Statistical Preview Of Kansas State

Time to move on and take a look at our next opponent, the Kansas State Wildcats. KSU is currently 3-3 on the season, with wins over Massachusetts, Tennessee Tech, and Iowa State, and losses to Louisiana-Lafayette, UCLA, and Texas Tech. Let's take a look at their stats:

Kansas State averages 22 points per game, while giving up 25.5 points per game. They average 176 yds per game rushing and 181.3 yds per game passing for a total of 357.3 yards per game total offense. They give up an average of 126.3 yds rushing and 219.5 yds per game passing for a total of 345.8 yds per game total defense. KSU is fairly pedestrian on offense, relying on its running attack to move the ball. Their main ballcarrier is Daniel Thomas, who has 127 carries for 578 yds, a healthy 4.6 yards per carry average, and 4 TDs. State likes to run the option, and they'll use Thomas in their option attack. Sixth year senior Grant Gregory seems to be the better runner at QB in their option attack, but KSU has also started Carson Coffman at QB. Coffman is the better passer, Gregory seems to be the better runner. Gregory started in their conference win over Iowa State, and in their loss to Texas Tech. Coffman finished off the loss to Tech. It is anyone's guess who we will see under center on Saturday, since their depth chart lists both of them at QB, but my guess is that Gregory will start. This indecision at QB is one of the reasons for their offense's pedestrian stats, but the pedestrian play at quarterback is part of the reason no permanent decision on a starter has been made. I want State to start Coffman, because I think he is a poor passing QB, so we should be able to take advantage of his deficiencies.

K-State's gamebreaker is WR Brandon Banks, who also returns punts and kicks. Banks has two kickoff returns for TD this season, and with our issues on special teams, particularly on the kickoff team, this is a major concern. We need to keep Terrence Frederick and Trent Hunter focused on blanketing Banks, and that should help us shut down State's passing game. Offensively, State is a lot like we were last season, with some skill positon talent, but their line is better than ours was last year. I think their line might be better than our is this year, although that isn't saying much. We should be able to get some pressure on their QBs and hopefully we'll have some success stopping their running game. They are solid running the ball, but they aren't Oklahoma State.

Defensively, State runs a 4-3 defense, although they used some 3-4 against Texas Tech. Whether that is how Snyder plans to attack all spread offenses he faces or they just tried that out for the Tech game, I don't know. I can see why State would want to use an odd front to confuse blocking assingments up front, and against our o-line, I wouldn't blame them for employing an odd front. It will allow them to get more speed off the edge coming after Jerrod Johnson, and since we haven't shown we can protect him well, it would seem to be an optimal strategy for the Wildcats. Senior Jeff Fitzgerald leads their pass rush from his defensive end spot; he has two sacks, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 17 total tackles on the season. You know how I always say if your secondary leads your team in tackles, that is a bad sign? Well, K-State's leading tackler is FS Emmanuel Lamur, their third leadng tackler is S Tysyn Hartman, and their fourth leading tackler is CB Joshua Moore. That means three of their four leading tacklers are starters in their defensive secondary; that is bad.

Offensively, I think State will be able to run the bal on us, probably to the tune of somewhere around 180-200 yds for the game. I think they'll probably end up with somewhere around 100-120 yds passing, and we'll end up giving up a little over 300 yds total offense for the game. State should be pumped up, especially playing at home after that embarrassment on the road last week, but I still think our offense can outscore their offense, and that will be what decides the game.