K-State Q&A: Why the Wildcats shouldn’t apologize after crushing LSU at Texas Bowl
How big of a deal was Kansas State’s 42-20 victory over LSU at the Texas Bowl?
That is a popular question this week.
On paper, it was one of the greatest postseason victories in school history. The Wildcats dominated a SEC blue blood that was two years removed from a national championship. The game was so one-sided that it was over early in the third quarter. Receiver Phillip Brooks said he couldn’t remember the last time K-State beat any team that easily. Skylar Thompson won MVP. Collin Klein looked great calling plays. Chris Klieman hoisted his first bowl trophy. There was plenty to celebrate.
But the haters have been quick to point out a few things about the circumstances surrounding the game. LSU was playing with basically half its roster after it lost numerous players to the NFL Draft and the NCAA transfer portal. The Tigers played a wide receiver at quarterback and they were extremely limited in what they could do offensively. Wouldn’t most other bowl teams also have pummeled that zombie version of LSU?
Those are the two sides of this debate.
Reasonable minds can disagree on this subject, but I think K-State fans should be free to enjoy the win as much as they want. Well, at least within reason. I wouldn’t recommend getting a tattoo that reads “2022 Texas Bowl Champions.” But good for you if you purchased a T-shirt with those words on it. I wouldn’t buy billboard space to brag about the victory. But posting about it on social media is totally acceptable.
Yes, LSU was at less than full strength for the Texas Bowl and K-State was expected to win. But the spread was only 10 points. Plenty of other bowl teams lost as double-digit favorites. You have to give the Cats credit for taking care of business.
The Tigers still had lots of talented players on the field. K-State played the Texas Longhorns under similar circumstances in the final game of the regular season. The Longhorns were missing key players with injuries and their starting quarterback had an injured hand, forcing them to play mostly out of a wildcat formation with running back Roschon Johnson taking lots of snaps. What happened? Texas won that game 22-17. This was a big improvement.
Winning football games is never as easy as it might look. K-State took its bowl practices seriously and played at a high level in Houston. The Wildcats made the short-handed Tigers look bad. Could other teams have done the same? Possibly. But no one at K-State needs to apologize for that.
My message to K-State fans: Celebrate the Texas Bowl all you want. Blowout wins over LSU don’t come along often. Might as well enjoy this one.
Offense: A. The Wildcats piled up 442 yards and a season-high 42 points against LSU. It was a nearly flawless effort. It was fun to see Skylar Thompson and Malik Knowles healthy at the same time, while Deuce Vaughn did his thing at running back.
Defense: B+. There wasn’t much to complain about from the defense, but allowing Jontre Kirklin to throw for three touchdowns, including an 81-yard strike on the final play, was a tad disappointing.
Special Teams: B. Not much to report on here. But Knowles could have easily scored a touchdown on his lone kickoff return of the first half, but he cut the wrong way after he broke into the open field.
Coaching: A. Chris Klieman and his staff had the Wildcats ready to play like it was the Rose Bowl instead of the Texas Bowl. That’s not always easy during bowl season.
The K-State football team appears to be in good hands with Klieman.
After three years in Manhattan, Klieman has an overall record of 20-15 with a pair of eight-win seasons and bowl appearances under his belt.
Some were quick to compare him to Ron Prince when the team lost its final five games in 2020, but it’s clear now those problems were due more to injuries and COVID than anything else. He got things turned around in 2021.
He’s the only coach in school history to win a bowl game other than Bill Snyder.
The Wildcats project to be even better next season with Deuce Vaughn, Daniel Green and Felix Anudike-Uzomah returning. Two impact transfers (Adrian Martinez and Branden Jennings) are on the way. The future seems brought.
Are things perfect? No.
Klieman is letting too many in-state recruits go elsewhere and he hasn’t developed a quarterback to replace Skylar Thompson despite having three years to do so. His teams also seem unable to handle success. The Wildcats have been ranked at some point during all three seasons under Klieman, but they quickly dropped out of the national polls all three times and never returned.
Don’t get me wrong. Klieman has done a nice job with this team. But those are a few things he can improve on moving forward.
We don’t need to speculate any more about K-State’s offensive coordinator vacancy. The Wildcats made Collin Klein’s promotion official on Friday.
Klein absolutely crushed his audition at the Texas Bowl and hung a season-high 42 points on LSU. Athletic director Gene Taylor and Klieman both hugged him when the game was over and seemed extremely impressed by his work.
K-State players said they loved his aggressive calls. He also recruited Nebraska transfer Adrian Martinez to take over at quarterback next season.
Some will say K-State’s offense only looked good because it was going against a depleted LSU roster, but I disagree. The Tigers looked very strong on the defensive line and blew up a number of early hand-offs to Vaughn.
Klein made some terrific adjustments and started throwing to the perimeter until LSU backed off the line of scrimmage. Then he went back to Vaughn and he finished with 146 rushing yards and four touchdowns.
Thompson threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns while completing passes to 10 different receivers. The offense was able to move both fast and slow depending on the situation.
It was all a welcome change.
K-State might have one of the best defenses in the Big 12, if not the entire country, next season.
Defensive back is a question mark at the moment, as the Wildcats figure to lose Jahron McPherson, Ross Elder, Russ Yeast and Reggie Stubblefield from their secondary. But they are ready to flex their muscles everywhere else.
Felix Anudike-Uzomah, Eli Huggins, Jaylen Pickle, Khalid Duke, Daniel Green, Julius Brents and Ekow Boye-Doe are all expected back. That gives Joe Klanderman a terrific foundation to build on.
K-State will be stingy up front. It will have its leading tackler back at linebacker. It will have its top two cover men back at corner.
Running the ball against K-State won’t be easy next year. Nor will throwing the ball against some elite pass-rushers.
The Wildcats will be good on defense in 2022. There’s no doubt about that. But they need to add a few more pieces from the transfer portal. Branden Jennings and Josh Hayes are a good start.
It’s a bummer that Landry Weber had to leave the Texas Bowl so early with an injury.
He was on his way to a big game after grabbing two catches for 29 yards on the game’s opening drive. It would have been cool to see the former walk-on go out in a blaze glory.
Sadly, he suffered a significant knee injury and needed help off the sideline. I’m not sure the extent of the injury, but he was on crutches after the game.
The good news: He was in good spirits during the victory celebration and wore bowl championship gear just like everyone else.
Believe it or not, none of K-State’s coaches received a bonus for winning the Texas Bowl.
All of their incentive-based raises are based on regular-season performance. Klieman would have earned an automatic one-year extension at a salary of $4.3 million had the Wildcats beaten Texas and finished the regular season with eight victories.
He got nothing extra for winning the Texas Bowl. His only bonus this season was $50,000 for winning six games and reaching a bowl.
But I doubt he’s disappointed about that. He seemed pumped to win his first bowl game.
1. Keep winning, I guess. Jeff Mittie’s team is 12-2 with wins over Baylor and Oregon. Maybe voters wrote them off after they weren’t competitive against North Carolina State and South Carolina. It’s time to start paying attenion. But K-State is far from the only team crying foul this week. Missouri beat No. 1 South Carolina and wasn’t in the national rankings, either.
2. Yes, Ayoka Lee deserves to be in the discussion for national awards. She’s averaging 23.9 points and 10.6 rebounds. Those are Michael Beasley numbers.
Shane Southwell is a smart coach and a good recruiter. I have always viewed him as a potential future head coach.
The first half of K-State’s men’s basketball loss against Texas made me more confident that it will happen for him some day. He had the Wildcats fired up to play, and they took a 35-29 halftime lead despite missing Kaosi Ezeagu, Davion Bradford, Logan Landers and Markquis Nowell because of COVID.
Not bad.
K-State eventually ran out of gas and lost the game, but the players clearly responded well to Southwell while Bruce Weber and Chris Lowery were home with COVID.
Good for him.
Sadly, I don’t think having any of those centers would have swung the game K-State’s way. Bradford needs to regain his freshman form before I say that. Having big bodies inside obviously would have helped, but the five spot has been the weakest position all season.
A healthy Nowell may have helped K-State beat both Oklahoma and Texas. He was looking like the team’s best player before he was sidelined. I’m just not sure how much of an impact those big men would have made against the Longhorns.
I am expecting Nowell back in the lineup on Saturday against West Virginia. It’s still probably too soon for the centers to play, but they should be back next week.
This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 10:14 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Why the Wildcats shouldn’t apologize after crushing LSU at Texas Bowl."