Rapid Recap: How Austin Moore's speech helped Kansas State
Kansas State looking forward to the challenge
While at one point, Kansas State had won five games in a row against Texas, the series has flipped. The Longhorns have beaten K-State six times in a row dating back to 2017. It is a streak that has lasted all of Chris Klieman’s tenure in Manhattan. In all of the player press availabilities on Tuesday, that was the number one thing mentioned. All of the players said they want to beat Texas because they have not in their careers.
Will Howard went as far as to say the Longhorns are one of the most talented teams in the country. That statement was echoed a few other times in Vanier Complex as well.
Austin Moore’s speech
After the Houston game last Saturday, Klieman mentioned a speech from Austin Moore at Wednesday’s practice that rallied the defense. Moore went more in-depth in that comment Tuesday. The Kansas State defense had a few practices in a row last week where it wasn’t very clean. Players didn’t know what they were doing and as a senior and captain, Moore felt like it was his duty to step up. The Louisburg native told the rest of the defense to play with a chip on their shoulder and get back to having the Mob mentality every day.
Kansas State’s defense responded well with a good practice Thursday and then shut out the Cougars Saturday. Moore was also quick to point out Daniel Green is another major leader on the team despite being injured. Green is still very involved in practice and will tell the rest of the defense how it is if they are not playing well.
A look at the Texas defense
Much of the talk around Texas revolves around the playmakers they have on offense. However, the Longhorns have a very good defense as well. Hayden Gillum called the Texas defense long and they have lots of good size and athleticism. The challenge will be for the Kansas State offensive line to put pressure on the Texas defensive line. K-State has to be able to run the ball on the Longhorns front to control the clock and keep the Texas offense off the field.
