Stay Positive?

Heading into halftime with the score tied at zero, a few fans about my age just a few seats down started a chant among their group prodding Bill Snyder to make a change at quarterback. The group was hoping for a glimpse of junior college transfer Justin Tuggle.

A lady a couple of rows ahead of them took exception to this, declaring to the Tuggle Fan Club that this was not the appropriate way to act in this section and they should all be more positive.

Be more positive? Clearly, she had not been watching any of the on-field action.

How could any of us be positive when it took nearly 40 minutes for K-State’s offense to put up any points against Eastern Kentucky? Sure the defense looked much improved, but then again, they were going up against a true freshman quarterback making his first start.

It’s logical to think a change at quarterback for the Wildcats in the first game of the season was over the top. It’s also logical to think that there is a better option out there.

From the looks of it, K-State is right back in the position they were last year in concerns to the quarterback spot.

Who knew a Week 2 bye week would end up being such a good thing? Whether fans are jumping ship too soon remains to been seen, but a good performance against Kent State is a must in order for this team to gain some confidence and momentum before they head to Miami and then into a nine game conference slate.

In other news, the Big 12 is back on the brink of extinction. Texas A&M is leaving and the SEC now appears to be in position to accept them as their 13th member. While this alone is bad enough, the continued silence from the conference office about their supposed “aggressive” search to find new members is once again concerning.

I said earlier that it will only take one more school to express an interest in leaving to bring the conference down for good. That piece now appears to be Oklahoma.

At this point, the regionalizations of conferences are not of concern. K-State and KU no longer need to be joined together either according to some. Traditions and long-time rivalries are no longer important. It’s every man for him self.

So forget what I said about K-State tying itself to the Jayhawks. John Currie needs to work some deals and start finding a new home for the Wildcats, especially if the Big 12 won’t be proactive in finding replacements to help keep the league together.

Friday Musings - Week 1

The fall sports season kicks off for me in earnest tonight with the return of high school football to the state. The crazy hours, the pandemonium spreading throughout the sports office and ingesting more statistical information in one night than anyone should ever be subject to; it’s all back.

Frankly, that’s just fine with me. Quite simply, it means football is back.

Last year K-State entered the season with more questions than answers. Mainly, who’s going to play quarterback? This year things appear to be a little less cloudy, but doesn’t one assume that someone else will make a run at the starting spot and possibly push Collin Klein to the wayside before season’s end?

The Brown Brothers’ return to their home state caused quite a stir on many levels. This year, Wildcat fans will finally get to see the brothers put on the purple and try and live up to the lofty expectations put before them.

Many pundits expect Bryce Brown to have an all-league worthy season. While the potential is there, I’m not sure if his mind is in the right place yet. For K-State to be successful this year, Bryce needs to have a solid season. Klein’s ability to pass the ball is still in question, so another dominant force in the backfield to compliment Klein is a must.

The addition of Arthur Brown to the defense couldn’t have come at a better time. Wait…actually, K-State really could have used him last year. The Wildcat defense can’t get any worse than it was a year ago. The unit had no presence along the line or at the linebacker spot, constantly putting the pressure on the safety’s to pick up the slack. Arthur brings his much-needed skill to the linebacker spot and will, in my opinion, have a bigger impact than his brother this year.

Perhaps the thing that stands out most is the number of Kansas athlete’s on the roster since Bill Snyder’s return. Several local kids were either scared off by Ron Prince’s tactics or just ignored by the coaching staff which did nothing to help the school’s in-state recruiting ties. Snyder has since mended those fences, finding a way to keep Kansas kids in their home state.

A lot of K-State’s success was built on the junior college players Snyder lured into the program. Equally as important though were the in-state athletes who molded the program into a perennial power for more than a decade.

Maybe it’s just the preseason kool-aid talking, but who’s to say Snyder can’t do it again.

The return of football, and maybe this blog…

Due to the overwhelming response from the masses (really it just came up in passing during a conversation with my good buddy Charles William Pyles, Jr.), I have decided to resurrect the blog. Or at least attempt to before high school sports consume my life to the point I’ll find no free time to write. Oh, and don’t get too excited about me dropping your name, Will. Chances are you’re the only one reading this.

It’s that time of year again. The time where your friends begin posting highlight videos of seasons past, effectively rendering yourself worthless at work for the entire week leading up to the season opener.

See: The Birth of K-State Football, Snyderman Returns

No matter if your slate opens up with a game against a top-flight program, or Eastern Kentucky, nothing will hold back the diehards from getting pumped up for another fall season of college football.

My life has been consumed with high school sports since I took my current job more than two years ago. While that’s not a bad thing, I live for college sports and more specifically, following my alma mater every step of the way.

I heard a person say that high school sports are the best because this is the level where the game is truly played from the heart. While I don’t doubt the athletes play with a ton of heart, the disparity from top to bottom in each class (in Kansas at least) is so drastic that a lot of times the matchups throughout the year just don’t carry as much weight as other levels of competition, which is why I tend to lean more towards college and professional sports.

But no matter which level of athletics you prefer, this is the best time of the year. Each football team is an even 0-0 and, theoretically, every squad has just as good a chance as the other to make this season one to remember.

For many Big 12 fans, football can’t get here soon enough. Last summer was consumed with conference realignment talk which resulted in the departure of two schools. Just when you thought the restructuring of the conference was over, Texas A&M made it known within the last month it now wants out of the conference as well. The Aggies want to distance themselves from Texas while still maintaining a relationship in which they can compete against each other, which clearly makes sense.

Purely from a football stance, I can’t understand how A&M thinks moving to the SEC will work out better for them in the short run, or the long run for that matter. The Aggies have won just one bowl game since 1995 and their last conference championship came in 1998. The program has hovered near the top of the league, but hasn’t established itself as a consistent top-tier program like Texas or Oklahoma. To think they would be able to compete with Alabama, LSU, Florida and Auburn on a regular basis is asinine.

If the Aggies do get accepted to join a new league, the Big 12 needs to be more proactive than ever, instead of going into recovery mode as they did with the departure of Nebraska and Colorado. The league can’t cave to accept smaller bids right away from schools such as SMU. Look to the conferences that poached schools from you and make aggressive bids to get programs like Iowa and Arkansas or Arizona and Arizona State to join the league. Why the Big 12 seems to be a place nobody wants to be though is still beyond me. Heck, the league has three teams (including A&M) ranked in the Top 10 going into this year, and the state of Texas is a recruiting hot bed and continually home to a large contingent of the nation’s top athletes.

Still, the stability of the conference is in question and one more team expressing an interest to leave the league, in addition to the Aggies, will send it crumbling down.

Like it or not K-State fans, if it comes to this, you are going to need to rely on help from your nemesis just 80 miles to the east. The Jayhawks continued basketball tradition is enough to get them bids from major conferences such as the Big East. The Wildcats just need to make sure they’re in a position to join their in-state rival should a move be necessary. Or, at the very least, strike a deal with the ACC to step in after Miami’s privileges to ever compete in the league are revoked following their laundry list of shenanigans.

So what have we learned? We’re less than a week away from kickoff and hopefully closer to a season filled with more great storylines on the field, and fewer controversial ones off of it.

For more of my everyday ramblings, follow me on Twitter.

Love/Hate Relationship

Saying I’m a fan of Carson Coffman may not be the best way to put it.

Saying I’m a fan of the way he led the Wildcats down the field on a 67-yard game-winning drive would be accurate.

Still, it seems like there are more questions than answers with the quarterback position, which has been the major topic of discussion despite the Wildcats first 4-0 start since 2003.

There have been several instances on the young season where you just shake your head and honestly wonder how bad Coffman’s back-ups are at manning the starting position that Bill Snyder has given him.

Are Sammuel Lamur and Collin Klein that bad in their pre-snap judgments that Snyder would rather stick with a senior who looks like he’s trying to aim nearly every pass he throws?

Then again, why would you take a quarterback who tossed the perfect ball to Aubrey Quarles for a 58-yard touchdown strike to tie the game.

Better yet, why would you remove a senior quarterback who has more starting experience at the position than anyone else on the team, and one who converted on two third down plays in the closing minutes of the game.

Don’t forget the perfect read he made on second down from the seven yard line, when he didn’t panic and force a pitch to Daniel Thomas and then quickly pump-faked to his receiver on the wing to keep the cornerback at bay before tucking the ball and darting into the endzone for the game-winning score.

Now some of these plays worked based on the perfect timing they were called, but it still takes a knowledgeable athlete to make the right reads for these plays to work.

Through four games, K-State is undefeated. They haven’t been the prettiest of wins, but they are wins none the less and wins that can be directly attributed to the Wildcats coaching staff.

K-State now has a bye week to prepare for the toughest game thus far, and quite possibly the season.

No doubt the Wildcats have plenty of holes to fill before their Oct. 7 matchup with sixth-ranked Nebraska at home. UCF exposed K-State’s running game holding Thomas to just 76 yards, while the Wildcats run defense looked porous allowing 252 yards.

Those are the two biggest concerns heading into this showdown between two unbeatens. Without a productive game from Thomas or a more solid showing from the Wildcats defense, Nebraska will roll through Manhattan for the last time as a Big 12 opponent with ease.

Check out my game-by-game preseason prediction blog

The 2010 Season: My Predictions

The Wildcats are coming off a 6-6 season and looking to get back to a bowl game after missing out in five of the last six years. Here are my predictions on how K-State will fair this season.

Sept. 3 vs. UCLA
Win – The “K-State Family Reunion” is back for the second straight year and all indications are pointing to this game as being a sell-out, or very close to one. UCLA defeated the Cats 23-9 a year ago in Los Angeles, but the Bruins have been decimated by injuries this offseason. The Wildcats have the upper hand with a strong running game and what should be an improved defense from a year ago. Expect a low-scoring affair with a handful of turnovers, but K-State starts the year off on a good note with a win.

Sept. 11 vs. Missouri State
Win – The Wildcats last faced the Bears during the 2007 season when K-State rolled to a 61-10 victory. The matchup will give the Wildcats a chance to fine-tune any issues from the week before and get the team ready for their conference opener in Week 3.

Sept. 18 vs. Iowa State at Arrowhead
Win – Iowa State is no longer a pushover, especially for a K-State squad that has run into its share of issues the past few years. The Wildcats knocked off the Cyclones a year ago in KC, but it took a blocked extra point in the game’s final minute to seal the victory. Iowa State finished the season 7-6 with a bowl victory in Paul Rhodes first season at the helm. Dual-threat quarterback Austen Arnaud is back for his senior season to lead the offense. This should be another tight battle, but an experienced offensive line and balanced running attack gives K-State the edge against relatively inexperienced Cyclone defense.

Sept. 25 vs. Central Florida
Win – This game could present an interesting challenge for the Wildcats. Central Florida went 8-5 last year, losing to Rutgers in the St. Petersburg Bowl. The Knights last game against a Big 12 opponent came in a 35-3 loss to Texas last year in Austin. UCF is coached by veteran George O’Leary who most notably led Georgia Tech from 1994-2001 and is entering his seventh year at UCF. The Knights have matchups against South Dakota, North Carolina State and Buffalo before coming to Manhattan.

Oct. 7 vs. Nebraska
Loss – There will be a ton of hype around this game, especially if the Wildcats enter the Thursday night nationally televised showdown undefeated. The crowd will be electric but the Cornhuskers defense will be too overpowering for an offense without a solid option at quarterback. A relatively low-scoring Nebraska offense might keep this one close, but don’t expect K-State to pull of the miracle upset in their final Big 12 matchup against the “Children of the Corn.”

Oct. 14 at Kansas
Push – Under a new head coach, a young Kansas squad will likely struggle mightily this season. However, the Wildcats have fallen to their in-state rival four of the last six years and have not won in Lawrence since 2002. The Jayhawks inconsistencies at quarterback this year are even more numerous than K-State’s which may give the Cats the upper hand. KU will once again have a good deal of time to prepare for this game with a bye-week leading into the Thursday night matchup.

Oct. 23 at Baylor
Win – The Bears went just 4-8 last season but return many of their top performers from a year ago including highly-touted quarterback Robert Griffin. Baylor has the advantage of playing at home and may catch the Wildcats sleeping after back-to-back rivalry games against Nebraska and KU. K-State gets the advantage of having a few extra days to get prepared for another road game, and should have a more experienced group than Baylor. Griffin keeps the Bears in this one until the final minutes but K-State’s defense will come up big to give K-State a key road win in the run for bowl eligibility.

Oct. 30 vs. Oklahoma State
Win – The Cowboys graduated a majority of their top talents from a year ago and will be going through a rebuilding phase this year in a division loaded with talent. The Pokes enter the K-State game after matchups with Texas Tech and Nebraska. Kansas State should pull out a comfortable win barring a barrage of mistakes in this Homecoming showdown.

Nov. 6 vs. Texas
Loss – The Longhorns reload after their run to the national title game last year. Garrett Gilbert leads the offense this year and will be much more prepared than he was after being thrown into the title game last season. Yes, the Wildcats defeated Texas in each of the last two meetings but the program no longer has the “bold and daring” Ron Prince leading the charge (insert sarcasm). The Longhorns have been the more talented team in each of the past two games, but the Wildcats had several breaks fall their way. K-State may keep this one close, but Texas breaks the streak and comes out on top.

Nov. 13 at Missouri
Loss – Blaine Gabbert is back for his junior season and will lead a talented squad that will give Nebraska their strongest challenge in the North. This year’s team will be stronger and more experienced than last season’s team that finished 8-5 and defeated K-State in Manhattan. Mizzou has just three true home games, with one being against OU, so the Tigers will be fired up for Senior Day against the Cats.

Nov. 20 at Colorado
Push – Dan Hawkins is on his final straw with the Buffaloes and will need a strong season if he wants to tag along for Colorado’s move to the PAC-10. The Wildcats have split the last eight games with the Buffs with each team going 3-1 at home. K-State last defeated CU in Boulder in 2006 and lost by just a point during the 2008 season at Folsom Field. A win for the Cats would go a long way to assuring a bowl game appearance, but the team will need a strong showing in an often tough environment (both physically and mentally) to play.

Nov. 27 at North Texas
Win – A puzzling way to finish the season for sure, matching up against North Texas on the road in the last game of the regular season. K-State last played against the Mean Green in a 45-6 victory during the 2008 season. The Wildcats also defeated UNT 54-7 in the 2005 season. If things get a little bumpy down the stretch, this game should provide the Wildcats with a confidence boost to close the season and as a worst case scenario, ensure bowl eligibility.


*So according to my expert analysis, I have the Cats going 7-3 with a pair of swing games. If the Wildcats split those two games it means an 8-4 season for K-State and a bowl game.

I still think that 8-4 is a little lofty, but on paper eight wins seems doable especially if the Wildcats can develop a balanced passing attack to complement Daniel Thomas and whatever tricks Bill Snyder has up his sleeve.

Predicted best case scenario: K-State wins both swing games and goes 9-3 on the year with losses to Nebraska, Texas and Missouri and earns a solid bowl game berth.

Predicted worst case scenario: K-State drops both swing games and slips in one other game (UCLA, Iowa State or Baylor) and finishes 6-6. Even at .500, this should be enough to get the program back to a bowl game.

Fact Check

As I was browsing through my Sports Illustrated College Football Preview issue, I noticed a small but glaring error...at least to me.

SI picked the Wildcats to finish 8-4 on the season with a 4-4 conference record (that wasn't the error).

The magazine also picked Central Florida, a team K-State plays on Sept. 25, to finish 8-4 overall with a 4-4 conference record.

So apparently the two teams will both finish the non-conference season with 4-o record.

I understand they're probably just making generalizations but a little fact-checking would be nice when it's clear that one of these teams has to lose a non-conference game.

*I know these are a year old, but they should still help you get pumped for Saturday.

Snyderman Returns & Purple, Get Ready to Roll

Another year, another quarterback controversy

Having trouble deciding on starting quarterback is nothing new for Bill Snyder.

Unfortunately in his past three seasons coaching the Wildcats, the indecision and/or inability to find the right signal caller has hurt the program.

A year after winning the Big 12 Championship, the team went 4-7 in 2004 while the offensive unit relied on both Dylan Meier and Allen Webb calling plays.

The next season the Wildcats threw Allan Evridge into the mix; a season in which K-State went 5-6 and missed a bowl for the second straight year.

After a three year break, Snyder returned to the helm and faced the same problem he had in his last two seasons coaching.

Ultimately it came down to a sixth-year player who had never started a game, and the son of a former K-Stater who spent the previous three seasons watching from the sidelines as Josh Freeman anchored the offense.

Carson Coffman got the first crack at it in 2009, going a lackluster 2-2 in four starts, which included a road loss to Louisiana.

In the fifth game of the season, Snyder elected to go with Grant Gregory to lead the team down the stretch. Gregory went 4-4 in his short tenure and put the Wildcats within reach of a North Division title.

K-State faltered in their final two games though, losing to Missouri and Nebraska, and missed out on a bowl for the fifth time in six years after finishing 6-6.

More shocking though is the way Gregory muscled his way through the season. He played with multitude of injuries which included a “torn rotator cuff and torn labrum in his right shoulder, a slightly torn meniscus in his right knee (suffered in the season opener) along with playing his final 7 1/2 games with a dislocated left shoulder,” according to report in fanhouse.com.

And he did all this while junior Carson Coffman watched from the sideline.

So what does this say about Coffman? How bad must he have been last year if he wasn’t better than a guy with two dead arms and bum leg?

This year several indications point towards Coffman as being the starter. That won’t be without controversy though as sophomore Collin Klein is sure to be in the mix. Other options range from junior Sammuel Lamur to freshman Billy Cosh who both participated in this year’s spring game. Cosh though remains a likely candidate to redshirt.

However it plays out, it doesn’t seem likely that just one quarterback will lead the team this year.

If Coffman does indeed get the start in the season opener, he will need a strong showing against UCLA to quiet several of the skeptics.

Of course, this could all be made a lot simpler if K-State just put All-American candidate Daniel Thomas in charge of the offense…just a thought.