We get it – it’s hard to get a win, you can’t begrudge a victory, etc.
It’s all been said before, maybe too often.
Ask yourself this – how many more games can you see Kansas State winning?
Sure, it’s reasonable to expect a certain amount of improvement and growth from the Wildcats, but it was also reasonable to expect a certain amount of improvement and growth from the season opener against North Texas until yesterday, and have you seen it?
If anything, things have deteriorated, especially on defense. And that was all during the non-conference portion of the schedule. The competition during the next two months is going to be drastically better, and it’s unclear if efforts like yesterday’s against a Sun Belt Conference contender will be enough.
“Big 12, my a$%,” a ULL assistant said following the game. “Damn, that was some a$%-whipping.”
He was being sarcastic, spitting for emphasis. He wasn’t impressed, and neither were a lot of you.
Here’s a hypothetical – let’s say K-State wins six games, but does so in the same manner as Saturday’s performance against the Ragin’ Cajuns. I’m betting it might be embarrassing to some, but I’m also betting some won’t care because of the bottom line – a bowl game – and I firmly believe that is the end goal here.
Winning the North, as Prince and the players parroted during fall camp? With this defense? No chance.
So, again, I’m asking you, and I want legitimate feedback. Can you overlook poor tackling and a lack of fundamentals on defense as long as the offense and special teams picks up the slack and it results in a return to the postseason? If so, has K-State football come to this?
13 Comments
if we can get to 6 wins and a bowl, i’d love it. not because i think that is where we should be, but because my expectations are so much lower right now. frankly, looking at the schedule, i can’t see where these other three wins are going to come from.
after the past two weeks, i feel like this is the worst defense i’ve seen in a major conference. to answer your questions, i could overlook it for a bowl game… this year. if this is what we are going to be, then i would like to see prince gone yesterday. we should not have to run a fake punt at midfield with the lead at the end of the game because we are so convinced that our defense has no chance of holding a sun belt team.
see j-mart… now you’ve gone and got me all mad again…
much love,
tuf
J-Mart:
No way, no how. This D will come close to breaking the Big XII conference record of points against (currently held by the 2002 KU Jayhawks with 507 (!)). If the D could just average 30 PA this year, KSU would win some games, but I think Saturday showed that that’s not going to happen.
The Minister
I look at the big picture. 6 wins would be great no matter how it gets done.
but I don’t see them getting close to 6 wins with this defense. especially if we can’t run the ball.
6 wins? I don’t see how. Even if we manage to win 6, they will be won in embarressing fashion and I wouldn’t be surprised if we didn’t even get a bowl invite.
Hopefully, Prince will start to recognize the importance of having a big, strong, fast, and tough defense and quit trying to outsmart everyone. 3-4 is a joke and the rest of the teams on our schedule are smiling big watching our sad excuse for a defense.
I don’t want six wins and an eeked out bowl game where we get walloped by a team who actually accomplished something during the season. I’d rather have Prince gone and get a football team going again at KSU.
3 more wins? I don’t see them winning another game. I don’t understand anything they do. The run a defensive scheme that very few teams run. Kids start one game and then don’t play a snap the next. We are 4 games in and we have kids changing positions. They only thing I am sure of is that this staff has no clue what they are doing. There seems to be some desperation in their moves. I believe that there is talent on defense but that they are not being used properly. Bad scheme, bad coaching.
KSU will not get another win unless the coaching staff gets a clue. The worst defense I’ve ever seen.
This week is where the rubber meets the road. We’ve heard all summer how this team is being built to defend the spread. Well there is no better laboratory than a game vs Tech.
Look at the Rush Offense Rankings of the rest of our schedule. Only Mizzou and OU are in the top 50 of rush offenses. I’m still in wait and see mode.
No, I don’t want to have to overlook the play of the defense and say I’m happy we eeked out 6 wins and made it to the Glade Airfreshner Pine Tree Bowl and further fake belief that the Cat’s are back where they belong. Our defense looks desperate and clueless. I want our team to look good in all aspects of the game, the way they did through the Snyder years (well at least to 2003). I want Prince to succeed, but his 1-AA and mid-major coaching staff isn’t up to the task – on defense at least. It’s time for a change at the D-Coordinator position. At least some of the changes on offense look promising – a more mobile Freeman and Lamark at RB. However, in-state recruiting appears to be suffering, fan attendance at the games is clearly suffering. K-State football must be better than this.
Does HCRP have any other rabbits to pull out of his hat? The personnel and scheming changes evident Saturday were big enough to be noticed, and for the offense, made for improved play. Are there comparable defensive changes to save ‘Cat bacon in conference play?
I have been a big supporter of what I thought RP was trying to do. The problem is, I’m no longer sure what he’s trying to do. The defense seems totally lost and poorly coached–perhaps because of a lack of continuity. I’d like to think RP can still turn things around, but even in his short history with the program there doesn’t seem to be any proof that it will happen. KSU has a beautiful campus, in a beautiful location, but it will always have difficulty drawing enough top notch players to compete with the big boys. All of this only proves, once again, just how miraculous what Bill Snyder did was. And even Snyder was beginning to have problems toward the end of his coaching tenure. Frankly, what disturbs me most is what seems to be a lack of committment and effort. Losing ain’t fun, but it can happen with pride and dignity still in tact. I continue to hope I’m wrong and that RP can make this happen.
The hardest thing for me is that we never show any improvement. I can handle not being a “top 10″ team. But with Snyder we usually got better as the season progressed. We are no better today than we were when Prince was hired. The same problems continually occur.
I hope he lands on 4-8 so they can get a coach with some experience and a clue in there. He’s NOT the man for the job. Worst lack of in-game adjustments I’ve probably EVER seen.