Daily Archives: Sept. 25, 2011

Bill Snyder thinks highly of Robert Griffin

Sept. 25, 20112:41 p.m.

Heading into this week’s game against Baylor, a key focus of Kansas State’s defense will be Bears quarterback Robert Griffin.

The Heisman Trophy contender, who used to run hurdles for Baylor’s track team and is considered by many to be the fastest quarterback in college football, can create matchup problems for any defense he encounters. Especially this year. So far, he has completed 70 of 82 passes for 962 yards and 13 touchdowns. That’s right, he has more touchdowns than incompletions.

He has also rushed for 158 yards and led Baylor to a 3-0 record with an impressive win over TCU. Behind his efforts, the Bears have climbed to No. 15 in the national polls.

Before leaving Sun Life Stadium on Saturday night, K-State coach Bill Snyder briefly talked about Griffin and the challenges he presents. Based on the praise he had for Griffin, it’s safe to say he began devising a game plan on the flight him.

Check out this quote:

“We’ve got to line up and play against the No. whatever team they are in the nation — 17, 16 something like that — in Baylor with probably as good a quarterback as there is in the United States at any level.”

By Kellis Robinett | Filed under Football | Comments Off

Sunday Rewind: K-State 28, Miami 24

Sept. 25, 201111:20 a.m.


Overall Assessment: This was Kansas State’s biggest win since … when?

That’s the question I think is most up for debate today. The Wildcats defeated the Miami Hurricanes 28-24 at Sun Life Stadium and Saturday’s game certainly has to rank highly among recent wins for the program.

Beating Texas, UCLA and Central Florida were all nice wins last year, but they each came at home. A 62-14 thumping of Texas A&M was awfully impressive two seasons ago, but the Aggies were a different bunch back then. They aren’t comparable to a road win over Miami.

I think you’ve got to back to 2007, when K-State crushed Texas 41-21 in Austin under Ron Prince to find a more impressive victory. Under current coach Bill Snyder, this is probably the biggest win since the Wildcats took down top-ranked Oklahoma 35-7 in the 2003 Big 12 championship game.

Saturday’s win wasn’t anywhere near that meaningful, and Snyder said that he doesn’t think K-State has “arrived” yet. He thinks it still has plenty of work ahead of it. That’s true. The Wildcats will need to continue improving to win tough upcoming games against Baylor and Missouri, but this was a nice start down that path.

K-State looked brilliant on offense at times behind Collin Klein and John Hubert. And its defense played well enough to win against a strong, fast Miami offense. Here’s a look at all that and more in this week’s Sunday Rewind:

Player Evaluations

Seven that were good:

1. Collin Klein. Kansas State’s quarterback did everything on Saturday. He ran for 93 yards (many of them tough yards) on 22 carries and threw for 133 yards and two touchdowns. Most of his passes were short, but they were all safe. The only time he took a risk he made a perfect pass, lofting the ball over a linebacker and in between two defensive backs to hit Tyler Lockett for a 20-yard touchdown. He left the game with blood on his jersey, too many scratches to count and a slight limp in his step. But he said that simply came from being tired after a tough game. His teammates appreciated his efforts.

Here’s what Chris Harper had to say about Klein: “I told him at halftime, ‘Since we’re in Florida you should go into Tim Tebow mode.’ That’s really what he was out there doing … He played tough. He played really, really tough. I was proud of him today. He took some hits.”
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By Kellis Robinett | Tags: , , , , , , , , , Filed under Football, Sunday Rewind | Comments Off