K-STATE WEEK

[obc]

Just finished watching the game again and took some notes:

Watching it live, I was pretty disappointed. Watching it again, I feel a little different about some aspects of how USD played.

K-State scoring on the first offensive play was just USD not being ready from the first snap for the speed of a Big 12 team. Good execution by K-State and poor angles and perimeter play by USD.

Unforced errors stood out in two main areas - dropped balls and penalties. I lost count of the catchable balls dropped by WRs, TEs, RBs. If it hits your hands, catch the ball. The false starts and lazy holding penalties killed drives. Both of those put the USD offense off schedule. When that happens, USD is put into 2nd and 3rd and long situations. Those generally translate to the OC calling more pass attempts and took some of our run game play calls away. Had the team stayed on schedule, I believe USD would have had even more success on the ground. Short yardage runs were awful, but Lawrence averaged 6 yards a carry, Theis averaged 5.1 yards a carry, and Mansaray averaged 4.7 yards a carry.

Our OL really struggled pass blocking at crucial times. K-State was just more athletic and skilled up front, and when the K-State defense knew USD was in certain pass downs, they could pin their ears back and cause problems.
Our OL also really struggled to get push on short yardage situations. That was extremely disappointing from a group that I had hoped to see more from this year.

Camp did not have a great game by his standards. His WRs did not help him out with the dropped passes. He missed an almost certain TD pass by overthrowing the WR in the second half. That happens, but it can't against a top quality opponent if you want to have a chance to win. We have seen him play better in the past, and I believe he will. Being off schedule hurt his effectiveness too.

Besides the first play of the game, the USD defense did some very good things. 4 sacks and 9 TFLs is pretty solid against a team like K-State. The USD secondary did a great job blanketing some speedy and skilled K-State WRs all game long. Tackling for the most part was also good - especially in open space.

Special teams: The first time USD punted, it was almost blocked. The second USD punt was obviously worse - blocked with a scoop and score. Need to execute and get the punt off more quickly. The punter seemed to be slow in that department. Very disappointing.

The one kick that USD returned was taken 35 yards - that was impressive to see. K-State is good on coverage and has a lot of speed.

Catch the ball when it hits your hands, stop making unforced or lazy penalties and the USD team will be much better. The team needs a WR or two to step up and be a true possession receiver that Camp can depend on.
The OL needs to step up and play to their ability. Jensen was out and that hurt, but no excuses. The team has had time to build depth. Hopefully Lombard and Jensen will be healthy next week.

I do think the defense for the most part played with passion and fire. The offense didn't appear to have that same fire or swagger. These things can be hard to tell, but that is what I saw watching the game again closely.

Montana will be a great challenge, but not as good as K-State. The environment may be tougher than K-State though. I believe we will see a much improved Coyote team this coming Saturday.

[canislatrans]

Sept 5, 2022 15:29:32 GMT -6 yoteforever said:

Sept 4, 2022 9:52:44 GMT -6 canislatrans said:

Likes:
1) DBs play
2) DLs play - sacks and TFLs
3) Running game, except on 4th downs (though running game obviously overshadowed by the quick 14 pt. setback and by KSU's big runs)
4) Youngsters getting playing time in a 'big game' setting

Dislike:
1) Offense didn't have a "got your back" response to Defense letting TD run on 1st play
2) Blocked punt
3) 0-4 on 4th down
4) Dropped and overthrown passes (a couple would have been sure big gainers/TDs)
5) No Alex Jensen

Eagerly awaiting the Montana game. Last night's game, though a bummer, has really raised my interest in seeing the Yotes matched against an FCS foe, even the #3 FCS team. We won't be playing anyone even remotely as talented as KSU the remainder of the year.

I wished you were right but I don’t think you are. Montana, NDSU are on the same playing field. This isn’t a great K-State team. Maybe 5th/6th in Big 12.

The bright side is we played as awful as we could play. That can and has to improve. Ido think we can win Saturday but we have to play fired up. Once again this was an emotionless team. We need to play on fire.

I may have overstated it (my tendency) anxious to see the FCS portion of the schedule. I agree with the KSU announcers about how the gap between FCS and FBS is narrowing, and I certainly don't discount the top 3 FCS teams, we'll certainly be the chaser as we face them. It will be interesting to see how KSU progresses in the Big 12 this year. I agree this week and following the Yotes need to be fired up and focused on technique and execution!

[bobo]

Just got to finally watch the K-State game.  Couple observations.

1- We actually ran the ball much better than I thought we would, but not too bad.  Yes, K-State misfit a bunch of gaps, but we took advantage of it.


2- Penalties were killer against us.  Some will happen in a game, but it was absolutely deadly in this game.  Way too many that put us in bad D & D situations.

3- 1st play of the game, although a major blow to confidence early, looked like we had not prepared at all for that Jet motion in the game preparation because of the late reaction to it by the LBs and the safeties who lost major leverage.  Would have thought we had prepped that based off them having a running QB.  Overall though, we handled their offense ok, except in the run game fits at times vs perimeter runs. Sorry but their QB can't throw at all or go through read progressions, so I thought we would have sold out and forced him to win by throwing the ball. Got to take away something.  Overall, the defense was put in some bad situations and handled it ok vs a good team.

4- Offensively, we called the game scared especially early in the game.  Extremely gun shy and timid.  Funny how we only started throwing the ball more than 5 yards downfield when we had our backups in the game. Never tried to by formations, get our best players the ball on RPOs and our 3rd down passing game menu is awful.  Can't believe we can't scheme up better pass concepts on 3rd down to attack down and distance or coverages.  On a positive note, our running backs are very good!! If you look at the game, our top two returning WRs only had 2 catches and one of them didn't have a catch at all.  PLAYERS-FORMATIONS-PLAYS that's how plays should be called, not the other way around.  

5- With all the coulda, shoulda, woulda, the speed and athleticism upfront on both sides and the ability to close out on WRs after the catch or on the RB on runs was the major difference in the game. Those FBS teams have 11 players that can play at that level and we maybe had 3-4 on each side of the ball that can.  Over a full game, it wears FCS teams out typically. 

Now on to Montana, should be a great game! 

[sdyotefan]

I agree our play calling at the start of the game was timid.

Run up the middle for 1-2 or no gain. Throw several WR screens for little or no gain and our WRs get drilled. I hate that play! Understand the concept is to widen the D but it is low return high risk play. If successful 3-5 yds and often can be INT or get WR hurt. Max use should be 1-2 times per game.

I'm assuming we didn't want to give our FCS opponents a wide variety of play calls on film.

Hopefully O play calling will be much more varied in future games.

Still super excited about Yote FB!!!

[sdyotefan]

K State beats #6 Oklahoma @ OK 41-34!

K State is for real!