Coordinator Corner: Last week was a stepping stone for Kansas State offense

STEPPING STONE FOR THE KANSAS STATE OFFENSE

Kansas State offensive coordinator Collin Klein called last week a stepping stone and a building block for the offense. He was proud of how they played and how they prepared, but he still feels that they have more in the tank, so to speak.

As good as Adrian Martinez was, Klein believes he can be even better because they can watch the film and still pick out bits and pieces that need corrected. They haven’t been a perfect operation and they are just scratching the surface of what the offense can do.

Part of that is also undergoing a string of bad luck on the offensive line, which it was visible that Klein has felt that for the group. They are working on unlocking a few more contributors that can play and build out the depth a bit more now that they are also without Andrew Leingang.

But the offensive coordinator for K-State also enjoyed how hard they played in Norman, particularly Malik Knowles. He blocked his butt off, was active in the passing game, never took a play for granted and had the long kick return as well.

INSIDE THE TEXAS TECH DEFENSE

Klein couldn’t vocalize enough about the challenges that Texas Tech poses as a defense. They can disrupt the line of scrimmage and cause havoc, interrupt the gaps that the offense creates at a regular clip and they consistently shrink the passing windows for opposing quarterbacks.

The Red Raider defense makes everything difficult for the offense and forces them to earn it, and that is because of their incredible length and size. They are athletic, play hard and have a ton of length and size at all three levels.

It will test Kansas State.

LIMITING THE EXPLOSIVES

Where the K-State defense fell short a week ago was limiting the explosive plays. That was the first time all year that they had been stung by it. Defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman even shared how they were much better in that department against South Dakota, Missouri and Tulane.

With that being said, some of it is just Oklahoma posing a bit more challenges and stressing that side of the ball a bit more, too. Kansas State had their hands full with some of their weapons, such as Dillon Gabriel, Eric Gray, Theo Wease and Marvin Mims.

It was due to a variety of reasons. At times, they just lost their one-on-one battles. Other times the culprit was some errors in miscommunication that caused a few busts that they eventually corrected and didn’t have resurface.

But Texas Tech is an offense predicated on explosive plays as well. The Sooners were a nice rehearsal for what they will see on Saturday, even if it isn’t identical.

MORE ROTATIONS FOR THE K-STATE DEFENSE

What is identical between the offenses in Lubbock and Norman is that they both want to operate at a break-neck pace. Oklahoma rattles off plays at a torrid speed, but Texas Tech might be even faster. They had over 100 plays on offense against both Houston and Texas. For what it is worth, both went into overtime.

Head coach Chris Klieman raved about defensive tackle Uso Seumalo on Tuesday and shared that he believes he’s played well enough to earn more snaps. Klanderman echoed that on Thursday and shared that he is actually one of the more talented players on the team and is improving much more rapidly than they anticipated.

The nose guard rotation will become larger because of that, but both also urged that it is so hard to take Eli Huggins off the field because of how well he is playing. Texas Tech head coach Joey McGuire singled him out as the one player from K-State that keeps him up the most at night.

MATLACK’S AVAILABILITY

Klanderman snuck it in, but it sounds like Kansas State defensive end Nate Matlack is going to give it another go on Saturday when the Wildcats host Texas Tech. He tried gutting it through a lower leg injury versus Oklahoma but couldn’t supply more than three snaps.

There is optimism in the Vanier Family Football Complex that the Olathe product will be able to provide more when he hits the field in Bill Snyder Family Stadium against the Red Raiders.