Eight completed passes, 3.6 yards per carry, 10 first downs, 213 yards of total offense. The 2022 game against Iowa State at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium went down as a win for Kansas in the record books, but has remained one of the Jayhawks’ poorest offensive performances of the last two seasons.
The Cyclones’ 3-3-5 defense essentially means that they start out with an extra safety dropped back for an eight-man base pass coverage. When paired with fundamentally sound players who are comfortable in coordinator Jon Heacock’s system, it can be a pain for Big 12 Conference offenses, even those as typically dynamic as the Jayhawks’.
“Through the years as you continue to go against it, it’s consistently been one of the top defenses since we’ve been in the league,” KU offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki said Wednesday. “That’s still true today.”
The 3-3-5 look has become popular in the Big 12; “The windows get a little bit tighter when there’s an extra guy running around there,” Kotelnicki added. The Jayhawks have already seen it this year because OSU defensive coordinator Bryan Nardo brought it with him from Division II Gannon University; KU left tackle Dominick Puni said ISU’s look is also similar to those of Kansas State and TCU.
But as Kotelnicki puts it, the Cyclones are “the originators,” the team that brought the scheme into the league.
“They have a good structure, they’re coached very well, I think they’re going to be sound and disciplined with what they do,” quarterback Jason Bean said.
It helps ISU, which is tops in the Big 12 and 25th in the nation in total defense, that beyond the scheme it has the personnel to make life difficult for opposing quarterbacks like Bean. That includes players like reigning second-team All-Big 12 cornerback T.J. Tampa, who was also the Cyclones’ lone preseason all-league selection, prior to a surprising conference season that has seen them surge into a tie for first place.
They also have one of the national leaders in interceptions with Jeremiah Cooper, who has five on the year, and a top tackler in the conference in Beau Freyler, who has 57. Both start at safety along with Malik Verdon, though head coach Matt Campbell said this week it’s “50/50” whether Cooper will be able to play against KU.
Tampa, Freyler and Myles Purchase have all started at least 17 consecutive games in the secondary for Iowa State, making for three of the four longest such streaks on an otherwise young team.
The Jayhawks, on the other hand, are a comparatively old team with massive amounts of returning production, especially on offense. That experience, not to mention having faced other teams with three high safeties, gives them confidence entering the matchup. Wide receiver Lawrence Arnold, who made the biggest catch of the season from Bean last Saturday against Oklahoma, said of the 3-3-5 that its coverages can make things a little more difficult, but “it’s not a picture that I’m not familiar with.”
“When you study up (on) film a lot,” Arnold said, “you know what you’re going against and what coverages and looks they’ll show at certain moments and times.”
Kotelnicki has shown a proclivity for tailoring his scheme to each opponent. For example, the Jayhawks leaned heavier than ever on direct snaps to running back Devin Neal against Oklahoma, but Kotelnicki openly said Wednesday that such plays probably won’t show up as much in the future.
He’ll have a chance to throw in some more wrinkles Saturday at 6 p.m., in Ames, Iowa.
AP Photo/Matthew Putney
