Musings: Areas to improve for Kansas State

SURE BETS FOR KANSAS STATE

1. Tang: We knew it was close, but Jerome Tang has signed a contract extension with Kansas State to remain with the school through the 2029-2030 season.
2. Offensive line: It deserves to be mentioned that the K-State offensive line had by far their best game of the season. Some of that was because Christian Duffie returned. Some of it is because Hayden Gillum had his best game. Some of it is because Carver Willis is improving, and some of it was just having Cooper Beebe on the left side for the entire contest.
3. Giddens: Of course Kansas State running back DJ Giddens was going to be the Big 12 Offensive Player of the Week after running for 207 yards, adding in 86 receiving yards and scoring four touchdowns against UCF.

SURPRISES IN THE K-STATE WORLD

1. Clifton: We didn’t anticipate seeing K-State linebacker Jake Clifton until the Oklahoma State game after the bye week. Instead, he was able to give the Wildcats a few snaps versus the Knights and not force true freshman Austin Romaine to shoulder all of the burden without Daniel Green.
2. Avery: It was not a shock because of the way the game unfolded. Will Howard didn’t have any setbacks during the contest and his health was not ever a liability or concern for Kansas State. In fact, he looked pretty spry when running for a touchdown in the fourth quarter. But I wouldn’t have believed you if you told me before the game that Avery Johnson wouldn’t see a single snap.
3. Buyout: The duration of Tang’s new extension isn’t too surprising. But I was shocked at the amount of the buyout. While it does decrease with each year, I was actually expecting the starting buyout number to be less than the $6 million that was revealed by K-State on Monday.

JURY STILL OUT

1. Passing explosiveness: Will Kansas State develop a more explosive passing game? As of now, they have struggled with that component. Some of it is uneven play from the wideouts. Some of it is Howard being just a bit off on more of his vertical throws. A chunk of it is also the product of a bruised and battered room already. RJ Garcia and Keagan Johnson aren’t healthy. Much of the plan for the season revolved around those two being productive.
2. Defense: My working theory is that the defense will be the most improved unit by the end of the season, but it doesn’t mean that K-State isn’t going through some speed bumps or growing pains at the moment. Fortunately, though the explosive plays are clearly a problem, they have adjusted and settled in both times that they faced adversity. Before the garbage time score with mere seconds remaining, Kansas State hadn’t allowed a point since 13:40 was showing on the clock in the third quarter. They had a similar second half showing versus Missouri.
3. Big 12: Texas looks outstanding for the most part and will be tough to beat. The second tier that likely consists of both Kansas and K-State, along with TCU and Oklahoma, is solid. BYU and UCF might be okay. West Virginia has exceeded expectations, but it could be a product of their schedule. The rest of the Big 12 leaves a lot to be desired.

HAS MY ATTENTION

1. Tech: How will Texas Tech be feeling when the Wildcats head to Lubbock? It is a fair question after a 1-3 start that includes losses to Wyoming and West Virginia. They aspired to win the Big 12 this season and had a lot of buzz behind them. To be fair, Houston and Baylor are next on the docket and that could be just what the doctor ordered before they host Kansas State.
2. QB approach: I’ll be interested to see how K-State uses Avery Johnson the rest of the year. I do not believe that there is an intention to redshirt him, despite him not seeing the field in Week 4. However, he may see even more practice reps during the bye week so that Howard can recover further. That could be an opportunity for even more growth and time to add even more ways to incorporate him into the offense. They’ll need him again this season.
3. Special teams: It is going to be hard to win a lot more games if the special teams is that much of a negative. We’ll see what happens the next few weeks in that department.

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