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Penalties were atrocious tonight
We had three penalties on Justin Murphy alone. Ultimately, all the penalties combined ended up costing us over 100 yards. That’s completely ridiculous, and we can’t expect to win when we’re giving up that many yards to something as dumb as little mistakes.
What is going on with the Special Teams
Letting Kansas State return a touchdown on us is not ideal no matter what way you slice it. There’s no excuse for that. We’re just going to have to be better in the future. There’s no big analysis here, just be better. We can’t have big returns on us, especially when it looks like we’re about to take the momentum.
I didn’t think the defense was bad in the red zone at all
The D played really well in the red zone, particularly in the second half. I love the fight shown by our guys against a tough K-State team on the road. We just need to score to back the defense up when they play well. They made some great stops and had some great holds, particularly in the second half. A lot of that is due to the D-Line. Fehoko and Pipkins played very well.
It’s damn easy to criticize playcalling when it doesn’t work out
Hindsight is always 20/20. I really liked some of Kliff’s calls to go for it. I didn’t agree with some of the plays he called. That being said, there’s a reason why he’s the engineer of a dominating offense and I am sitting on my couch watching the game. He obviously saw something he thought would work, but it didn’t work out. The offense was borderline anemic in the second half, but honestly, Kansas State has a good, disciplined defense. They always have. Some of the calls were a little ridiculous, yes. I don’t understand going under center and not spreading the defense out when nearly all of our negative plays came when KSU was able to bunch up, pin their ears back, and pressure the edges of the tackle box. All that I know is that I’m not Kliff Kingsbury, and you aren’t either.
Maybe the play calling does need to change. Maybe in later press conferences Kliff will take responsibility. He generally does when he messes up. All that I know is that he’s one of the most relentless in preparation in the nation, saying that he doesn’t have a clue what he’s doing is absurd.
There’s something wrong with Mahomes’s shoulder
Towards the end of the game, he started underthrowing balls, and for most of the game we kept things in the short-medium range. I’m not saying he doesn’t need to start, but he simply didn’t look like himself tonight.
*****
This game is done, over. Yes, the final score was a lot closer than the game felt, but that’s par for the course when you play Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats. On to the next one, which is a home game against West Virginia. Home field advantage will be key here, so show up, stay late, and be rowdy. We gotta win this one.