Five Keys to Kansas St

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

NE Statepaper

 

Five Keys To Kansas State

Huskers head to Manhattan with goals and tests in mind

by Samuel McKewon

 

November 13, 2008

 

It’s been ten years – almost to the day - since The Sign. Since the “losers turn here” placard some Kansas State fan placed at the “turn” in Marysville, Kan., as the Nebraska football team headed for home after a 40-30 loss. Since the uncalled facemask penalty so awful that it seemed like a magic trick. Since old, officially impartial men wept in the Kansas State press box. Since KSU celebrated its greatest win in history by tearing down the goalposts and parading them through Aggieville in Manhattan.

 

Nov. 14, 1998. A dark, dramatic day for Husker fans. A joyous night for Every Man A Wildcat. It looked like a stone cold lock for a blood rivalry. NU didn’t like KSU. KSU didn’t like NU. And both teams were good enough – and similar enough – to make this thing a good ten-year prairie war. I recall a guy on my dorm floor, storming up and down the halls that night, threatening to kill Travis Ochs if he ever met him in person.

 

What the hell happened in the last decade?

 

Kansas State fans watched legend Bill Snyder retire. Nebraska fired two coaches. KSU fired one of its own. Missouri and Kansas decided to stop dithering around and get with the times. And Oklahoma put the wheels back on its formidable schooner. Mostly, NU got a little behind the curve and Kansas State found itself where it remains still: scrapping for four-year talent, relying too heavily on small, inexperienced junior college players with bad habits to break.

 

So no, it’s not the same. Even with Nebraska’s 73-31 win last year, in which then-coach Bill Callahan turned into a mercenary and intended to show a disapproving Memorial Stadium just how lethal his system could be, it isn’t the same.

 

And yet, this game has a feeling to it. It’s in the late afternoon, in that little pit of a stadium – now named after Snyder - where Nebraska’s won just once in the last five tries. The line in Las Vegas is conspicuously low. NU’s qualified for a bowl game, but wants more. KSU still thinks it can qualify for one by playing for its pride, its seniors and its deposed coach, Ron Prince.

 

“You’re playing a desperate football team,” Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said. “You’re playing someone with nothing to lose. We’re gonna get their best shot. I promise you. I know that. The team knows that.”

 

On with the keys.

 

Always Be Closing: In the world of Glengarry Glen Ross, coffee was for closers. So, too, should it be when it comes to bowl games. While Nebraska has already qualified for a bowl game, the Insight Bowl, stuck on the NFL Network against some low-grade Big East team is no prize. The Gator Bowl, with its New Year’s Day pedigree, looms. The Sun Bowl, which enjoys a good history and happens to be near the great football teams of West Texas, looms too.

 

As promising as win over Kansas might have been, a strong follow-up on the road might be even better. And if Colorado gives Oklahoma State fits this weekend (and we think it might) it would set up a pretty terrific showdown two weeks from now, the day after Thanksgiving.

 

“We need to go out there and make a statement,” NU defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “We’re not done. Although their team is in tough situation, we’re not going to lay off. We’re going to put our foot on the pedal and go.”

 

The Specials: It’s a factor again this week, as Nebraska faces a coach and a team as committed to excellence in the third phase as Virginia Tech. The Wildcats haven’t enjoyed the same success this year as the Hokies – KSU is merely average in a lot of the return categories – but their kicker, Brooks Rossman, is serviceable and Deon Murphy is a dangerous returner. While Nebraska’s punt coverage has generally been good, NU has struggled, at times, against speedy kick returners. It’s important that kickoff specialist Adi Kunalic have a good game against a team looking for energy from the special teams unit.

 

“There’s a heightened awareness of how well they’ve done,” said defensive ends coach John Papuchis, who works closely with the special teams units. “They’re good, on all their units. They make big plays…they execute well, but they’re very fundamentally sound. Everything they do is technique based, and they do it well.”

 

Prince of the JUCOs: It’s well known that Kansas State left the fate of its awful defense in 2007 in the hands of junior college transfer linebackers in 2008. The results have been even uglier, in fact; most teams can run on Kansas State’s 110th-ranked defense at will. While KSU has a decent secondary, its linebackers just aren’t big enough to handle 60 minutes of punishment from offensive linemen. Laterally, they’re not bad. But if Nebraska plows right at them?

 

“From the games I’ve seen, Kansas and Oklahoma, it was the backs hitting the holes hard and their offensive lines blocking well and (the running backs) making people miss,” sophomore back Roy Helu, Jr. said. “(The Wildcats) are fast though, so you have to get them going one way and split them the other.”

 

Freeman Factor: Kansas State quarterback Josh Freeman might always be a sore subject with some Husker fans – especially if KSU were to upset NU’s apple cart this weekend. The immensely gifted, slightly aloof giant – he’s six-foot-six and, by the looks of it, well north of the 250 pounds at which he’s listed - gets a bit of a bad rap – from NU fans, and Wildcat fans – for his play; he has no running game to support his rocket arm, and when he overthrows receivers, it’s good to remember that two of them, Deon Murphy and Brandon Banks, are about as tall as your average eighth-grader. Aubrey Quarles isn’t much bigger.

 

Freeman is no Joe Ganz; you wonder if the kid makes a joke, or even knows how. For two years he’d sit quietly on the bench, talking to almost no one, when the offense wasn’t on the field. He’s graduated to standing on the sidelines, talking to almost no one. If Freeman is a team leader, he’s not a conventional one.

 

Still, Freeman shows flashes of what caught Bill Callahan’s eyes three years ago. Same stuff catches Pelini’s eye now.

 

“When he’s hot, he’s pretty good and he’s hot most of the time,” Pelini said. “He’s a good football player. I think he runs the offense well and makes good decisions. He’s got the arm strength to make any throw.”

 

Freeman’s got just enough mobility, too. Coupled with his size, he makes a tough load to bring down in the open field – although NU did a good job of it in 2007, sacking him six times.

 

“We’ve faced a lot of mobile quarterbacks this year,” Papuchis said. “He just happens to be a little bigger than some of them…you have to make sure you wrap up and tackle him high.”

 

A Bolt from the Purple: Last year in Lincoln, some fans held out hope that Nebraska might beat Kansas State in a close game. But no one expected 73-31. No one imagined that NU, having limped through the season, had a performance like that in it – especially from a moribund, unmotivated defense that harassed Freeman all day and forced two interceptions. And no one imagined that Nebraska’s offense, and Ganz, would have a game for the record books. Ganz’s great game - 510 yards and seven touchdowns – was inconceivable. But it happened.

 

“It was just one of those days where everything came together,” Ganz said. “The play calls we’re perfect for the defenses that they were going to give us. Guys executed well. The protection was amazing. I don’t think we had one drop.”

 

It provides a lesson for this Saturday. KSU hasn’t played anything near its best game this year. It may not, either, given the turmoil in Manhattan. But NU ought to be prepared for the possibility.

[DJR313]

I am so glad Freeman didn't end up here. Doesn't seem to be mentally tough and doesn't seem to be much of a leader.

[JHaWk]

there is no way KSucks will beat NU. No fing way

[huskersok]

there is no way KSucks will beat NU. No fing way

[HuskerTrucker]

there is no way KSucks will beat NU. No fing way

UNLESS the Huskers go in overconfident - then expect a close game. Nebraska needs to show up ready to play 60 minutes of football. If they come to play 30 minutes, KSU may just jump on them, they will be up for this game because they figure it may be their last shot for a while to beat the Mighty Huskers.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

BLACKSHIRTS!!!! BRING ME THE HEAD OF JOSH FREEMAN!!!!!!

[Guy Chamberlin]

As a side note, I think we should appreciate the talents of Sam McKeown now, because he's talented enough to be writing for bigger markets, and probably will be soon.

[jayhawk]

As a side note, you guys are gonna whack these guys.... Ya just are.

[LouisianaHusker]

BLACKSHIRTS!!!! BRING ME THE HEAD OF JOSH FREEMAN!!!!!!

 

 

I'm thinking they are going to make Bo and Carl happy in the game against KSUcks.

[Vince from ShamWOW]

BLACKSHIRTS!!!! BRING ME THE HEAD OF JOSH FREEMAN!!!!!!

 

I want to see him facemasked like Crouch was and without a flag.

 

Pay backs baby.

[SkullandBones]

there is no way KSucks will beat NU. No fing way

UNLESS the Huskers go in overconfident - then expect a close game. Nebraska needs to show up ready to play 60 minutes of football. If they come to play 30 minutes, KSU may just jump on them, they will be up for this game because they figure it may be their last shot for a while to beat the Mighty Huskers.

 

No way Bo lets the Shirts go in overconfident, no way. NU rolls...... Whiskey for my men, beer for my BLACKSHIRTS!!!

[Kruzu]

BLACKSHIRTS!!!! BRING ME THE HEAD OF JOSH FREEMAN!!!!!!

Yeah.. I know it's a heart in his hands but it's way more dramatic than this one

GBR

[Husker Runner]

It must have been cold that day.

[SkullandBones]

yes, shrinkage, terrible thing.