Kansas State storylines for UCF week

What are the storylines of the week as Kansas State looks to respond to their first loss of the season with a strong home performance versus UCF.

Kansas State health

Much of the Tuesday press conference in the Vanier Family Football Complex will revolve around the Kansas State injury report. Daniel Green isn’t on the depth chart. Christian Duffie is on the depth chart. How healthy is K-State signal caller Will Howard? Is Keagan Johnson getting closer?

All are questions with a significant amount of merit.

It will be intriguing to see if Howard can give the Wildcats a full 60 minutes or how much he will need to be helped by back-up Avery Johnson. I’m curious to see how much Duffie plays since it will be his first time in uniform.

Kansas State needs a healthy Keagan Johnson to give them a vertical threat and some explosiveness. Assuming Green is on the shelf, starting a true freshman at middle linebacker is possible. Austin Romaine is the next man up for the Wildcats.

Response

Every season is different. Every roster is different. Some are great versus adversity and others aren’t. Some just take a longer time to gel. Is this year’s edition of K-State able to get off the mat in short order with a terrific performance?

The track record under head coach Chris Klieman says yes.

No Plumlee

It isn’t UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee that Kansas State will be facing. After his early injury, the Wildcats will see Timmy McClain. Fortunately, there’s film of the back-up quarterback with the Knights since he played last weekend against Villanova.

He was sharp too in the 48-14 win. But he wasn’t necessarily all that productive at USF. He was actually a pretty poor player in Tampa for the Bulls. Gus Malzahn added him for depth in the room, and he is a veteran that won’t be overwhelmed in that atmosphere on Saturday night in Manhattan.

I’m sure that K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman will look to overwhelm him early and often with different pictures and disguises and a ton of pressure. The second start is typically when the performance drops off the most for reserves under center.

K-State Playmakers

The Wildcats needed one more stop or one more play on offense to win last Saturday, and they came up empty in that effort. There were chances to do so as well, especially when up 24-17 and also with a 24-20 advantage.

Whether it was a drop by Ben Sinnott or Treshaun Ward, a mis-fire by Will Howard, a missed field goal, a penalty or a missed assignment up front, nobody was there to save the day. Defensively, after stop after stop once they settled in, Missouri was able to mount two more scoring drives to secure the victory in Columbia.

So, that begs the question. Who is going to step up and make the critical plays for K-State this season? They are going to be in a handful of those types of contest that are decided by seven points or less. The next one could even be this weekend when they host UCF.

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