How Conor Riley is giving Kansas State’s offense a boost by coaching from the sideline
Maybe it’s a coincidence that the Kansas State football team rushed for 281 yards and crushed Cincinnati 41-15 after Conor Riley decided to call plays from the sideline, instead of the press box, for the first time as an offensive coordinator on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Or maybe that move lit a proverbial fire under the Wildcats and helped them play at a high level.
Easton Kilty, a 6-foot-6 senior who plays left tackle for the K-State offensive line, thinks he knows which of those statements is true.
“We needed him on the sideline,” Kilty said of Riley. “Not just to motivate us, but to make sure we’re on the right track every second of the game and to make sure we are doing the right things. Obviously, that’s what you saw on Saturday.”
Where an offensive coordinator chooses to call plays from on a game-to-game basis can be one of the most overrated decisions in all of college football. Some play-callers are most successful when they see the game from high above the field in the press box and communicate with players via headset. Others are at their best when they are on the field and watching the action up close.
Neither position has been proven to be universally superior to the other.
Still, Riley’s move downstairs clearly had a positive effect on the K-State offense.
Not only did the Wildcats average 6.8 yards per play, their third-highest number in a conference game this season, they ended a two-game losing skid in which they struggled mightily to reach the end zone.
Their biggest improvement came when they ran the ball. The Wildcats rushed for 89 yards in a loss at Houston and 154 yards during a setback against Arizona State. But they easily cleared those numbers against Cincinnati as DJ Giddens led all rushers with 143 yards and two touchdowns.
He had plenty of big holes to run through, courtesy of the K-State offensive line. Riley is the man who coaches that unit. His presence on the sideline brought out the best in them.
“Everyone came in with energy,” Kilty said, “and everyone was ready to play. I think that’s why we started so fast.”
Riley is in his first season as a coordinator. Before that, he coached the K-State offensive line and helped the Wildcats pave the way for some exciting offenses.
He chose to move upstairs when he was promoted. But head coach Chris Klieman thought a change of scenery might help everyone.
“The offensive guys — in general on the sideline — were really locked in and in tune with what was going on,” Klieman said. “We had a lot of really good conversations that I think typically take place, but when your OC is down on the field I think it makes it more valuable, especially for somebody like Riley that has so much energy and can get guys going with his juice.”
The plan is for Riley to remain on the sideline when K-State heads to Iowa State for an important Big 12 game on Saturday.
K-State center Sam Hecht is looking forward to another game with his offensive coordinator on the field.
“We definitely like it,” he said. “He gives us that energy with him on the sideline. He’s a heck of a coach.”
This story was originally published November 26, 2024 at 7:00 AM with the headline "How Conor Riley is giving Kansas State’s offense a boost by coaching from the sideline."