My weekly question and answer session for game week was done with Brandon Starkey of WildcatVictory.com Brandon gave us some excellent insights into the dynamics of the game this week, as well as some hard opinions about the Longhorns. Follow them on Twitter @WildcatVictory
Whisenant: No one with intelligence can deny North Dakota State is an outstanding football team, but it was still a bad way to start the year. How has Kansas State moved on from the loss?
Starkey: There is no doubt that the loss to North Dakota State was a disappointing loss for Kansas State, but it was not surprising when analyzing North Dakota State tape. North Dakota State was a senior led team, with 18 starters returning from last years national championship season. Kansas State was a young team that lost its top WR, and QB, not to mention 9 of 11 starters on defense. Still as you said, it was an embarrassing loss being that, talented or not, North Dakota State was an FCS school. I believe K-State has moved on fairly well and has improved in almost all aspects of the game. Offensively K-State is converting on more third down conversions, and is starting to look like they know what they are doing. Defensively Kansas State has played well, but it has been against less than great opponents. Louisiana is a quality offense. So giving up 27 points to them (half of which resulting from the defense starting with horrible field position) is not necessarily terrible. But Texas will be the first major test K-State has faced thus far, but I believe the defense has taken steps in the right direction since the North Dakota loss, but the Texas game will be the measuring stick to see how far K-State has come.
Whisenant: Give us your thoughts on QB Jake Waters and what kid of signal caller he can grow into?Â
Starkey: I am very high on Jake Waters ability as a quarterback at Kansas State. He has the most accurate arm I have personally seen in a K-State uniform, and has drawn comparisons of former Wildcat Chad May. I believe he has an NFL caliber arm, and has deceptive speed. Waters only major problem is his lack of experience. Yes, he led his JUCO team to a national championship, but big 12 football is an entirely different animal. Waters has made one terrible mistake in each game this year that has resulted in interceptions, and if he makes those mistakes against Big 12 defenses it will result in negative results for Kansas State. This game will be very important for the development of Waters, as it will be his first road game, which happens to be in the largest stadium in the Big 12 on national TV. If Waters plays well in this game, then watch out big 12!
Whisenant: Longhorn fans need to be/should be familiar with RB John Hubert. Who are some other players UT fans need to be aware of coming into the game?
Starkey: Well I believe most Texas fans are well aware of John Hubert, and WR Tyler Lockett, and those are definitely two of K-States best offensive players. But they should also be aware of #2 WR Tramaine Thompson, and the QB duo of Daniel Sams and Jake Waters. Tramaine Thompson is a terrific punt returner, and a shifty and elusive WR. He is just as capable of going the distance as Lockett in the return game, or as a WR.
I believe Daniel Sams will get a large amount of playing time against Texas, and although I do not believe Sams is K-States starting QB for the season, with Texas struggling to stop dual-threat QB’s I believe he may get the start against Texas. It would be similar to how Collin Klein started as a SO against Texas, and then Carson Coffman started the rest of the season. Sams is without a doubt in my mind one of the fastest, if not the fastest, QB’s in the big 12. So far in the season he is averaging over 7 yards per carry, and last year he also averaged 7+ yards per carry on limited carries. Every time Sams is in the game opposing defenses have expected him to run, and for the most part he has ran the ball, but defenses have been unable to stop him. The dangerous thing about Sams is his arm though. His accuracy is a little unknown at the moment because of limited playing time, but he was throwing 60 yard bombs in the spring game, and his terrific arm-strength from what I have seen. Another sleeper might be TE Zach Trujillo, who has shown talent catching the ball, but has not been used often thus far into the season.
Whisenant: What can we expect out of the Kansas State offense Saturday night?Â
Starkey: I believe Kansas State will expect Texas to expect them to start off the game trying to exploit the Texas defenses inability to stop the run. It is probably just my gut feeling, but I believe K-State might try to catch Texas off guard early by testing the corners and throwing deep to either Lockett or Thompson. But for the most part I think its safe to say you can expect to see a similar offense to what K-State ran last year. Lots of zone-read option runs, and lots of runs up the gut to John Hubert, and a lot of quick passes to the outside to Thompson and Lockett.
Whisenant: Give us your thoughts on Bill Snyder’s second run, and how much longer he will stick around?
Starkey: Well my hope is that the Bill Snyder you are seeing right now is actually the clone that he has built of himself that is in fact ageless, and he will be around for at least the next 200 years. Knowing that my hopes are, well not happening, I expect him to be around for the next 2-4 years. I don’t believe he wants to leave the program like he did in 2005, and I believe he wants to leave it in great shape when he retires. It has been remarkable what he has accomplished in his second stint as coach, and I don’t believe anyone, including K-State fans, saw it coming.
Whisenant: Your thoughts on the state of the Texas program.
Starkey: Well I believe Texas fans are in a unique situation. Texas is one of the finest football programs in America, and has been for a long, long time. When Mack Brown took over Texas had only had 5 seasons of 9 wins or more since 1980. Since Mack Brown took over in 1998 13 seasons of 9 wins or more. The last three seasons for Texas has been less than spectacular, but you have seen a steady improvement since your 2010 disaster. Coming into the season I believed Texas would be the team to beat in the conference. Texas returned a lot of talent on defense, not to mention another quality recruiting class. Offensively Texas returned a lot of talent, including to be what is in my opinion the best group of running backs in the Big 12. What is disappointing is that it looks like Texas has taken a major step back. The defense looks worse than last season, and the offense has been less than spectacular. Granted Texas played two pretty talented football programs In Ole Miss, and BYU, they were not offenses that should be putting up 500 rushing yards against Texas.
Whisenant: Kansas State has largely owned Texas since the inception of the Big 12. Why is that so?
Starkey: Well I believe there are a multitude of reasons to why Kansas State has had major success against Texas. In the Ron Prince era, I believe it was just a case of Texas overlooking Kansas State. There was no reason K-State should have beaten Texas teams led by Colt McCoy. In the early era of the Big 12 I do not believe K-State owned Texas at all, and in fact I believe Texas always had K-States number. In 1998 K-State dominated Texas 48-7, but Texas was in the process of changing coaches, and K-State had its most talented team in the history of the program. In 99 K-State played at home and still had a very talented team and won a hard fought game against the horns 35-17. Then the next two times K-State played Texas resulted in two of the most disappointing losses in Kansas State history. In 2002 Texas cost K-State a chance at a Big 12 title. In hindsight, yes, even if K-State had won that game, Colorado still would have won the tiebreaker and played Oklahoma in the Big 12, but at the time K-State would have been squarely in the race. In 2003 K-State lost another heartbreaker to Texas in which K-State capped off a stretch where they started off being ranked #5 in the nation to start the season and then lost three games in a row to Marshall, OK State, and then Texas. K-State legitimately had national title hopes, and they were dashed just like that. I personally have never forgotten those two games, and I don’t think K-State fans have either.
It should also be noted that Kansas State starts a lot of players from Texas and it is a big deal to beat the flagship program of the state of Texas to a lot of these players. Plus when you look at the two programs of K-State and Texas it quite literally is like comparing David vs Goliath. Kansas State always plays with a chip on their shoulders, and I feel Texas used to look over K-State. I don’t believe that will be the case in the future, and I think eventually Texas will perform better against Kansas State.
Whisenant: From the outside looking in, how long do you think Mack Brown has left?
Starkey: He is without a doubt on the hot seat. I would seriously doubt he is fired before the end of the season. Statistically wise he is the 2nd most successful coach in Texas history, to the late Darrell Royal. So it is hard to just fire the guy. Still Texas expects to be in the national championship year in and year out, and for the last four years Mack has not done that. I believe if Mack defeats K-State, and Oklahoma and at least competes for a big 12 title, then he deserves one more season. But if he doesn’t win the big 12 championship next season, then its time for him to step down. If he loses to K-State and OU, and finishes near the bottom or the middle of the conference then it is time to go this year. It is just sad to see Mack go down this way, as he has always been a class act, and a terrific representative of the big 12 and the Texas program
Whisenant: Which Longhorn players, if any, concern you?
Starkey: I am concerned with the HB unit for Texas for sure. Coming into the season I was worried K-State would struggle stopping the run. Although K-State has not been horrid against the run, K-State hasn’t really played any good running football teams, and they are still allowing a little over 4 yards per carry, which is not good. Johnathan Gray concerns me, and I feel he the second best HB in the big 12 to Lache Seastrunk of Baylor. The fact that Texas has three HB’s capable of being starters (Gray, Brown, Bergeron) scares me a lot.
Whisenant: Can the Longhorns right the ship, or are fans indeed headed for a 4 or 5 win season?
Starkey: Well I don’t know if Texas can fully right the ship and compete for the Big 12, but I do believe the fact that the Big 12 lacks elite teams this season should bold well for the longhorns. I believe Texas should defeat Iowa State, KU, and West Virginia for sure. Then I haven’t bought into the hype around TCU, or Texas Tech and I see those as definitely winnable games for Texas as well. The three games that concern me for Texas are OU, O-State, and Baylor. I don’t believe Texas will be able to stop O-State, and especially Baylor. But I think worst case this Texas teams 6 wins best case 9 (10 including a bowl game).
Whisenant: Â Give us a score prediction
Starkey: Well I see this game going one of two ways. The first way is that K-State exploits Texas’s defense and the zone-read rushing attack for Texas destroys the Texas defense. I feel K-State could be capable of scoring 40-50 points on this defense, and if they do so the offense for Texas will be discouraged and K-State wins 48-27. The other way is that I see Texas rallying around Mack Brown, and although the defense struggles, the offense does just enough to beat K-State in a shootout with Texas winning 41-38. I also believe this is the most likely scenario, so I will go with 41-38 Texas.
The Kansas State Wildcats (2-1) square off against the Texas Longhorns (1-2) at DKR Saturday Night. ABC will carry the game with Kirk Herbstreit and Brent Musburger on the call. The Longhorns are currently a 4.5 point favorite.