Yeah if fans keep being so vocal and ruining the perception our recruiting might go from 60th in the country to 65th. Totally would be on the fans too.
Photo by Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
Oklahoma State Football
Gundy Says: Oklahoma State Had Better Be Ready to Stop the Run
STILLWATER – When you get your butt kicked in football it generally serves as a motivator for the next and maybe even future meetings. Last season Oklahoma State was 6-1 when they went to Kansas State fresh off of a 41-34 home win over Texas. That OSU team used up a lot of energy in beating the Longhorns and that showed a week later in Manhattan as K-State blew the Cowboys up 48-0, the worse loss ever for the Pokes in that series.
“No, I don’t think that factors in much,” Gundy said citing practice as being more important. “I’ve never really used past experience as motivation.”
Kansas State Athletics
Giddens, shown running against the Cowboys last season.
Gundy may not, but some of his players might. The same quarterback is back in Will Howard. Last season the Cats had the elusive Duece Vaughn at running back. Now they have the more powerful D.J. Giddens, who just ran for 207-yards and four touchdowns against Central Florida.
“They do a good job with running the ball. They have linemen in their program that they developed and have gotten stronger over the years. The majority are kind of local, home grown kids that take pride in that,” Gundy described his perception of Kansas State. “They rush the ball really well and they are physical. The improvement that they’ve made over the years is their quarterback. He’s played how many years now? How many years has he been there?”
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Will Howard in the win over Central Florida.
The answer is this is his fourth year and he has lettered three years. Will Howard is 6-5, 242-pounds and is from Downington, Pa. He has now thrown for 4,215-yards with 32 touchdowns and 19 interceptions inhis career. He has run for 693-yards and 15 touchdowns.
This will be his fourth time to play against Oklahoma State. In 2020 he was forced into duty and lost a close one at home to Oklahoma State 20-18. He was 10-of-21 for 143-yards with oen touchdown and one pick.
He barely got in in 2021 as Oklahoma State won 31-20 and Howard was 4-of-12 for 50-yards.
In 2022, Howard and the Wildcats hit the motherload as they won 48-0. Little went wrong as Howard hit Kade Warner for a 49-yard touchdown on the first KSU offensive series and on a fourth and 10 play. Howard threw for 294-yards and four touchdowns.
Oklahoma State’s defense had better be more sound on the back end in coverage and keep up the good tackling shown in Ames as they almost completely shut off Iowa State in the run game.
On the other side of the football, the general consensus was Oklahoma State fared better against the Iowa State defense as they have more familiarity with the odd man front these days. OSU sees it so much with the Cowboys running a 3-3-5.
Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports
Safety Will Lee III (8) and linebacker Austin Moore (41) prepare to make a tackle against UCF.
“There are a lot of similarities,” Gundy said immediately. “They flirt a little more with the 3-3 instead of the 3-2 (three linebackers vs. two). Comparison-wise it is pretty close,” Gundy said of the two defenses. “They do some four-man (front) like we do. There are a lot of similarities but coverage-wise they do some things differently. The concepts are all pretty much the same.”
From a personnel standpoint, Kansas State is more experienced in the secondary and more youthful up front.
“Their safeties (Kobe Savage-rover and Marques Sigle-free) are good players and they tackle really well. Linebacker play 32 (Desmond Purnell) makes a lot of plays. I see him making lots of plays,” Gundy said. “Front-wise it is a different group, but they are relentless and they play hard. They look very similar to what they did. They were a little more experienced in the box last year, but their back end is very experienced with those safeties.”
Okay, no revenge motivation, but I can tell you that Oklahoma State badly needs a win to quiet the storm of fans that are flat-out PO’d with the season start. It may be a vocal minority, but either way, that group of people are starting to make problems in the public for the Oklahoma State and it’s perception and it’s recruiting. The Cowboys need a win and K-State would be a good one.
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