Sunday Show: Offense starts slow, but no reason to worry about K-State

welcome into the kso show I am Mason both joined by KSU forfan and Drew Galloway it is a Sunday which means it is the Sunday show as we continue to get through this first full weekend of the college football season couple games left I mean we're in the middle of one as we're recording this and then another one on Monday but for the most part week one is in the books taken care of and a good time to remind everybody that Kate will not start their football season in week one next year they will start it in week zero the Wildcats are headed to Dublin to Ireland next August for the Air Lingus college football classic join your Wildcats by booking your getaway at cats2 ireland.com the best seats and hotels will go fast so secure your package now that's cats the number two ireland.com it is August 23rd week zero the very first college football game of the 2025 season between Kate and Iowa State so catso ireland.com to get hooked up there all right uh let's get into it K State 41 to6 winners over UT Martin to start their season it was a game of mixed results you could make whatever conclusions you wanted from this game and uh certainly the the people in the uh the Kate Facebook groups have done that I'm sure there were a wide range of opinions probably a lot of very overp positive people that say we should never criticize these fine young men and then everybody else that wanted to burn it down and probably say something about guys making money now and how that's a problem so uh where do you guys fall on what took place yesterday against UT Martin drw let you start with just your general takeaways from the game honestly it it was kind of like I expected it to go like I remember uh talking with fan at halftime like there were expected Growing Pains it's the second youngest starting quarterback in kstate history it's a first time offensive play caller it's a pretty solid FCS team I mean you two Martin is still like probably not on that same level as like the North Dakota State South Dakota states of the world but they're fine it's not like they played like a Ferman or like a lynon wood Lynden wood or an real quick I've always had this problem uh whoever making the football schedules why can't they find these teams to come to K State why is it that every time it seems they're coming in here it's like well you know these guys they won their FCS conference last year they're going to be you know preseason top 25 they're G who is making these decisions who is making these idiotic decisions go find lyndenwood or Ferman or whoever that I see get beat by a thousand every single year I I always wonder this or like I mean such an idiotic decision that K State's playing army next year we know how much these coaches hate playing the service acmy because it does zero good for them to play them like you're not recruiting against these guys and they're going to run some archaic form of offense that you're going to have to devote way too much time to trying to learn how to stop for it to never be relevant the rest of the year uh there are many examples of this I just wonder does everybody else feel like this around college football or is this a specific Decay state thing where you just go there are easier opponents to find out there go and get them I I know Bill Snider would I think that there are easier opponents out there obviously but I don't know if I would I don't know if I would feel better or the same if they won 77 nothing yesterday or if they or if they won 41 to6 like they they took care of business and they were growing pains they were to be expected and the defense was really really good and special teams was kind of up and down a little bit but you could see the flashes so I'm not like overly concerned and not like willing to burn it down or be overly positive because it was kind of about what I expected like I still had like 49 to3 was my score prediction like the game kind of went how I anticipated yeah I I would I would say um offense was I I thought there would be growing pains but I don't know if I suspect Ed one score in the first four drives with an interception and two three and outs so that that was probably a little below what I would would hope to start the season it kind of got going eventually and you know finished out the game strong so pleased with that defense was dominant you know really one mistake when when time mattered um and then you know they were able to put the game away you know but you are in a situation where to start the third quarter UT Martin is threatening to make it a one-score game after the fumbled kickoff return but then at the same time we're in garbage time one minute into the fourth quarter as well so you know they they finished out the third quarter they needed the way they needed to to make it work out I I kind of agree with Drew on special teams you're happy tant hit those two field goals we had two punts down inside the 20 um blocked a punt for a score of course we we all remember that play um but then you you you let a punt roll lose probably 20 yards of field position on that so ups and downs good and bad fumble to kickoff a turn you know you never want to see a turnover on a on a special team's play so I would say defense I would grade highly offense um lower more like average and then special teams depending on the unit somewhere in between yeah it's it was just and it was a weird game play like I I will I will give that I mean UT Martin I think Drew said to me at one point in the third quarter uh about how odd it was to see them so persistent that they wanted to run the ball when it was clearly not working and what that led to was UT Martin for a good chunk there uh basically had K State doubled up in possession time for a lot of the game K that that evened out a little bit more later on because Kate Went certainly like the Roberson drive and canth like those were a little bit longer and even some of the the others but um Kate still lost possession 33 to 30 3330 to 2622 uh but dominated everywhere else the other thing that also hurt K State was the fact that um yes in the first half the offense hit it to themselves but then you come out of the gates in the second half and it the fumble by Jace Brown and everything uh so all just it added up to a very very strange uh type of night and I I guess we'll see uh how things look against tan this weekend I'm going uh and and taking a quick little peek at uh how things ended up playing out and I want to compare these to to last year uh and and how things went because it is interesting to think I mean K State beat SEO 45 to nothing last year they beat UT Martin 41 to6 this year UT Martin manhandled SEO last year so UT Martin was the better team uh than than Simo and you would think that they'll probably do it again this year because they're in the same league and and UT Martin brings back a lot on offense and they UT Martin's defense was better than I expected last night I I think K State contributed to some of that um but there was also some some High Praise from Chris kman and others about the UT Martin defense um while I get to to one other thing fan I'll ask you this um when it comes to the way that Conor Riley debuted in his first game as the offensive coordinator fulltime like the job is his not audition down in Orlando what did you make of how he handled that first half of football because I think you know I came up at halftime and I was like where where is the blame pie for the offense right now how much is on Avery how much is on Riley and how much is on these receivers so what did you make of Conor Riley I I thought there was um there's an insistance there there seemed to be an insistance on throwing the ball in the first half I think the play calls were nearly split 1413 or something like that as far as pass calls run calls and I think two of those runs technically were pass calls that turned into scrambles by Avery Johnson so there seemed to be emphasis to to try to establish throwing the ball to not call quarterback runs and to run the ball a couple different ways with with with DJ giddens mainly and then thrown in Dylan Edwards so I I don't know you know obviously they're they're game planning to win the game but I do think there was a little bit of game planning to see what Avery could do as well in the passing game especially and to see what the wide receivers could do in the passing game and I think um when you limit your possessions you only have five possessions in the first half and really eight what I would consider possessions before year in garbage time you don't have a lot of opportunities 40 some plays um so that really limits your your pool of data to really evaluate what you guys what your team did and then the second half I think we just said hey let's let's come and run it I think the the second half splits were like 123 run run before garbage time happened and uh the Run game was successful I mean we ran the ball really well I think that over nine yards per carry and a 70% success rate and yes I am going to call the new Jet Sweep where we push it forward and it's a pass that is a run in my book I'm not call a pass uh the one to the one to Jaden Jackson and I couldn't tell necessarily on the field but I still felt like they probably it was technically a pass but they counted it as a run in the stats yeah yeah and uh and I guess Keegan Johnson's too they did I believe so um yeah so they you know that that's something of note I guess if you're looking for that here's what I'll I'll bring up to take us back to kind of comparing how things went uh last season and how uh you you look at the way these games were handled against Simo and this is actually it lines up pretty perfectly so in both this year's game against UT Martin and last year's game against Simo the starting quarterback got eight series 2023 K State with the star ERS five touchdowns one field goal one pick one punt the difference in there they started first drive touchdown then the second drive people probably remember will aired it out there and it was like That's a classic will Howard throw right there uh that was a pick but then they ripped off four straight touchdown drives to end the first half and so they were in full control of that game at Halftime they came out and in the second half field goal and then punt for will Howard's last drive out there with the starters this year for K State against UT Martin three touchdowns two field goals two punts one pick the difference being that in the first half it was punt touchdown pick punt field goal and then they come out field goal touchdown touchdown so the last four drives they did get points on and I would also argue that you know in terms of I think Riley had some things going on decisionwise that they were like we want to try and do this early in the game Chris kman has shown at times in his career to be a guy that isn't going to really Force an issue and I thought early on in the game last night they probably could have maybe it was even that first drive where they were you know like fourth and three fourth and four around Midfield so what it ended up being something along those lines I mean they were close to Midfield I thought that maybe they should have gone for it yeah it was fourth and four at their own 46 I personally in that type of game I would have gone for it right there because I do think you want to have kind of that momentum and energy and you don't want this narrative to already kind of start to develop and everything U but I understand why he did that because as I laid out and this is why they punted again the other time and why they did some of the things they did they had already seen the UT Martin punter have a bad Punt and then l in the game they blocked a punt and so they were probably sitting there thinking we can win this this field position battle and it was clear early that UT Martin was not going to score on the K State Defense so they they played it smart but ultimately if you want to go and look at what transpired it's not Apples to Apples but for the most part um last year's team and this year's team similar in a lot of areas and and not a lot of deviation from one or the other so it looks it looks feels worse but at the end of the day this year's team with the starters out there uh they went out and they got you 27 points last year's team they got you 38 points um but also this year's team and I said this to Drew people treat it a little bit differently if Kobe mallister just grabs that ball and falls on it at the one yard line and then you have a one play one touchdown drive and so then it's like oh you know two of your first three possessions are touchdown touchdown with the punt versus going punt touchdown interception it's it's kind of a perception thing um and that's not saying that it would be right us talking about it that way but that is just how it would be talked about and it kind of highlights that this is all narrative based at times and it's a good sign that they bounc back in those last four drives the starters got they got their field goals and I think what we saw in the second half is a lot more like what we're going to see from the kstate offense this year um where I think they decided okay we we didn't want to kind of expose everything and we wanted to try and work on what we needed to work on but we do need to go put this game away and not have people lose confidence in us so I think they did a good job uh by the end of it but I don't get the warm and fuzzies from that game and uh it's going to be up to what they do against tane to kind of dictate that moving forward you need a better Avery Johnson performance uh in week two against the Green Wave well I was even going to say that you said similar in a lot of areas to last year and you probably played a better team this year so like that if you add that in too like you should probably feel a little bit better and I even think that the perception changes if Avery Johnson doesn't throw that interception I me that's a drive that casate was driving and then about to approach the Red Zone and then through an interception like you get points on that drive I think that the perception totally changes about how the offense looked too and that's a pass that I don't think that that's a mistake that a Johnson will make again because what we were talking before we started recording DJ gens was never really open and he just kind of forced the issue and if that ball is caught I don't know if DJ gens is like gets up from it because there were three guys surrounding him in that area so I think that all in all like you probably played a better team than you did last year and you have a lot more new pieces on this team than you had last year coming into the season opener so I think that this is kind of what you expected uh the one positive like really positive about uh the Kate offense that I don't think that we have like lined up to talk about the offensive line that's really really good for most of the game yesterday Avery Johnson I think only got hit once uh passing and they were able to run the ball with authority yeah the offensive line was was good yesterday and I I wrote about it in position grades that'll come out either later tonight or tomorrow but the the offensive line you didn't even realized they were out there at no point in the game did I say or think anything to myself about the offensive line there were maybe like one or two snaps from Sam hect where you thought okay you know that that might be something to watch you know get him up a little bit but for the most part like cut the guy some slack it's his first game starting at Center uh in college football it's not it's not a longterm worry there the offensive line was really strong and I think we kind of expected that just because people in inside the kstate community understood that there was depth and talent there uh but it was good for them to go out and do that and confirm what was going to happen now on the flip side of things a group that did not confirm the offseason talking points that were given about them were the receivers uh and yes you can say well Avery played a part of that there was a little bit of shakiness early on there and that that's certainly true like we talked about on the pick that he threw to DJ he had some other guys open there but I I said I I think that's a similar play where he remembers that in the Pop-Tarts Bowl last year he got a touchdown off of checking into something having DJ run a very similar route now I think DJ was more on the inside in this scenario than he was uh in Orlando last year but I think that was just kind of one of those where and that's it's I think it's a Young quarterback mistake where you say this work before I'm going to do this as a as opposed to kind of recognizing the actual situation outside of that though the receivers didn't give K State a whole lot Jace Brown deserves credit for pretty much being Jace Brown and and kind of giving what he expected last year but Keegan Johnson was a no-show very similar to a lot of games last year where you're just kind of like has he even been in the game and then Dante cus didn't even get a catch in the game uh and all the other guys are still kind of working around Trey spy had a nice grab uh and and made some something happen on I think that ends up being the drive that gives up a pick or maybe it led to one of the field goals uh what were your takeaways from the receivers fan yeah I would agree I that there was you know you're still wanting more definitely after that game um you know Jay Brown had the big catch and Spivey was a nice grab I think that was an RPO play even um but then you didn't have much um I you know some of that you know I will give UT Martin a little bit of credit probably their best two defensive players were their Corners uh one of them was maybe FCS All-American this year in the baker kid but um you would you would hope you'd get some more separation in some of those pass plays where where K State didn't have didn't seem to have guys open there's a few times you know I think that we did have some guys open that that Avery might have missed but I think for the most part they were just there were not Guys open for him to find on a lot of those and I you know it's hard to tell watching live or even on the replay what kind of coverages they were in and and how much they were playing coverage and not bringing trying to bring pressure which I don't you know they had a brand pretty much a brand new defensive line this year so I I do think uh part of their game plan was probably to try to take away Avery Johnson running the ball and then to make him throw into Zone coverages and and not guys that were open so there there's a mixed bag but you you you know after the hype of Keegan Johnson you would hope something a big play or two would have come out of that and and we didn't see that really so um hopefully we see more next week and and you know some of that maybe game game plan dictated as well Drew I I'll I'll throw this question to you then so fam brings up you know breaking in a new defensive line for UT Martin probably helping them out with some of the coverage and and taking certain things away it led to K State having a really good night running the football I mean they end 283 yards on the ground 9.1 per carry um and then I mean the starters were were better than that uh when you factor in giddens Edwards and Johnson together do you think that if K State had just pounded the run all night long we're not talking about the sluggish start like we are with you know punt touchdown pick Punt and then field goals because there is a real scenario where K State could have just gone out there and Avery Johnson doesn't have to throw the ball more than like three times in the first four drives of the game you can run him non-stop you can run giddens non-stop you can run Edwards Non-Stop and just keep pounding it because once they once they decided to go to that a little bit more consistently and say okay we they probably realized what was going on with the passing situation and they either saw what they were looking to see or they said hey it we know what they're doing it's this really does us no good to keep trying to throw in these scenarios let's just let it go we saw the Run game take off yeah I I 100% think that if they would have just pounded The Rock From the Start you're probably getting that 63 to6 final and everybody's like but like they they obviously wanted to work on the passing game and they kind of saw what they needed to see and I I think that it was uh Chris kimman afterwards was kind of talking about that UT Martin did a little bit more defensively than they were anticipating going into the game so I wonder if that had to do with some of the coverages that they were in but yeah they I don't think it's crazy to say that if they really wanted to from the jump cas8 probably could have ran for 425 yards at minimum yesterday yeah uh fan only four touches in the first half for Dylan Edwards I came into halftime thinking they should have given him more especially considering you saw the offense it was it was slow and ugly early going there uh what did you make of how they utilized Dylan Edwards and then off the back of that how they still balanced getting DJ gens the opportunity to go out and be DJ giddens which is one of the best backs in the Big 12 yeah that's a it's a good point um you know they got Edwards the ball on the first play of the game on that little kind of Swing pass and then uh his first run didn't come until the third drive and then it was kind of back toback couple back toback very good runs um and then then it was more mixing DJ and and Edwards I I thought it was a kind of what I expected I think he ended up with five rushes and then you know several catches including the touchdown um in the third quarter or beginning the fourth quarter so um it'll be interesting to see how they continue to sprinkle that in you know we I think we saw DJ and Dylan in the back field twice or three times uh during the game and then we saw them both on the field another couple times one of them was Edwards Jet Sweep out of a doubles formation so you you saw those two on the field five or six times and then then you saw Edwards in the back field running the ball another four or five times then you saw him you know a couple other other situations so that is going to be one of the questions is you know he's obviously one of your most dynamic Playmakers and and you saw that you saw the burst you saw that Talent very clear I thought on several of those runs he had and on the touchdown he's wide open so it wasn't really a factor of him making a great burst play but um that'll be interesting to see um the other thing that's interesting that's going to be interesting is I I do think specific typically in the Run game if they had ran designed runs for every Johnson five times in the first half it's 30 points at halftime for K State yeah just because he's that special I understand why they want to protect him but that's going to be the other thing that's going to be the balance I think uh I don't you know I'm I'm assuming this is game plan oriented I don't want to see Avery Johnson run the ball 15 times a game but I think it needs to be five to eight design runs and then two to two to three scrambles maybe um because you saw the one design run on a a read Play Zone Reed to in the first second half was wide open and it was and there and there were several times where we gave the ball in the zone and we had the same blocking scheme on the read where he could have done the same thing and probably got even bigger plays multiple times so that is going to be something I think we do see more as the competition ramps up yeah and that that feels like one too where they early on well the first half I don't think there was a single design run for him and then the they come out in the second half and it felt like okay it's time to you know go for and that's where again I absolutely get what they were trying to do uh in the first half and and maybe it's maybe they they knew what they wanted to do they said maybe we put ourselves in a slightly challenging position but we're comfortable because of this defense and let's not use that in the first like let's really Challen it's it almost feels like and I don't think they met it as disrespect to UT Martin but it feels like they tried playing the first half with their hand tied behind their back just to see how could we do this how will it look how did these guys go about it and what they found out was okay we're not as good with our you know seame as we need to be right now I think I think that's probably the biggest takeaway from that is this team right now is not ready to go to Oklahoma State on a Friday night and win that game if you don't play a b or an a game which is what Kate found out last year and I think I think this team can get there but I think that's where they were whereas in the second half seems like they came out and they said okay we're gonna we're gonna go to a couple more things we're g to do it and that's another one where like just personal preference on my end uh you don't have to do it seven times in the first half but two or three design runs for for Avery Johnson drastically changed the way that thing feels getting Dylan Edwards a few more touches giving DJ giddens the ball on first down as opposed to hey we just had a first down incompletion to start the series uh we're gonna give you just a safe run try and get through a hole in the middle and then it was a two-year gain and then you're you're behind the sticks already um that's where I think that there was a little bit of iffiness and and why maybe I I question a little bit about how Conor riy handled the game but then on the flip side I mean you talked about it with the Dylan Edwards touchdown but he schemed up two wide openen easy touchdowns to Braden Lofton and Dylan Edwards in the game uh and in the second half I mean K State they got it moving pretty well and it's not like again to you know the will Howard pick last year against Simo it was it was a three- yard drive and then a pick K State had driven the ball like 60 yards on the Avery interception so they moved the ball still last night and the yardage totals up to that so um there just it there's a lot of nuance involved uh I think you know you want to see a better performance out of Avery Johnson against tane and I kind of assume that we do get that uh because I think he'll be better prepared for it and also I think you're going to see a degree higher of what the kstate offense will actually look like this year I'm still not certain that they're going to show the full K State offense in that game against tane unless you know it's late third quarter and it's a one- score game or something uh final thing about the offense here and then we'll move on to the the unit that really showed up last night talk defense any concern to make you move off of how you guys felt about Avery Johnson uh and what he can do at least for the early part of this season after seeing his performance last night Drew you can go first no like uh I I think that he is a special talent and is this first start at home it'll be fine I I feel like a lot of it was just kind of nerves yeah I thought he was amped up I thought we saw that on a few of those throws that were a little bit long so um I think that's something I mean that's his second really second game playing quarterback and not just running the ball like he did against Texas Tech last year so um there's there's going to be that that transition to getting the touch and feel of of throwing the ball well that will be a a work in progress as the season goes along and we're going to see some really Dynamic great throws as as the as the year goes on well and and he still he still made some good ones last time you can look at some of the and not necessarily the Deep ball to to Jace Brown because that was still maybe he could have rained it in a little bit tighter and and made it be a touchdown instead of setting the ball up at the one yard line but he had some other throws that you were like okay he's he's got this figured out um I would just maybe suggest find find a way to keep the hands a little bit drier like my hands were sweating last night on the field holding the camera and trying you know having to wipe him and everything so trying to throw a football which by the way I did do twice last night I got two throws in uh to to the ball boys for K State Drew saw one of them uh which I which one of those came on the Deep shot to sephus which we were right there in front of that didn't connect and Drew backed out of the way and I just kind of stood there and took it uh and Drew was like yeah I was getting out of the way of that and uh so we're g to teach him how to stay in the pocket for for some of those but uh Drew knows this I live for being on the field and getting that Rogue ball to bounce my way and let me throw it's like when I was umpiring baseball and it's like you got to throw one back to the uh to the pitcher that was that's what I wanted I'm not giving it to the catcher to throw it back to him I want to be able to throw a ball I'm out here for two hours let me throw a ball to you so I enjoyed get to do that and but I did think at one point I was like man if I if if I don't have good enough grip on this I am slamming Neil Jones from KCTV5 in the side of the head with this football uh and fortunately I didn't so that's good news for myself and for Neil Jones so shout out to him uh let's move on to the defense here number one the secondary I was trying to come up with stuff to talk about for position grades today and normally the corners and safeties they are in a group all of their own um I put them together today because they didn't really have anything to do last night I mean you could maybe I guess nitpick and say that the the secondary could have done a better job of not getting lost and getting burnt on the the big play when Toby aenami didn't wrap up and finish the sack uh but that kind of feels like nitpicking and that's just one play so I don't know that we need to talk about those guys because I don't think it does anything but everybody else that would be grouped into what is traditionally the front seven but we know how football's changed linebackers and defensive line very impressive last night who stood out the most of that group though because Toby and Dez Perell both had big nights and probably were pretty inyour face with their performance but which one do you think had the more significant night is the word I'll use I'm I'm gonna go with Toby just because every time he was on the field which was mainly third Downs he seemed to be getting to the quarterback and at least putting pressure on the quarterback and and making him moving the pocket so I was very I mean you kind of expect it from Des peral because he's been around and he's you know he's a very good player and led the team in tackles and had a one and a half tackles for l Lo so that was impressive but the the sack one and a half sacks although I don't know why it wasn't just two I don't know where the half sack came from for Toby but I was super impressed with his ability to get off the edge and and and wreak havoc in the back field yeah I would also go Toby it it was very close on uh when I do players of the game on who I decided to go with but to had probably more of the splash plays uh because getting to the quarterback is a lot of fun and when you have a celebration like that it's also a lot of fun uh and and like going back and just like thinking of how last night went I can't remember like a UT Martin player like actually blocking Toby like it seemed like he had his way with the tackle and the one time that I think that he might have gotten blocked a little bit was because a tight end came all the way over from the opposite side to uh to block him so he was a he was a force last night and it was fun to see and it was kind of like the the hype that we had kind of heard about the defensive ends going to coming from the coaches all off seon during training camp that you really got to see it and they were very very dominant and and I'm interested to see how it goes for uh this next week because you're probably playing a better offensive line but it it was good to see constant pressure throughout the game because I know that's one thing that Mason was harping on last season about the Kate defensive ends and and obviously Toby played a large role in that but I also want to point out that the very first play of the game Cody stuffel Bean got in the face of k k dent and he had that deep ball down the field which you know the UT Martin receiver had his hands on he pretty much had VJ Payne beat uh but because Dent had steu be in his face he wasn't able to get it 100% the way he needed to and that's what affected that throw in my ey so that was the kind of thing that I thought was noticeable obviously Toby aenami stood out and then in addition to that bryndan mck got back there last night I thought he looked more like the 2022 version than 2023 and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that he had another running mate on the edge uh last night now I will say this Dez Pernell was so good last night that I don't even remember any other linebacker doing anything in the game he pretty much just said I'm going to make plays for the three of us that are out here uh and you go and look at what the final stats ended up being for UT Martin but they end up running the ball for only 36 yards and it seems like there were probably three or four tackles that Dez Pernell made in the game that were either for a loss or stopped like and made it a one or two yard game that if he doesn't make that then UT Martin is probably going for 10 15 yards on on the play and getting the first down that's how good he was last night and while K State needs Edge guys like what Toby atin son me did and I think that long term might be the most impactful desz prell came out last night and played and showed that flash it was like that is an all Big 12 linebacker right there because he made the gamechanging plays that we talked about I think you know going on with Scott Wildcat and asking who who will be the defensive MV this year I think I took mares seagull but like Dez prenell would be the guy that you would kind of profile as being able to go out there and take a game over defensively and he did that last night so that was really really good to see uh and the K State Defense as a whole was was fantastic another player that I'll add that I mean he wasn't a guy that was probably in like that top two but a guy that really kind of flashed to me that uh we talked on the field last night during the third quarter M was Ryan Davis yes Ryan Davis caused some Havoc getting to the quarterback off the edge which was nice to see and it it really looks like that 2023 class of defensive EDS is a legitimate uh Grand Slam that Kate hit because CHD Obi eer also made a really impressive play on a reverse Jordan Allen got some run last night so I I think that the the defensive end I there was not a drop off when other guys have come on the field and I think that keeping those guys fresh will be really big during the season and I I think that they could have a a pretty big day uh Saturday and I I think that I'm fully bought in to the defensive end room yeah they were they they they showed out had a good time uh moving on special teams for Kate we thought maybe there would be a big kind of return to greatness there they did score a special teams touchdown on Saturday it was a blocked punt though which is actually you you know you think about that's been kind of climbing specialty at kstate it feels like they get at least one of those a season and they've been really good at identifying the moments to be aggressive and to not be aggressive on those Tai Bowman got in there and led to Kobe mallister picking it up for the touchdown uh what were your overall takeaways from Special Teams yesterday F because the blocked punt for a touchdown was great Chris Tennant Bang home two 40 plus yarders with ease but everything else to me came across as questionable yeah I I you know you I mentioned before you never want to see a fumble on a kickoff return or a return of any type and that always puts a damper because you basically give up a possession when you do that um I I you know I thought mandon punted the ball okay I think there he had one kind of suspect punt but he averaged 41 and had two inside the 20 so you know he didn't have to punt it a ton but you know that that was nice to see because that's that's a new guy out there tenants two field goals both over 40 yards were were nice um couple decent punt returns nothing spectacular um you know I was I'm always disappointed when a punt returner doesn't field the ball and you lose 20 yards on the bounce and and we saw that the one time with Dylan Edwards so that would be my other knock so the two biggest knocks really are that that fumble in that missed punt return um and I and I do think we there's some some playmaking ability I I thought up until he fumbled Jace Brown was having a very nice kickoff return um but in and the sad thing is he kind of ran into his own guy it wasn't even a force fumble by the defense he ran into his own guy and kind of dropped it so um but I liked his patience and the way he was falling a well set up kickoff return before that that fumble happened so I think overall you know that that leads a damper but and some ways sometimes a fumble like that is kind of fluky unless you see it happen again and so I you know special teams had some good things I think over Ro yeah I'd say that it was a mixed bag like Tennant was good kicking the one kickoff out of bounds it was I forgot about that it was but it was about this close me perfect kick Drew was trying to argue from the back of that Endzone that uh I don't know that he's like I don't know that looked close I was like it was close but I think it probably was out but so it was like this close to a perfect kick and that's just what they were trying to do there well what the difference between a perfect kick and a a almost perfect kick is 15 yards so I it's only 10 now only 10 oh yeah well I guess that's right because we've talked in the past about how it's kind of devalued you should just yeah you should just do it every time yeah that's a good point so that was fine the the long kick return was good until jce Brown fumbled blocking punts is always fun there was no like real stress on any of the kicks either that I I thought at least the Fel goals I I was pretty confident every time that he was out there the other thing that just kind of like occurred to me is you know we're talking about how the game went and everything nobody or like we haven't really mentioned that case loses the turnover battle two nothing and still cruises to a 41 to6 win so when you can play your C+ game lose the turnover battle two to nothing and still win by 35 I I think you're going to be okay well it would have been nice if uh can K Dent could have thrown the ball more than 14 times to at least give seagull a chance to show the world that the hands have been soaked in you know lotion all offseason and they're softer now so that was a little disappointing he did fumble once and UT Martin got it back so like sometimes turnovers can be a little bit fluky like that and that's a shout out to another defensive in and Travis Bates who I thought uh played played a fine game he he helped force that fumble and then he just looked the part out there too uh so that was significant all right moving on now as we hit the home stretch of the show to Lane do up for K State this weekend what do we make of Kate going down to New Orleans to face the Green Wave 11 kick on ESPN uh Tain ended up maybe surprising some people with Tai Thompson not being their starting quarterback and he didn't even appear to be the number two quarterback with how they rotated QBs in their season opening win which by the way uh they did not play anybody special to open up the year they played Southeast Louisiana who would be one of those teams that I'd say Jean get the Lions on the phone and try to find a way to get to come to Manhattan and tan still struggled in the first half yeah yeah uh three and eight last year for Southeast Louisiana if anybody was wondering how uh they played a season ago tan ended up winning 52 to nothing so I'll start by this uh and then you can give us what you got on the Green Wave Am I Wrong to be I mean I obviously we knew tan was not going to be as good as they were in 2022 they weren't going to be as good as they were last year because they lost Willie Fritz they lost Michael at they've they've lost a lot of guys but after the way that they played I'm more certain of K State going down to New Orleans and taking care of business I'm not saying that K State cruises and wins by three touchdowns or whatever but I think K State and K State fans will be comfortable for most of the game here because I just don't think tan is all that good and maybe part of that has to do with the fact that Tai Thompson didn't win the starting quarterback job the guy that transferred from Oregon should have all the talent in the world yeah I I I'm I kind of feel the same way I mean I think K State fans will be L just because of what happened a couple years ago but this is not a completely different team um doesn't have the the depth especially on the defensive side of the ball I think that's you know even though they shut Southeast Louisiana out and handled them um they lost a ton on their defense which has been their strength under Willie Fritz um when he had his really good two years at toan the last couple Seasons um so so I think that's that's a better matchup that K State's not facing some Ved defense and I think our defense should be fine against what was you know they put up some points but what it was 14 nothing right before halftime Southeast Louisiana was driving I mean inside the 20 threw a pick 100 yard interception return for a touchdown to make it 21 nothing at halftime so um it was pretty close although you know our game was too so I'm sure their fans are saying the same thing about us yeah although Tain they got the fortunate part in the first half of Southeast Louisiana missed a field goal and threw a pick six so I mean that's 10 points right there it could have been 14-10 at halftime uh and then they Mena played until they G they got to uh third 42 points and then they sent in the uh the reserves yeah the thing about t Lane though you're going to have to set off the Run Makai Hughes is a stud but I'm not overly concerned about any of the quarterbacks that tane has like I think that they're all pretty good to average and on the outside nobody really like scares me a ton and Mario Williams had a huge game against Southeast Louisiana but I mean that doesn't really scare me a whole a lot with how good K8 secondary is and should be uh but you do worry just because it's the first road game of the season it's Avery Johnson's first road start it's Conor Riley's first time calling plays on the road but I I would say too that I was not overly like impressed with how tane played in a 52 to nothing game like that it it feels very similar to how ky8 played to be completely honest of like they probably played their C+ game and also won 52 to nothing because they played one of the worst FCS teams yeah I it I don't know I just I I feel better about K State going down there and I also this is the way that and maybe this is just having 24 hours to to digest how last night played out now but when you start to to reason through why things may have looked the way they did like Avery Johnson's play should not be excused and just written off like he needs to be better and kind of show that he can be better against tan but we also know that there was a deliberate way that K State was going out to start that game it's pretty evident uh by the way things played out in the first half versus the second half and I think that they'll be ready to like I said earlier go out there and kind of open this thing up a little bit more and be more true to themselves uh when that game kicks off down in New Orleans on Saturday so we'll see how it ends up working out uh any other thoughts on to l before we move on with Big 12 scoreboard and finish out the show uh it's strange to be playing the same coach at two different group of five programs yeah in backtack years yeah yeah very strange second week of the Season too y yeah yeah we'll see uh we'll see what carryover there is from Troy to tane uh this season so we'll get to see that next weekend down at yulman Stadium in New Orleans all right time time to look around the Big 12 and take a peek at everything else that's going on around the league and it got started early last week Thursday and Friday finals right there for you UCF slow start uh but they ended up beating New Hampshire 57 to3 again New Hampshire get your butts to Manhattan Kansas no more of these Missouri Valley Football Conference teams or uh you know Ohio Valley or whatever G give me New Hampshire KU takes down Lenwood 48-3 actually uh they've got to be in some conference nearby give give me whatever they are uh Colorado 3126 win over North Dakota State Utah blew by Southern Utah 49 to nothing and then TCU got a win over the ACC for the Big 12 as the acc's just horrendous start to the college football season continued uh TCU wins 34 to 27 right there from the early games on Thursday and Friday last week what were your guys's most notable takeaways I I was I I thought Colorado would probably win that game but that was a tight game most of the time and and you know I kind of agree with Dy don't play FCS for sure don't play FCS schools with Dakota in their name like don't do it um and and they they definitely pushed him and you know Colorado's defense still looks pretty suspect because I don't think that North Kota State offense is that good and they were able to move the ball pretty well on Colorado so I think that that one probably stands out I TCU going to Stanford is isn't a nice win but it's a seven-point win over a team that's ranked in the 80s and most of the preseason metrics so Stanford is not a good football program right now so tcu's got to be happy they won but that's not a very impressive win over what is not is probably one of the worst Power four teams in the country yeah I probably feel worse about TCU than I did to start the season and I didn't think that they were gonna be any good to begin with but struggling at Sanford in front of 20 fans probably not a good sign for how their season is gonna go yeah could you imagine starting your season on a Friday at Stanford and struggling in front of nobody in the stands who would what Big 12 team would ever do that that wears purple at least Christian mcaffrey was on the other side that's true that is that is one very notable difference about about that situation uh then uh yeah Colorado is another one where they they won but again I kind of feel gross about how they played and they needed some help from uh some suspect officiating on that last Drive uh apparently targeting doesn't exist anymore on that last possession and then uh lyen wood who would win between yeah ly lyndenwood and like Emporia State does Emporia State win that uh probably I mean there's a lot of D2 schools that I think uh Bill Connelly said would uh take care of lynon wood Lyon Lyndon wood was ranked 106 in Bill Connelly's FCS preseason rankings and then uh not good Utah and Southern Utah I didn't even look at anything from that game because there's nothing to take away uh yeah you know Utah kind of got out to a slower start in that one just it wasn't like instant points Rising as our age and is still playing yeah he's a little rickety uh but he eventually got it going he he he ended 10 of 15 for five touchdowns which is funny that half of the the completions game were touchdowns for him uh my favorite play though was watching their one of their running backs try to uh set up a block which I think ended up leading to a big actually a touchdown like their second or third touchdown of the game but instead of just like engaging with the guy he just leaps straight into the air and kind of it was almost like he was trying to give the dude like a flying kick to the face and it worked it was very successful block for him that's all I saw from that game um Utah Utah is fine moving on to the first wave of games on Saturday and the final scores that end up accompanying them uh Oklahoma State the most impressive performance in the Big 12 this weekend even though it was against an FCS opponent it was the reigning FCS national champs who were uh certainly a popular pick to cover but oate came out and blasted them 44 to2 and that's a scenario where Oklahoma state is typically struggles with their non-con schedule uh Penn State took care of West Virginia 34-2 we can all stop acting like West Virginia's good at John CTS Cincinnati 38 to2 win over talson Iowa State boy you you thought K State sucked 41 to6 over uh UT Martin what are they saying in Ames about a 21 to3 win over North Dakota uh Baylor beats Tarlton State 45-3 that's notable just because Baylor came out and took care of business uh even though not a great opponent but that's that's a step in the right direction for Dave Randa and and Company and then maybe the worst weekend out of anybody UNLV beating Houston 27 to7 pretty much tells us that Willie Fritz has an even longer road to get Houston back to a competitive level uh than what I anticipated going into the season so out of the first wave of games there what do you guys make of it uh I would say even though Houston lost that bad I still think that one big 12 team had a worse weekend than they did uh Iowa State barely beating North Dakota like that is pretty uninspiring still not the team that I think did the worst uh Cincinnati only beating talson by 18 also kind of shows where they're at Oklahoma State though very impressive yeah that I'm that Houston score um you know was ranked in the 80s in the preseason metrics by about everybody and I mean Houston was in the 70s and 60s so but I still thought Houston would would with Willie Fritz coaching would would probably win that game I did not think it would be a loss and then to lose really in a game that was never close 27 to7 and it wasn't even that close so um that that one surprised me probably the most of all those early scores um I I'm I was I would say I was not a West Virginia believer but I thought they might compete a little bit better but I I was probably most impressed with Andy Codi bringing that offense making Drew Aller look like a good pen State look like a dynamic offense yeah I I think that's that's probably the better takeaway I I mean West Virginia tried to hang in there for a little bit but then I mean just idiotic breakdown before the half and then they came out I mean after that long weather delay and very uninspired I I would say honestly uh in addition to Oklahoma State having the more impressive weekend um I know who drew is gonna say had the worst weekend in the Big 12 and it's probably a team that won a game because the second wave of games on Saturday night there ends up being a little bit more fast fasination with the results than what would have been anticipated for really a lot of these games I I think K State and UT Martin's maybe the only one that really didn't have anything too notable in but you look Texas Tech needs overtime to beat avalene Christian and they probably get helped out just by the fact that aene Christian said hey we're going to go for the win here BYU blowing out Southern Illinois I don't know that it changes a ton about what we think about BYU but it certainly makes you think a little bit that maybe they'll be closer to like that five to six win range than two to three and then Arizona little shaky on the offensive side 61-39 win or the defensive side 61-39 win over New Mexico and then Arizona State might have had the second best weekend in the Big 12 because for what we're saying about Willie Fritz and Houston being further away them coming out and Blasting Wyoming like that does not mean that Arizona state is going to be a good team this season but it might signal to some look I've been a little bit higher on Arizona State this offseason than all you other haters but they might be closer to getting there quicker than what would have been uh imagined previously because a 48 to7 win against Wyoming is impressive considering their struggles in other games last season so second wave of games what are the big takeways from those and uh fan you can lead us off here Texas Tech um should have lost abene Christian and uh I mean had a had a pretty good lead early in that game and then just let it gave it away and abing Christian had a chance to win at the end of the game and then went for two which I think is probably the right decision to to try to win it at the end um so I I would I still think Houston was a little bit worse but Texas Tech is a close second as far as the worst weekend in the Big 12 in even in a win um um and then the BYU score surprised me I mean Southern Illinois is a top 10 FCS team not probably not quite as good as the Dakota State schools that we saw but uh that's a solid team and to put them away like that whereas Colorado only one by five to a team that's probably pretty similar was a pretty impressive showing by BYU not what I expected yeah I I'm still going to say that Tex Tech had the worst weekend I if if you're allowing 615 yards of offense to aine Christian you might be in trouble the rest of the season uh Arizona State though second most impressive win of the weekend I was one of the haters I was one of the doubters I have them on our our team list and I was one of the the main doubters uh Arizona though if they if they can't fix their defense they could also be in pay on or in trouble the rest of the way uh but mck Millan is an absolute stun and showed that last night yeah it's gonna make things real fascinating for K State and Arizona uh a week from this coming Friday when week three they meet up because you're in such a a unique spot now with how you you assess that game with what we saw k defense perform like but then also some shakiness on K State's offense which you thought hey you're going to need that to be ready for that game especially knowing what Arizona can do scoring points but their defense gives you some pause elsewhere so that'll be a fun match up and a good feeling out process I was also gonna say and two like this week we learned essentially nothing about Arizona since they're playing Northern Arizona like unless they can't stop nor they in Arizona again like we we learn nothing about Arizona from that game either yeah it'll be uh it'll be an interesting one week two just to run over it for people uh in the Big 12 and the way that it looks coming up uh one game on Friday BYU will go to SMU that will be a good kind of test and interesting one for BYU because we just saw SMU go on the road in week zero and struggle with Nevada uh so that might change the calculus on what BYU could do in that game uh in Dallas and then Saturday K State and T Lane go at 11:00 a.m. Arkansas at Oklahoma State at 11: as well pit at Cincinnati Cincinnati won that game at pit last year a conference non-conference game Baylor is at Utah and then the shawk game Iowa State at Iowa at 2:30 on CBS West Virginia will get their first one of the year they play Albany at home UCF another uh sacrificial lamb Sam Houston goes to them and then K Illinois at 6 o'clock and another fascinating Big 12 game Colorado at Nebraska that'll be kind of the The Who's Back bowl and then Houston and Oklahoma uh boy you had a bad week if you were Houston now you get to go to Norman and uh there were some ups and downs for U in their week one game against Temple but they throttled them and that probably won't go very well and then the last handful of games late kicks in the Big 12 7 o'clock TCU they playing CS nobody Long Island who I believe Baylor played last year or two years ago Northern Arizona Arizona at nine Texas Tech on the road in Pullman at Wazoo at nine o'clock and then Arizona State Big 12 after dark is alive and well they kick at 9:30 against Mississippi State uh in sundevil stadium or I guess now they've got a naming right sponsor but it'll always be sundevil Stadium to me so that's what the big 12 looks like this week nonk state to Lane what is your guys's game you're most looking forward to in the Big 12 this weekend Drew you are up first I'm gonna say a game that I was just kind of crapping on the the team that was playing in it Texas Tech and Washington state Washington state scored a lot of points yesterday against Portland State so I mean take that with a little bit of Grandin assault but if Texas Tech can't stop a nose bleed it could be rough and and Washington State's been known for putting up points and I I think that that's kind of a fascinating game because Texas Tech was kind of a team that we all kind of pointed out that their schedule is very fav favorable and could start like that six and0 six and one so if they can't win this game it really changes how I feel about Texas Tech the rest of the way I I think that BYU SMU game was intriguing just to see because BYU is not a team I had much stock in going into the season I had them in my bottom five in the Big 12 they could still end up there but if they go on the road and beat SMU that would be something that I would pay a little more attention to especially after what they did to uh what I think is pretty good Southern Illinois team to to we to start the season yeah uh we all had BYU either 14th or 15th in the Big 12 in our first wave of power rankings this past week but now you think about it uh you you might start to say they're better than Cincinnati they're better than Houston you know are they better than some of these other on here it'll be interesting to follow along with BYU to me there are a lot of kind of just fun matchups I don't know that they're all that any of them are great but they're fun um Iowa State Iowa will certainly be fascinating if Iowa State wins that game I will take them a lot more seriously than you know I already do I I have respect for them I think that they're a top sevenish team in the Big 12 right now but they go and win that game in kennick then I start to think hey maybe they're uh the real deal I think for me the one that I'm most intrigued about is Colorado and Nebraska um I think to it's always fun to watch those teams play again you know when they started playing each other again a couple weeks ago or a couple years ago I really enjoyed that but now you think going into this week uh and what it kind of means Dylan rayola look good in a start for Nebraska and Colorado what ends up happening this is kind of a you know a win-win situation for Kate fans you either get to hate on Deion Sanders in Colorado or you get to hate on Nebraska for uh you know not being back this is a game Nebraska should win considering what we know about both teams but uh that'll be fascinating so I'm very much interested in that and the Big 12 gets uh good billing for some of their games this week uh Oklahoma State and Arkansas go at 11 on ABC Baylor in Utah is 2:30 on Fox Iowa State and Iowa 2:30 on CBS and then Colorado Nebraska 630 on NBC uh so a lot of network TV and nine o'clock Tech Texas Tech in Washington state on Fox so a lot of uh broadcast TV for the Big 12 this week and uh we'll see how it goes but that will do it for us we'll get out of here in the Sunday show and we'll be back tomorrow Dy and I will recap what Chris kman had to say at this second inseason press conference of the Season reflecting a little bit deeper on the win over UT Martin and getting ready to face tan for the second time in three years as the cats look for some Revenge after the 2022 loss so for Drew Galloway and KSU fan I'm Mason V thanks for listening to the kso show we are back again on Monday and always on over at on three in kstate online.com