Prince sings Jayhawks’ praises

By Tom Keegan     Oct 7, 2007

? Second-year Kansas State football coach Ron Prince spoke about the team that had just defeated his 24th-ranked Wildcats, 30-24, Saturday in a respectful way. As always, though, he stopped short of actually using the name of either the school or any of its players.

“We played a terrific football team today, a team that has balance offensively, can run the football and had a terrific quarterback who can pass it and make all the throws that are necessary to play and win in the game,” Prince said.

The team he referenced, of course, was Kansas University, the quarterback was sophomore Todd Reesing.

“We played a team that has a terrific defense, that can stop the run and a team that was able to put pressure on the quarterback,” Prince said. “This team really didn’t allow us to have any plays in the kicking game to impact the game. Today, they were clearly the better team.”

Kansas State senior receiver Jordy Nelson, who badly burned Aqib Talib on a sideline pattern, grew up in Riley County watching Bill Snyder’s teams dominate the Jayhawks.

“They are a good team,” Nelson said. “This rivalry is different than what it has been in the past. They’ve come a long way. They have athletes over there that are now making plays, and we have athletes here making plays. This rivalry is going to be a battle every year now.”

Junior defensive end Ian Campbell, like Nelson, came to Kansas State as a walk-on and blossomed into a star. He was considered undersized for his position.

“I was impressed with Todd Reesing,” Campbell said. “He’s not a very tall or big guy, but knowing myself personally, you can’t judge a book by its cover. I was impressed with how he handled himself, and he does very well when he scrambles as well. They’ve got a solid team, and he’s got a good receiving corps.”

Kansas State, which split road games with Auburn and Texas, held its first four opponents to 79.2 yards a game rushing on 2.3 yards a carry. Kansas gained 170 yards on the ground and averaged 4.4 yards per rush.

Kansas State sophomore safety Chris Carney, who had two of the three interceptions against Reesing, addressed the inability to stop the KU ground game.

“I’m not sure (why),” Carney said. “I haven’t gotten the chance to look at the film, but that’s one thing we’re really going to have to address coming into next week. It’s kind of new because usually we’re shutting down the run.”

Nelson summed up the loss: “We knew they were a good team. They’re playing really well right now. They’re solid all across the board, special teams, offense and defense. They didn’t give us anything. They made us earn everything, and we didn’t make enough plays.”

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