Why a ‘(expletive) load of blitzing’ has helped K-State win close games this season
Kansas football coach Lance Leipold may have perfectly summed up what a team should expect to see from the Kansas State Wildcats when their defense is trying to protect a lead in the fourth quarter of a close game.
In Leipold’s words, K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman likes to do a “(expletive)-load of blitzing” when the game is on the line.
He is not wrong.
Blitzing in the fourth quarter might as well be Klanderman’s calling card. He sent pressure when K-State needed a late stop to beat Tulane 34-27 earlier this season. He blitzed with reckless abandon when K-State had to stop Colorado in a 31-28 win.
And when K-State absolutely had to come up with a stop last week in a 29-27 win over KU, he once again threw caution to the wind ... and blitzed.
“We have guys that can rush the passer at defensive end and on the inside, but it helps those guys when we can bring some interior pressure,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. “Then they’re getting some one-on-ones. I think Coach Klanderman did a really good job this past weekend, and we’ve done it a couple times, of holding something until later and not showing everything you have in the first three quarters.”
No one can argue with the results. K-State’s defense has executed the strategy to perfection.
Here’s a quick rundown of how K-State got pressure on KU quarterback Jalon Daniels as the Jayhawks tried to move into scoring range on their final drive of the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium:
- Play 1 - Austin Moore and VJ Payne blitzed. Devin Neal couldn’t block them both. Daniels threw an incomplete pass.
- Play 2 - Austin Romaine blitzed. Daniels scrambled for a gain of 6 yards.
- Play 3 - Austin Moore, Austin Romaine and VJ Payne blitzed. Daniels threw a 13-yard pass to Lawrence Arnold.
- Play 4 - Austin Moore and VJ Payne blitzed. Daniels threw an incomplete pass.
- Play 5 - Cody Stufflebean applied QB pressure out of a four-man front. Daniels threw to Jared Casey for 3 yards.
- Play 6 - Tobi Osunsanmi applied QB pressure out of a four-man front. Daniels threw an incomplete pass.
- Play 7 - Austin Moore, VY Payne and Desmond Purnell blitzed. Daniels fumbled out of bounds for a turnover on downs.
K-State failed to get much pressure on Daniels during the first three quarters, as he threw for 209 yards and a touchdown out of mostly clean pockets. But that changed when the game was on the line.
Payne, in particular, came flying in to apply pressure on safety blitzes and forced Daniels to scramble on fourth down.
“That was probably one of the best plays I’ve ever seen out of VJ, or anyone, really,” K-State defensive back Colby McCalister said. “The quarterback didn’t see him coming, and that was a play that we needed.”
Klieman tipped his hat to Klanderman for throwing so many different pressures at the Jayhawks on that series.
“We had been blitzing off the strong side the whole game,” Klieman said, “and then we brought it from the weak side to try to maybe confuse or get (Daniels) to turn the protection the other way. And that was what happened for us. We made him get rid of the ball a bit earlier. That’s a credit to our staff and Coach Klanderman for kind of holding that in his pocket.”
It shouldn’t come a surprise if K-State brings even more blitzes the next time it is in a close game.
That is how they close out victories on defense.
This story was originally published October 30, 2024 at 12:40 PM with the headline "Why a ‘(expletive) load of blitzing’ has helped K-State win close games this season."