Expert Analysis: How Kansas State ran away from Troy
Kansas State offensive personnel thoughts
Kansas State quarterback Will Howard made the mistake of being greedy and forcing a ball into coverage one too many times. However, I believe it is better to suffer that punishment now and learn from it rather than later.
Otherwise, he cruised. He still has nine total touchdowns after two games. The competition cranks up a bit in week three, but it isn’t like the Wildcats are playing joke after joke. SEMO probably makes the FCS Playoffs and Troy is a Group of Five opponent that should cruise to a bowl game.
Remember when I shared that DJ Giddens wouldn’t lead in touches every contest? K-State gave Treshaun Ward more carries against Troy. Unfortunately, neither found a lot of room because the Trojans sold out to take away Ben Sinnott in the passing game and eliminated the running game.
The Wildcats will need to go back to the well to figure out what to do up front. Unchecked blitzers are still sneaking through and the Kansas State running game barely threatened Troy. They have a stout defensive line, but it is another symptom of a slow start.
Reinforcements could come next week.
It was great that Keagan Johnson saw some playing time in the second half. In fact, he saw more snaps against Troy than even Uso Seumalo did versus SEMO. That is a good first taste. I am a fan of having his feet wet before the Missouri contest. Furthermore, he already seems to have a strong rapport with Howard.
All Jadon Jackson does is score touchdowns, and it was a career day for Phillip Brooks.
K-State defensive personnel thoughts
Once again, the K-State defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. Just two weeks into the season and it wouldn’t shock me if the Wildcats have the best rush defense in the country. It would look even better if there wasn’t one missed fit on Saturday that allowed the Trojans to reel off one big one.
Besides that play, there was nothing available for Troy.
Seumalo saw his snap count increase from 11 to 38, which is a terrific sign. He, Damian Ilalio and Jevon Banks were terrific. It was interesting, and I questioned it at the time, that Banks was in on some short-yardage situations. To his credit, he stuffed a fourth and short that turned Troy over on downs.
The interior of the Kansas State defensive line may have been outdone in Week 2 by the ends. Khalid Duke was outstanding and had two sacks. Brendan Mott was probably the most consistent pass rusher and Nate Matlack was constantly disruptive, too.
Tobi Osunsanmi was just as lethal coming off the edge in the second half. He saw time as both a situational pass rusher and the ‘Sam’ linebacker that spelled Desmond Purnell. By the way, both Purnell and Austin Moore were also excellent.
Of the true freshmen that were a primary reserve at linebacker, Austin Romaine had the best day.
Though they weren’t tested in Week 1, the K-State cornerbacks was on Saturday and answered the bell for the most part. In fact, it was either them or the defensive ends that were the best part of the defensive effort against Troy.
A few balls got through in soft zones and the Trojans made some elite catches as well, but I was thrilled with what we saw from the trio of Keenan Garber, Jacob Parrish and Will Lee. My crystal ball says that Parrish is a future All-Big 12 player, even if it is not as soon as this year. But, hey, it might be.
Marques Sigle made a splash, but I was hoping for a little more in general from the safeties.
Fan’s notable numbers
1. Klieman vs Group of Five: A lot of talk was made coming into the game about the Kansas State losses to Group of Five opponents under head coach Chris Klieman. Those included Arkansas State, Navy and Tulane.
I thought going into the game the result would be much more like the Nevada game in 2021, and that proved to be the case. Troy did push the Wildcats in the second quarter, narrowing the score to 14-10 before K-State scored a touchdown in less than 40 seconds for a 21-10 lead at the half.
The Kansas State offense continued to struggle with short fields set up by a dominant defensive effort to start the second half, but eventually the Wildcats put up three touchdowns while holding Troy to only a field goal.
For a game that felt like K-State didn’t play great, a four-touchdown win over a team that had won 12 straight games is hard to complain about, in my opinion.
2. Kansas State rush offense: The Wildcats finished the day under four yards per carry and a 47.2 percent success rate on run calls. The first half was solid, averaging 5.7 yards per carry with a 60 percent success rate, but the second half was a struggle as K-State averaged only 2.7 yards per rush and a success rate of 38.1 percent.
Kansas State closed well, averaging 4.9 yards per carry on their last 10 run calls with a 70 percent success rate and a pair of touchdown runs. For the record, I counted Treshaun Ward’s 1-yard touchdown “catch” as a run because it was a run call with a power toss that he happened to catch slightly in front of Will Howard.
52 percent of the K-State play calls were runs. The running back duo had a nice and balanced afternoon with Ward gaining 62 yards on 16 carries and Giddens 56 yards on 12 runs. Will Howard ran more than expected, gaining 41 yards on eight carries with a pair of touchdowns.
3. K-State pass offense: We saw a good Kansas State passing game in both halves with a 46 percent success rate in each set of 30 minutes. K-State averaged seven yards on 22 pass plays in the first half. They averaged nine yards per pass play in the second half. The Wildcats finished the game with 252 yards on called pass plays, good for 7.6 yards per snap. 12 percent of the pass calls gained more than 20 yards and 21 percent gained at least 10. Brooks had eight catches and a score, Jadon Jackson again scored the Wildcats’ first touchdown, while RJ Garcia and Keagan Johnson each caught three balls.
4. Kansas State run defense: Kansas State faced another really good running back and perhaps the best in the Sun Belt in Kimani Vidal. He finished with a respectable 87 yards on 17 carries for 4.9 yards per rush, but 46 came on one carry. The Troy run game finished with 22 called run plays and 88 yards gained, good for just four yards per carry and only a 13.6 percent success rate. Outside of Vidal’s one big run, the Trojans averaged two yards per carry.
5. K-State pass defense: Troy totaled 157 yards on pass calls, gaining 4.4 yards per play with a success rate of 25 percent. Going into halftime the Trojans had converted 6 of 10 on third down, but they finished the game failing to convert on seven straight third down opportunities.
6. Kansas State havoc: 22.4 percent is an impressive havoc rate. K-State had nine tackles for loss, four of them sacks, plus four passes broken up, three forced fumbles and an interception. Troy’s overall success rate was only 20.7 percent. Anytime a team has a havoc rate greater than the success rate allowed, they have been outstanding.
Kansas State snap counts
OFFENSE
Will Howard: 70
Cooper Beebe: 69
Hayden Gillum: 69
KT Leveston: 69
Ben Sinnott: 62
Hadley Panzer: 61
Phillip Brooks: 50
RJ Garcia: 50
Taylor Poitier: 42
Jadon Jackson: 40
DJ Giddens: 37
Will Swanson: 37
Treshaun Ward: 35
Carver Willis: 26
Andrew Leingang: 21
Keagan Johnson: 17
Seth Porter: 8
Christian Moore: 5
Jayce Brown: 5
Xavier Loyd: 2
Anthony Frias: 1
Brayden Loftin: 1
Drake Bequaeith: 1
Sam Hecht: 1
Sam Shields: 1
Khalid Duke/Kansas State Athletics
DEFENSE
Jacob Parrish: 59
VJ Payne: 59
Daniel Green: 58
Marques Sigle: 58
Kobe Savage: 57
Will Lee: 57
Desmond Purnell: 55
Austin Moore: 53
Khalid Duke: 40
Brendan Mott: 39
Uso Seumalo: 38
Nate Matlack: 30
Cody Stufflebean: 29
Asa Newsom: 17
Damian Ilalio: 16
Jevon Banks: 16
Keenan Garber: 16
Tobi Osunsanmi: 14
Colby McCalister: 13
Austin Romaine: 12
Jordan Wright: 12
Jack Fabris: 11
Justice James: 7
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