest game of his career.  He had a huge tackle for loss in the first quarter that forced OU to kick a field goal, recovered the Blake Bell fumble, broke up a pass in the second quarter, intercepted Landry in the 3rd quarter and provided great pressure and coverage on 3rd down to give the defensive ends plenty of time to rattle Landry. 

Final thoughts

Belldozer - Last year in the OU game, Stoops introduced the Belldozer for the very first time.  And on the first play, Blake Bell dropped the snap.  This year, Stoops ran the Belldozer for the first time this season and Blake Bell dropped the snap.  You wonder why Snyder called a time-out before the Belldozer play?  You think he didn't remember that happening last year?  All I know is, Zimmerman and company seemed to get back there pretty quick, and their sightlines couldn't have been that good...

Third down package - Last year it was the third down pass rush package that was so effective on defense.  This year it appears to be the 5 wide out third down package on offense that is creating so many problems for defenses.  OU called 3 defensive time-outs on this formation and Mike Stoops almost exploded with rage on the third one.  It's a great tool for us, because it forces defenses to spread out and cover the receivers, leaving wide open lanes for Klein to run.  However, it also requires that you have 5 receivers capable of making the big catch, which we saw when back-up back-up Torrell Miller let one bounce off his helmet during a crucial drive in the 3rd quarter.  He'll get the next one, and overall, I'd say it was very effective.

  

Bounce pass of shame.  We'd never get away with something like that.

Controversial calls - We had more penalties this game than our home games, which is expected.  The main thing that we need to improve on is breaking focus when a call doesn't go our way.  On Landry's wacky awful crazy bounce "pass" that resulted in OU keeping the ball, it took our defense more than a couple of plays to get their head back in the game and it cost us the lead.  That takes leadership from the defense, which starts on the line, and needs to feed back to the secondary.  It will continue to happen, especially on the road, and we've got to snap back faster.

This was a great win and makes the bye week that much sweeter.  Enjoy the new lucky #7 ranking, Wildcat fans.  I'll see you October 5th for the KU preview.  Go Cats!