08-22-2016, 06:58 AM
Well CTcard, I wouldn't say much of your analysis is a stretch. But I will try to offer tidbits you may have missed. I am a little surprised you said, "Not many Stanford fans are going to have in depth knowledge of the Wildcats." I know you are probably overlooking us, but as your first non-conference power 5 opponent I would have thought a good percentage of your fan base would be learning all they could.
Saying that our team was negatively affected by injuries last year is an understatement. In the very first play our starting QB (Jesse Ertz) who supposedly won the job handily went down with a knee injury. Our extremely promising freshman QB (Alex Delton) got a handful of plays in the second game before also suffering a knee injury. This left us with walk on Joe Hubener, someone who had never started as a QB in his football career previously. The story goes that in high school (a tiny school in a tiny town in KS) he was such a "great athlete" that they needed him at WR instead of QB. So he had came in at QB sometimes, but generally started at WR because they needed him as a down field threat. That being said, Joe was an abysmal passer last year. We are in a conference where defenses are built to stop the pass, but that isn't an excuse.
It could easily be attributed to our lack of playmakers. We had lost the best receiver in K-State history (Tyler Lockett - 1,515 yards in 2014) and his counterpart (Curry Sexton - 1,059 yards in 2014) to graduation. Call it a gap in recruiting. Our more veteran receivers didn't step up. We did have some young talent that saw the field. The word out of training camp is that this could be our most solid receiving corps in a long time. Our younger guys are being bolstered by a junior college transfer Byron Pringle. I've heard nothing but high praise for him.
The other major injury setbacks came on the defensive side. Dante Barnett was on the preseason watch list for the Jim Thorpe award. He was the center point and leader of our defense. In the first half of the first game Barnett went down with a shoulder injury and was done for the year. We also lost our best coverage/hard hitting cornerback in the BIG XII opener to injury. So we went from having a stout group of defensive backs to starting a freshman and someone with a few steps slower 40 time at safety. In a pass happy league this became an issue quickly.
Honestly, injury was our greatest enemy due to a year or so of recruits "not working out." We lacked the depth for a true "next man up" type situation, and it showed. This year however we seem to have gotten to a point where we have true depth. We have four solid running backs (it looks like we will have RB by committee, but I am hoping one has a breakout year), our receiving corps should be solid, and our entire defense has what sounds like good depth.
The unknowns come from the offensive line and presumptive starting QB Jesse Ertz. From the fan appreciation scrimmage a few weeks ago it looks like our only returning starter has moved from center to tackle. The word is that the center replacing him was so close to his level of talent they thought it would be a waste to leave him on the bench. Our entire fanbase is holding its breath on this line. Replacing four veterans is always a scary prospect. But, this is a position we have often excelled at. As a team that enjoys running as much as we do, this could be the difference between a special season and a forgettable one.
As far as Jesse is concerned we have no idea what to expect. He supposedly practices like an allstar, but that doesn't always translate to good play in an actual game. If Joe is called on to play again I won't be ecstatic, but there is some crazy stat out there somewhere about how much better KSU QBs are in their second season under Snyder. We also enjoy running the Wildcat formation which was popularized/perfected at the college level by Bill Snyder. He loves it and Joe, Alex Delton, Charles Jones (Sr. RB), or Byron Pringle will probably be running it this year. So it will be more difficult to stop since they can mostly all throw.
We started BIG XII play losing six games in a row. Four of those six games we were within one possession of winning. Joe went down in the Oklahoma State game and our best backup QB at that point was our #1 receiver. He had played QB in Juco, and wasn't too bad. But it put a receiver who couldn't handle being the main target into the #1 role. Joe came back to start the next game, but wasn't as explosive. We won our last three games to reach bowl eligibility, but drawing Arkansas was unfortunate. Leading up to the bowl game we lost our most disruptive D-lineman (Will Geary) for undisclosed reasons and couldn't get an offense going. We lost a game we could have won had we even been kind of healthy, but our injuries made it a very poor matchup for us.
Snyder loves winning the time of possession battle, so expect some long drawn out drives. We also like to throw our QB at the line with all manners of QB option type plays. When K-State gets that part of the game working it can be very dangerous. Also expect to see our full back to get a lot of action. He is the OC's son, and put up some good stats last year. He won the starting job last year as a freshman over the youngest Gronkowski. We are still not entirely sure if it was nepotism or talent.
KSU is generally always underrated in preseason. The media always think this will be the year that Texas turns it around, and Oklahoma, TCU, and Baylor's recent success keep them pinned to the top. As a long time fan, being an underdog is how we like it. Keeps the opponent looking ahead and our players hungry.
I'm sure I missed some of what you went over, but this post is getting very long. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.
Saying that our team was negatively affected by injuries last year is an understatement. In the very first play our starting QB (Jesse Ertz) who supposedly won the job handily went down with a knee injury. Our extremely promising freshman QB (Alex Delton) got a handful of plays in the second game before also suffering a knee injury. This left us with walk on Joe Hubener, someone who had never started as a QB in his football career previously. The story goes that in high school (a tiny school in a tiny town in KS) he was such a "great athlete" that they needed him at WR instead of QB. So he had came in at QB sometimes, but generally started at WR because they needed him as a down field threat. That being said, Joe was an abysmal passer last year. We are in a conference where defenses are built to stop the pass, but that isn't an excuse.
It could easily be attributed to our lack of playmakers. We had lost the best receiver in K-State history (Tyler Lockett - 1,515 yards in 2014) and his counterpart (Curry Sexton - 1,059 yards in 2014) to graduation. Call it a gap in recruiting. Our more veteran receivers didn't step up. We did have some young talent that saw the field. The word out of training camp is that this could be our most solid receiving corps in a long time. Our younger guys are being bolstered by a junior college transfer Byron Pringle. I've heard nothing but high praise for him.
The other major injury setbacks came on the defensive side. Dante Barnett was on the preseason watch list for the Jim Thorpe award. He was the center point and leader of our defense. In the first half of the first game Barnett went down with a shoulder injury and was done for the year. We also lost our best coverage/hard hitting cornerback in the BIG XII opener to injury. So we went from having a stout group of defensive backs to starting a freshman and someone with a few steps slower 40 time at safety. In a pass happy league this became an issue quickly.
Honestly, injury was our greatest enemy due to a year or so of recruits "not working out." We lacked the depth for a true "next man up" type situation, and it showed. This year however we seem to have gotten to a point where we have true depth. We have four solid running backs (it looks like we will have RB by committee, but I am hoping one has a breakout year), our receiving corps should be solid, and our entire defense has what sounds like good depth.
The unknowns come from the offensive line and presumptive starting QB Jesse Ertz. From the fan appreciation scrimmage a few weeks ago it looks like our only returning starter has moved from center to tackle. The word is that the center replacing him was so close to his level of talent they thought it would be a waste to leave him on the bench. Our entire fanbase is holding its breath on this line. Replacing four veterans is always a scary prospect. But, this is a position we have often excelled at. As a team that enjoys running as much as we do, this could be the difference between a special season and a forgettable one.
As far as Jesse is concerned we have no idea what to expect. He supposedly practices like an allstar, but that doesn't always translate to good play in an actual game. If Joe is called on to play again I won't be ecstatic, but there is some crazy stat out there somewhere about how much better KSU QBs are in their second season under Snyder. We also enjoy running the Wildcat formation which was popularized/perfected at the college level by Bill Snyder. He loves it and Joe, Alex Delton, Charles Jones (Sr. RB), or Byron Pringle will probably be running it this year. So it will be more difficult to stop since they can mostly all throw.
We started BIG XII play losing six games in a row. Four of those six games we were within one possession of winning. Joe went down in the Oklahoma State game and our best backup QB at that point was our #1 receiver. He had played QB in Juco, and wasn't too bad. But it put a receiver who couldn't handle being the main target into the #1 role. Joe came back to start the next game, but wasn't as explosive. We won our last three games to reach bowl eligibility, but drawing Arkansas was unfortunate. Leading up to the bowl game we lost our most disruptive D-lineman (Will Geary) for undisclosed reasons and couldn't get an offense going. We lost a game we could have won had we even been kind of healthy, but our injuries made it a very poor matchup for us.
Snyder loves winning the time of possession battle, so expect some long drawn out drives. We also like to throw our QB at the line with all manners of QB option type plays. When K-State gets that part of the game working it can be very dangerous. Also expect to see our full back to get a lot of action. He is the OC's son, and put up some good stats last year. He won the starting job last year as a freshman over the youngest Gronkowski. We are still not entirely sure if it was nepotism or talent.
KSU is generally always underrated in preseason. The media always think this will be the year that Texas turns it around, and Oklahoma, TCU, and Baylor's recent success keep them pinned to the top. As a long time fan, being an underdog is how we like it. Keeps the opponent looking ahead and our players hungry.
I'm sure I missed some of what you went over, but this post is getting very long. I would be more than happy to answer any questions you might have.