How a speech from Austin Moore inspired Kansas State to its latest shutout victory
The offensive numbers that Houston put up against Kansas State last week were so minuscule that it felt like the Cougars were playing against a defense that hadn’t experienced a single bad day of practice all season.
K-State held Houston to 95 passing yards, 113 rushing yards and, most importantly, no points during an easy 41-0 victory at Bill Snyder Stadium. It was a flawless performance for the Wildcats.
But it didn’t come easy. Head coach Chris Klieman is quick to point that out. Truth be told, the K-State defense looked so bad during practice last week that he worried about the Cougars lighting up the scoreboard on Saturday.
Those concerns lingered until senior linebacker Austin Moore stepped in after a particularly frustrating practice and gave a fiery speech in front of his teammates.
“I give our older guys credit, man,” Klieman said. “We had a tough practice on Wednesday on defense and Austin Moore grabbed them all and brought them all together. He said, ‘We’ve got to be better.’ We’re holding each other accountable, and that’s player ownership.”
Moore lit a fire under his teammates last week that they carried into the game.
The 6-foot-1 former walk-on from Louisburg has led K-State with 43 tackles, including 2.5 for loss, this season. But he has also led the Wildcats away from the field as one of the loudest and most trusted voices in the locker room.
He has stepped in admirably to fill the void left by injured linebacker Daniel Green.
“We just had a couple practices in a row where it wasn’t super clean,” Moore said. “We had some guys who didn’t know exactly what they were doing. After practice I felt like I needed to talk and say that it’s on the players to get up and meet extra and learn what you’re doing. You have got to come out with a chip on your shoulder, not just Saturday. We had that next practice after I gave that talk and it was a great day. I think that is what led to our success in the Houston game.”
Indeed, you could say his words inspired K-State to make Houston look like an FCS team last week.
“Austin Moore is the standard of our defense,” K-State safety Kobe Savage said. “Just having Austin Moore right there as somebody that is always coming to work, he always inspires me and motivates me every day to go harder and to run to the ball and to finish every rep.”
“He’s the leader of our team,” added K-State defensive end Nate Matlack. “He always has a different mentality and he shares a good message with us every single week.”
K-State football players like to call Moore “The Machine” because he is a fundamentally sound defender who never seems to make a mistake.
By no means is he the most talented or athletic member of the K-State defense, but there is no one else the Wildcats trust more when they need someone to step up and make an important tackle.
When he talks, they listen. And good results (like a 41-0 victory) tend to follow.
This story was originally published November 1, 2023 at 12:14 PM with the headline "How a speech from Austin Moore inspired Kansas State to its latest shutout victory."