Wildcats Hope Good Practices Lead to Success vs. UCF
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Any college football coach will admit there is one phrase they hate to say before kickoff of any game: “We had a good week of practice.”
It’s not because they don’t want their team to have a good week of practice, but it’s a statement that falls on deaf ears if their team comes out and falls flat on Saturday. Unfortunately for Kansas State, the latter has been the case three times already this season.
“Nobody’s going to feel sorry for us, so those guys got to dust themselves off and get off the deck and play better football,” KSU coach Chris Klieman said. “Some of it’s us as coaches trying to simplify some things.”
As promised following his team’s 23-17 loss to Arizona on Sept. 12, Klieman and the Wildcats got back to the basics last week. It’s rare air in Manhattan for the team to be 1-3 to start the year, and it meant a lot of looking in the mirror during recent practices.
“Last week we did some really good things we thought at practice,” Klieman said. “It’s still got to carry over to a game and game week, but we had a good week of practice. There was good energy out there, but in the same respect, we’ve got to carry it over to this week and play really good football on Saturday.”
“Really good” might be an understatement with UCF coming to town Saturday. The Golden Knights, much like KSU, started the year on somewhat uneasy terms. They only beat Jacksonville State by a touchdown, 17-10. However, they ironed out the kinks in a 68-7 win over North Carolina A&T the following week, and after their own bye week, took care of business against Bill Belichick and North Carolina to the tune of 34-9.
The Knights, behind coach Scott Frost, are now 3-0 and looking to make another statement Saturday against the reeling Wildcats.
“Scott’s done a really good job there, which I knew he would,” Klieman said. “I’ve known Scott for a long time. He and I were on the same staff at Northern Iowa for three years, so I’ve known Frosty for a long time. I know he’s a really good coach, but they’ve got really talented guys.”
When pressed on what’s separating UCF from the pack through their 3-0 start, it didn’t take Klieman long to heap praise on the Knights' defense.
“They’re playing really well on defense, regardless of competition, they’re playing physical — they’re playing fast,” Klieman said. “They’re getting that disrupt. Their front seven and the guys up front wreak havoc. They won the line of scrimmage against North Carolina on both sides of the ball.”
Ironically enough, what Klieman is seeing in UCF through three games is what he’s hoping to see out of his own team this week. Despite the loss, Klieman was happy with how his team fought against Iowa State in the season opener in Ireland. However, he said his team has lacked that same fire since, leading to two more losses on the year.
“It sucks,” Klieman said. “Let’s be honest, we all know it does. We’ve got to dig ourselves out of it. There’s no reason for me to point fingers.”
From simplifying the playbook to regaining the trust of his players, Klieman admits this bye week has been one of the toughest in his coaching career.
“Some of it is getting punched in the mouth,” he said. “Some of it is our coaches getting punched in the mouth as far as ‘boy, that didn’t work.’ Now we’ve got to find something else, and we’ve got to get these kids believing in what we’re doing is the right thing and getting them playing with their hair on fire.”
The only way out of the fire is through it for a Kansas State team. After its showdown with unbeaten UCF Saturday, the Wildcats will go on the road to take on a Baylor team that already beat nationally-ranked SMU before taking Arizona State to the wire. Then it’s a showdown against another unbeaten team in TCU, which has netted wins over North Carolina and SMU to start the year.
Klieman said the rest of the season won’t depend on who he can point fingers at. Instead, it’s all about who he can point a thumb at because there’s nobody else coming in to save the season.
“I can get frustrated, but there’s not a free agency period right now or there’s not a free agency period with coaches,” he said. “It is what it is. We’ve got to figure this out. There are good football teams out there, and we’ve got a bunch of them that we’re going to play, including this week.”
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Spencer Schubert is a born-and-raised Nebraskan who now calls Hastings home. He grew up in Kearney idolizing the Huskers as every kid in Nebraska did in the 1990s, and he turned that passion into a career of covering the Big Red. Schubert graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009, and kickstarted what's now become a 17 year career in journalism. He's served in a variety of roles in broadcasting, including weekend sports anchor at KHGI-TV(NTV) in Kearney, Sports Director at WOAY-TV in West Virginia and Assistant News Director, Executive Producer and Evening News Anchor for KSNB-TV(Local4) in Hastings. Off the clock, you'll likely find Schubert with a golf club in his hand and spending time with his wife, 5-year-old daughter and dog Emmy.