Reversing this trend will be important for Kansas State in toss-up game at Baylor
Chris Klieman hung his head on the sideline because he could tell it was going to be a long day for the Wildcats.
The Kansas State football coach did it again three weeks later.
Those instances first occurred earlier this month during a 37-10 loss at West Virginia and then again last week during a 45-0 loss at Iowa State.
The common denominator: slow starts.
K-State only mustered three points in the first quarter against West Virginia and trailed 28-10 at halftime. Three weeks later, it went scoreless against Iowa State and trailed 35-0 at the break. Klieman, a coach who only lost six games during five seasons at North Dakota State and has already won 12 games in Manhattan, has rarely been on the wrong side of blowout losses. But it’s happened twice for him in K-State’s past three games. And he could tell things were going to be ugly right away.
Needless to say, getting off to a faster start will be a top priority for K-State when it plays Baylor at 6 p.m. on Saturday.
“It gives life to a young team,” Klieman said. “When you have a new offensive line, a freshman quarterback, a freshman running back, and some newer kids in the secondary – those are areas where we don’t have a ton of experience – I think it is important to have some confidence built early.
“You saw what it did here at home against Oklahoma State to have a lead and to play with energy and emotion. Then, you see what it does when we don’t have that, whether it is West Virginia or this past weekend at Iowa State ... That was pretty demoralizing.”
Why does it suddenly seem more important than usual for K-State to play from ahead than behind?
To put it simply, things have changed since the Wildcats erased a 21-point deficit and beat Oklahoma 38-35 in late September. Senior quarterback Skylar Thompson has been lost for the season with an injury, and there is now some quarterback uncertainty on the team. Though freshman Will Howard seems like the best option against the Bears, he was benched last week for Nick Ast.
Senior receiver Malik Knowles has also been in and out of the lineup, making it more difficult than ever for K-State to achieve consistency on offense.
Averaging just 322.8 yards per game, this is offense is built to play from ahead.
“It’s extremely helpful because it builds momentum,” defensive back Kiondre Thomas said. “It makes things easier for the offense, but it also makes things easier for us knowing we have a lead. We just have to get back to being disciplined and making the plays that come to us.”
The Wildcats have particularly struggled in the red zone, and that has showed during their current three-game losing streak.
Settling for field goals early on against West Virginia and Oklahoma State set a bad tone for those games. Coming up empty on four-straight plays at the goal line doomed K-State on its opening drive against Iowa State.
“We were moving, we had a great drive going, and we just simply didn’t execute once we got into the low red zone there on Saturday,” tight end Briley Moore said. “That’s something we have to take pride in and scoring preferably touchdowns. We just have to execute. We had the right plays called, but it’s just a couple missed assignments here, a couple of missed assignments there and then all of the sudden you go four and out down there. We have to have a sense of urgency to convert once we get in those situations, especially when the coaches put us in great situations like they did.”
The early moments of K-State’s next game will taken on even more importance because it will be a matchup of struggling teams.
The Bears (1-5) haven’t won since opening the season with a victory over Kansas. The Wildcats (4-4, 4-3 Big 12) haven’t won since they started conference play with four straight triumphs. Confidence may be low on both sides. An early lead could make a huge difference.
This story was originally published November 27, 2020 at 10:46 AM with the headline "Reversing this trend will be important for Kansas State in toss-up game at Baylor."