How Chris Klieman is preparing K-State for loud road games after quiet COVID season
Anyone within a few blocks of Bill Snyder Family Stadium will know when the Kansas State football team is practicing this week.
The sounds of artificial crowd noise, jet engines and even Oklahoma State’s fight song blaring from the venue’s speaker system should be a dead give away.
K-State coach Chris Klieman plans to crank up the decibel levels whenever quarterback Will Howard is on the field with the Wildcats’ offense this week, even when they’re in the huddle between plays. Why? He wants to help them acclimate to the noise they will encounter on Saturday when they face the Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. It will be their first game in front of an unfriendly capacity crowd in nearly two years.
For many young K-State players like running back Deuce Vaughn and Howard, it will be the first time they have ever played in a hostile college football environment.
“It will be different for sure,” Klieman said. “It will be a big challenge. I think the experience of (Howard) having a lot of snaps, no question, helps. But we have to put him in adverse conditions in practice so he gets used to a lot of hand signals or however we’re going to communicate before we snap the football.”
“We’ve got to do a great job so he feels comfortable and the whole line feels comfortable, because it’s a way different atmosphere when you’re doing it in front of 50,000 or 60,000 or 70,000 people and it’s really loud.”
It will be interesting to see how Howard handles his first true road atmosphere.
The sophomore quarterback started four road games last season and only walked away with one victory — a 21-14 win at TCU in which the Wildcats only scored one touchdown on offense. K-State lost the other three games 37-10 at West Virginia, 45-0 at Iowa State and 32-31 at Baylor.
Those games were played in front of small crowds during the coronavirus pandemic. Crowd noise was not a factor. Howard didn’t have to deal with fans taunting him. Things will be different at Oklahoma State.
“We’re going to work crowd noise this week in practice, because we know it is going to be a very hostile and loud environment,” Howard said. “This is my first time being in a game where crowd noise on the road is probably going to be a big impact. It’s going to take some getting used to at first, but I am excited. It’s going to be fun to play in front of a lot of fans at that place. I have heard it’s a really fun place to play.”
Some of his older teammates, including injured quarterback Skylar Thompson, have told Howard what to expect in Stillwater, such as fans pounding paddles against the sideline wall before plays.
The Wildcats have lost six of their past seven games there.
“We’re going to have to be extra locked in on offense,” fullback Jax Dineen said, “with our snap calls and everything else we do, because it’s going to be loud while we are communicating.”
Still, K-State’s veteran players have mostly told Howard to enjoy the experience.
Few things in college sports are more fun than silencing a road crow.
“It’s funny, because I guess people always say (it’s unfair) we open up the Big 12 away,” K-State defensive back Ross Elder said, “but I kind of enjoy it. I love playing away games. Stillwater is always such a loud environment with their paddles, and the fans are all close to you. It’s going to be fun. I think our team is ready for a road environment.”
This story was originally published September 22, 2021 at 10:12 AM with the headline "How Chris Klieman is preparing K-State for loud road games after quiet COVID season."