Kansas State football coach Bill Snyder, when pressed Monday, revealed more than he usually does during the weekly Big 12 conference call.
Much to his doctor’s chagrin, Snyder said, he eats just one meal a day. It’s very late at night, and sometimes it’s at Taco Bell. You could almost hear Snyder biting his tongue. Clearly, he wished he hadn’t given the opposition so much with which to work.
No matter. Kansas University coach Charlie Weis didn’t send a tape of Snyder’s revelations to scientists so that they could study how greasy food might influence play-calling. Secrecy isn’t the issue in Saturday’s mismatch of a Big 12 game. Everything else is the issue.
“This is not a trickery-and-deceit team,” Weis said of the Wildcats, who really do need to change their nickname to Powercats. “They’re going to smash it down your throat. And you better be ready to tackle both the quarterback and the running back because they’re going to have the ball in their hands a whole bunch of times in the game, and that’s what we’re up against.”
The quarterback, 6-foot-5, 226-pound senior Collin Klein from Loveland, Colo., reminds Weis a little of former Florida star and current New York Jets lightning rod Tim Tebow. The running back, 5-7, 191-pound junior John Hubert from Waco, Texas, makes Weis think of Joe Morris, the former Syracuse University and New York Giants fire hydrant of a highlight tape.
Hubert has rushed for more than 100 yards in three of the ‘Cats’ four games and averages 6.5 yards a carry.
Starting with Klein and Hubert and continuing through every other aspect of Snyder’s fourth team since he returned from a three-year retirement he regretted days into it, optimism for KU is impossible to find.
Beginning in the 2010 season, the Wildcats are 12-0 in home games against unranked opponents.
Weis has studied numbers for his own team, such as third-and-long, of which there figure to be many Saturday.
“We’re third and 10, it’s not a good situation for the good guys,” Weis said. “Not a good situation. Tells you don’t be third and 10.”
Eight snaps have come at that down and distance and Kansas has net yardage of minus-8 on the eight passing plays. Quarterback Dayne Crist is 1-for-6 for 12 yards and has been sacked twice for a loss of 20 yards.
In the 16 plays that led to the depressing down and distance, Crist is 0-for-11. Five running plays netted no gain.
As for KU’s greatest strength so far, forcing turnovers (13 in four games), that’s close to irrelevant. Apple turnovers aren’t on the Taco Bell menu. Four weeks into it, KSU has three turnovers.
For more encouraging numbers, research your chances of winning the $50 million Powerball jackpot.
