Musings: Kansas State becoming complete on offense

SURE BETS FOR KANSAS STATE

1. Toughness: To win back-to-back road trips against Colorado in Boulder and West Virginia in Morgantown, at night, not long after the long trip to Provo where they were blown out by BYU, shows tremendous resolve and mental toughness from Kansas State. There is not many teams that can pull off the back-to-back they just did.
2. Super Bowl: At the same time, they will be getting the best shot from Kansas. The Jayhawks have been waiting for this game for a year since they came so close in Lawrence a year ago. Yes, they’re 2-5 but they’re a dangerous 2-5 because they’ve typically still been competitive, still have enough firepower and this is their Super Bowl.
3. Ward: Four-star target Cam Ward makes his college decision on Tuesday. We are under the belief the pick will be Michigan State.

SURPRISES IN THE K-STATE WORLD

1. Dug: An interesting note about the secret scrimmage is that Dug McDaniel seemingly didn’t start. He’s also not representing K-State in Kansas City for Big 12 Basketball Media Days. The latter detail didn’t surprise me. The first note did. I assume all is well, though, and it’s just a process at this point. I’ve heard nothing that would worry me, and he did still play against Oklahoma.
2. Houston game: It was a little stunning to discover that Kansas State at Houston on November 2 would be televised on FOX. Obviously, it’s not a premiere game given what the Cougars are in year one under Willie Fritz. I thought it would be an ESPN+ broadcast. However, there weren’t a lot of great choices and not many in general. Only five Big 12 games that week means no games on ESPN+. And FOX clearly wanted the Wildcats, even against Houston, instead of Arizona State at Oklahoma State, TCU at Baylor or Arizona at UCF.
3. Injuries: A late development last Saturday was that Carver Willis didn’t make the trip and would be unavailable for K-State. Andrew Leingang started in his absence. Willis is a go this week. That was already announced by head coach Chris Klieman. He also anticipates Hadley Panzer playing as well.

JURY STILL OUT

1. Linebacker depth: Kansas State needs better play from the back-up linebackers if they’re going to continue to garner some snaps. Rex Van Wyhe and Asa Newsom can still be good football players for the Wildcats, but they weren’t playing up to their standards in Morgantown. And with Beau Palmer sidelined for the season, we’ll likely see some Terry Kirksey behind Austin Romaine at middle linebacker.
2. Big 12 race: Can K-State get some help? Both Oklahoma State (versus BYU) and UCF (against Iowa State) choked away late leads last week. The Cougars and Cyclones continue to pace the league.
3. Defensive end snaps: I thought it was representative and indicative when I first brought up the increased workload for Will Anciaux. It was the ensuing weeks where he really took off and drew praise from his head coach and Kansas State offensive coordinator Conor Riley. Could it also be a sign of things to come for defensive linemen Chiddi Obiazor and Jordan Allen? They are seeming similar increases in their snap counts.

HAS MY ATTENTION

1. Secret scrimmage: Speaking of the secret scrimmage, the box score shows a nine-point K-State win over the Sooners. I’ll take it. Jon Rothstein of CBS was also told by Jerome Tang that CJ Jones and Max Jones have separated themselves on the perimeter. That’s a sign of improved depth for the Wildcats on that front.
2. Complete: Despite having the run game taken away from them, Kansas State still won a night game on the road by a score of 45-18. Again, that’s a good thing. They’re no longer one-dimensional or able to be game scripted out of a contest.
3. Big 12 Basketball Media Day: Big 12 basketball media day in Kansas City is on Wednesday. Tang will be joined by Max Jones, Coleman Hawkins and David N’Guessan. K-State should have a lot of eyeballs on them.