‘There are no excuses’: Why K-State’s opening loss was frustrating for Chris Klieman
Two days had passed since Kansas State lost its opening game of the football season against Arkansas State 35-31 when Chris Klieman reflected on the disappointing result Monday, but he will need more time than that to properly shift his focus to the next test on the schedule.
“They were better than us on Saturday,” Klieman said. “I think having a game the week before probably helped them, as well. It doesn’t matter. We need to make plays. The plays I think we should make and the guys think we should make, we weren’t able to make. Their guys did. I credit those guys.”
After watching replays of the game, Klieman’s biggest area of concern for K-State was its running attack.
When you think of the offensive system he used to win multiple FCS championships at North Dakota State and then fused with the Wildcats last season, you think of a steady throng of powerful runs that chew up clock and leave defenses gasping for air.
The opposite unfolded against the Red Wolves.
K-State totaled 91 rushing yards on 39 attempts Saturday. That’s an average of 2.3 yards per rush. Take away a 20-yard run on an end-around sprint from receiver Chabastin Taylor and the numbers look even worse. Freshman running back Deuce Vaughn led the team with 47 rushing yards, which was enough for Klieman to label him “the best player on the field for us.”
That’s a big drop from last season, when K-State averaged 178 rushing yards per game and 4.3 rushing yards per attempt.
Some of those struggles can be explained by injury. The Wildcats lost starting center Noah Johnson in the first quarter and rotated between Ben Adler and Hadyen Gillum the rest of the way, making it difficult to open up running lanes between the tackles. Quarterback Skylar Thompson was also less mobile than usual following a goal-line run in the first half.
Still, K-State could have done more.
“We have to be better, bottom line,” Klieman said. “We were down a couple of starters on the offensive line. It doesn’t matter. The next guy has to be able to step up and perform. We have to sustain blocks better and not just on the offensive line, but on tight ends, fullbacks and receivers. I thought we lost the line of scrimmage and that’s something we pride ourselves on. We have to win the line of scrimmage and we weren’t able to do that on Saturday. There are no excuses. Arkansas State was better than we were up front.”
No excuses. That’s a phrase Klieman has said quite a few times since Saturday.
As strange as it was for K-State to play its first game with nearly two dozen members of the roster watching in matching sweats from the sideline (including key playmakers like Joshua Youngblood and Khalid Duke), Klieman refused to identify that as a factor in the game. Arkansas State was dealing with the same problems.
“We were down a number of guys,” Klieman said, “but so was everybody else in the country. You have to be able to overcome it, and we weren’t able to on Saturday.”
There might be some good news on the way for K-State, though.
Klieman is hopeful that a number of the players that missed the opener will be available when the Wildcats play their next game against Oklahoma on Sept. 26.
“We anticipate getting a number of guys back,” Klieman said. “Now, if that’s five or if that’s a dozen, I’m not sure ... We’re going to practice this week with the guys that we have and hopefully have a little bit better update for you next Monday.”
This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 12:03 PM with the headline "‘There are no excuses’: Why K-State’s opening loss was frustrating for Chris Klieman."