Drew breaks down the Houston loss and looks ahead to remainder of the season.
I’ve watched the Houston game a couple times trying to formulate some sort of take away from the game.
I’ve got nothing.
I’m not sure I’ve seen game conditions tip the field so heavily towards one teams’ strategy, as they did against the Cougars. The driving rain turned a game that Kansas State could have dominated by spreading the field and utilizing their superior skill position players, into a game of patience and attrition between the tackles.
That’s the game Willie Fritz needs for his offensively challenged team, and he took advantage.
This isn’t to make excuses. That’s still a game Kansas State should have won between the tackles. Quarterback Avery Johnson ran out of patience while his counterpart Zeon Chriss, threw himself against the wall of Wildcat defenders until he finally found a crack.
It wasn’t a perfect first half for the Kansas State offense, but they managed to scrape together 16 points in rapidly deteriorating conditions. Chris Klieman’s squad put together 2, 14+ play drives (one ending in a field goal, the other a touchdown), and hit two explosive passes in a 30 second, 48-yard touchdown drive to end the half.
It was 16-10 at half, but the ‘Cats looked to have things under control.
If you want to take anything away from the game, it’s got to come from the first half, because the elements fundamentally changed things in the second half. The Kansas State offense dominated the first half, they couldn’t stay on the field in the third quarter because Houston was essentially using the weather as the ultimate pass and run defense. The receivers couldn’t cut, the quarterback couldn’t grip the ball, and the running backs kept slipping.
If you want to know why Houston stopped the Kansas State run game in the second half, it’s because they didn’t have to worry about the pass game. The driving rain had that covered.
I planned for this to be a long article, but I don’t think there’s much else to say. Avery needs to work on decision making late in games, and Connor Riley needs to think a little harder about time, score, and conditions before calling a pass play inside his own 10-yard line. The thing is Riley’s play calling and Johnson’s decision making were more than enough to win this game. The defense was fine, I’m not sure what you can change when both players responsible for a gap slip and fall.
The Houston game is something that happens in sports on occasion. The better team lost, and that’s not any sort of indictment on the Cougars. Beating the better team is tough to do and they steadfastly stuck to the gameplan under the same terrible conditions the Wildcat’s faced. Those conditions happened to play directly into their hands…sometimes it be like that.
This team still has everything left to play for, and in an extra delicious touch of irony, the suddenly surging Jayhawks could help things out substantially by knocking off Colorado in Lawrence. Kansas winning the battle and knocking off the Buffalo’s but losing the war because they gave their archrivals a ticket to the Big 12 Championship game and potentially the CFP is one of the tastiest bits of irony I can imagine.
For my dreams to come true, this team needs to shake off the Houston loss and finish the season with three straight wins. The Jayhawks can’t help, if the Wildcats don’t help themselves. I have faith that this team, and this coaching staff, will be ready to play their best game of the season against Arizona State on Saturday and build from there.