K-State Q&A: The Stanford debate, Chris Klieman’s first game and our 10th anniversary

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

No need for an elaborate intro this week. Let’s celebrate the start of football season by diving straight into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.

My Twitter mentions have exploded with different opinions on this story about K-State exploring neutral-site options like Arlington, Texas and Kansas City for its 2021 home game against Stanford.

Some, like you, think the game should stay in Manhattan. Others love the idea of kicking off the season with a big game at AT&T Stadium or Arrowhead.

It’s a fascinating topic, and I understand both sides of the argument.

When I first heard the Stanford game might move off campus, I admit I thought it was a bad idea. Why give up a marquee home game like that, especially when K-State already went to Stanford?

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized it’s a unique opportunity for the Wildcats. They have eight home games slated for 2021 and one of the road games is in Lawrence. Local fans will still have easy access to seven home games and one road game if they switch Stanford to a neutral site.

Also: 12 of K-State’s next 13 nonconference games are at home. It’s not like Manhattan is hurting for games.

The Wildcats are playing a power-five opponent outside the Big 12 every year now. Stanford is the most high-profile nonconference opponent on the horizon, but there are other good matchups on the way with Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Vanderbilt and Washington State.

As much as some dislike the idea of giving up a home game, K-State fans will have it pretty good the next few years with or without Stanford coming to town.

It’s also worth mentioning that season ticket sales are on the decline at K-State, and it’s harder than ever to get students to show up for home football games. Maybe something new would spark some interest. The Wildcats haven’t played a neutral-site game in the regular season since 2010.

K-State hosted Mississippi State in a highly anticipated game last season and ESPN put it at 11 a.m. A sellout crowd wasn’t in attendance. The odds of a prime time slot are higher in Arlington or Kansas City.

A seven-figure payday (some neutral sites are paying teams as much as $4.5 million right now) for moving the game would also be something to consider.

One more thing: Alabama starts the season at a neutral site every year and that strategy has worked out for Nick Saban.

Of course, the atmosphere would be much better at home and moving the game to a neutral site probably makes it harder for K-State to win. But you asked me to try and make you feel better about the possibility, so there you go.

For what it’s worth, I think K-State is eyeing AT&T Stadium for the Stanford game. That site is likely to offer the most money and national exposure. No deal is in place or even close to being done at this point, but I get the feeling they want to make it happen.

If they move a game to Arrowhead, the better opponent seems like Missouri. They have a home-and-home series coming up. That would work just as well with both games in KC.

We will almost certainly see Joshua Youngblood at receiver and Joe Ervin at running back.

But I’m not sure what to expect after that. At this time last week, I would have made a case for Clyde Price, Jacardia Wright, Logan Wilson and maybe a few others to see limited action and help on special teams.

Then K-State released its depth chart and there wasn’t a single true freshman listed.

Klieman said earlier this week that he could see as many as six playing against Nicholls. I think it will be a little less than that.

There are three big ones for me.

1. Right Now by Van Halen: That was the song that always played as the team took the field together for warm-ups and did their criss-cross handshake line. Pretty good song, too.

2. Stand Up (for the champions) by Right Said Fred: Because I’ve never heard this song anywhere outside Manhattan.

3. Proud of the House we Built by Brooks and Dunn: If they were playing this song, it was time for me to quit horsin’ around in the back of the press box and get to my seat because they were about to kickoff.

I will say 90 minutes early if you want to experience absolutely everything. That’s when they should start playing new music.

But 30 minutes should be more than enough time to see all the new videos and then the team entrance.

If you like to live dangerously, 15 minutes might be enough time to see the best new gameday features.

You could make an argument for either unit, which makes this a solid question. Well done!

I lean defensive line here.

If Wyatt Hubert, Trey Dishon, Jordan Mittie and Reggie Walker can’t form one of the best defensive lines in the Big 12 (especially with Kyle Ball and Bronson Massie rotating in as reserves) people are going to be mighty disappointed.

There is lots of experience on the offensive line, and starting five seniors up front is the dream of any coach. But this unit lost one player good enough to earn an invite to Kansas City Chiefs training camp (Abdul Beecham) and a second-round pick (Dalton Risner). I’m not expecting a huge drop-off here, but those two will be hard to replace.

K-State’s offensive line should be solid, but I’m not expecting anything special.

Things are different on the other side of the ball. K-State’s defensive line could be really good.

It will probably boost recruiting.

Using lots of players, especially at the skill positions, means K-State will turn to freshmen much more than they have in the past.

If Joshua Youngblood and Joe Ervin see significant action on Saturday that will show recruits that they can come to K-State and play right away.

Klieman and his coaching staff know what they are doing. Using lots of players never seemed to hinder their recruiting at North Dakota State.

Man, it would be so much fun to grab a portal gun and hop into a parallel universe where these games were actually played.

My guess at some scores:

K-State 27, Tennessee 24.

I really think the Wildcats would have won it all in 98 had they gotten past Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game. Escape with victory there, and they would have been the team with nothing to lose against a Tennessee group that had been knocking on the national-championship door for a while. The only thing that gives me pause here is all of K-State’s assistant coaches splitting time between their new jobs in Oklahoma. Is there a parallel universe where that isn’t an issue?

Notre Dame 21, K-State 14.

Both teams trounced Miami and won at Oklahoma in 2012, so this probably would have been an evenly matched game. But the Wildcats couldn’t stay on the same field against Baylor or Oregon late in 2012. It’s hard for me seeing that K-State team winning it all. It’s also hard for me to think this was almost the national championship game. Alabama, Oregon and ineligible Ohio State were way better than both of these teams.

Tough call.

There’s a chance K-State could wear a new helmet this season, as it doesn’t take years of planning to change a sticker.

Klieman has said he might make some minor, yet noticeable, changes to the uniforms this season. Perhaps that’s what he’s talking about.

There’s no chance of beer sales at K-State football games this season, but I think alcohol will be sold at every concession stand in 2020.

Do I roll the dice with the new helmet decal or play it safe with beer sales?

I say helmet decal!

It has been 10 years. Thanks for noticing.

My first game on the K-State beat was the 2009 season-opener against Massachusetts.

That was Bill Snyder’s first game back. Now I get to cover the start of the Chris Klieman era.

Much has changed. Time flies.

It’s hard to narrow down stories for a greatest-hits list, because I enjoyed writing just about all of them.

I would list every single Q&A if I could.

But here are a few that come to mind:

• My trip to Fargo last year to find out what Chris Klieman and North Dakota State were all about.
• Makol Mawien’s journey to K-State, which began in Africa surrounded by war and stops inside refugee camps.
• Watching B.J. Finney go undrafted and then celebrate like a first-rounder when he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
• The time Jacob Pullen showed me his enormous shoe collection. Little did I know I would later write a similar story with K-State recruiting coordinator Taylor Braet.
• And, for the heck of it, my game story from the time Arthur Brown stopped Robert Griffin III and K-State beat Baylor in 2011, the best football game I’ve ever covered.

Thanks so much to everyone for reading over the past 10 years. It’s been a blast.

This story was originally published August 30, 2019 at 10:44 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: The Stanford debate, Chris Klieman’s first game and our 10th anniversary."