Rapid Recap: Kansas State offensive standouts from week one
Lessons from week one
Last Saturday was Kansas State offensive coordinator Conor Riley‘s second game calling plays. He learned a lot in the first game of the 2024 campaign. K-State has to start faster and play with more urgency. The offense sputtered in the first half due to a lack of urgency and played pretty tight. In the second half, the Wildcat offense responded well to the adversity and scored 24 points in the final half.
One area Riley was really pleased with was the Kansas State offense from an operational standpoint. There was only one error with a player not knowing where to line up the entire game. Another bonus was K-State did not have a single penalty in an offense with a lot of new faces working together.
Kansas State offensive standouts
Three players really caught Riley’s eye in the re-watch of the UT-Martin contest. The first was DJ Giddens who ran for 124 yards on 13 carries good for 9.5 yards per carry. Outside of a fumble on special teams, the Kansas State offensive coordinator was also pleased with Jayce Brown. The sophomore wide receiver tallied five catches for 71 yards to lead the Wildcats. Carver Willis was also mentioned as a stand out. Willis helped a Kansas State offense which averaged nine yards per carry and did not allow a sack against the Skyhawks.
A look at Tulane defensively
Riley was very complimentary of the Tulane defense. Specifically, he was very complimentary of the Green Wave defensive line. He believes the Tulane defensive line is a microcosm of everything the Green Wave want to do defensively. They were fast, big, physical and tackle well.
Tulane is still adjusting to new head coach Jon Sumrall‘s scheme, but have came together nicely in a short period of time. The defense is playing fast, hard and tackle very well. They are also a group that communicates well and don’t make a lot of mistakes.
