The Good, The Bad, The Ugly: TCU
The Good
Special Teams.
Prior to the game, I predicted that Special Teams could provide the spark the Wildcats needed to win against TCU. Jonathon Alexander did just that - as he blocked a punt in the 1st half to set up the first K-State touchdown.
That was probably the play of the game, aside from maybe Thompson's long run on the game-winning drive. Prior to the blocked punt, the offense hadn't done anything, and it set them up with a very short field.
On top of the blocked punt, Joshua Youngblood had two kickoff returns and averaged 30 yards per return. He's been a step up on Phillip Brooks to this point in the season in the kick return game.
Devin Anctil was the best punter in the nation, averaging 49 yards per punt. Another way of looking at it, TCU's punter averaged 36 yards per punt. That means when both teams punted, we netted a 13-yard victory which is huge in a defensive battle. The coverage units were also solid, as TCU only had one return all day and it was a kickoff return for 17 yards.
Last but not least, Blake Lynch remained solid in the kicking game. He was 3/3 on extra points and nailed his only field goal on the day.
The Bad
The offense. Hey -- this is an upgrade - last week the ugly was the offense and this week they are just the bad!
The Wildcats mustered just 266 yards of total offense against a solid TCU defense. K-State continues to struggle on 3rd down, as they converted just 4 of their 13 attempts. The running game was brutal - as the Cats averaged 2.8 yards per carry on 33 attempts. This includes the 61 yard rush from Skylar Thompson.
The passing offense helped make up for the inefficiencies in the run game. Thompson was sharp again, though he did miss a couple of throws that could have been big gains. K-State was boosted by the return of Malik Knowles in the 2nd half - here's hoping he'll be available for the full game against Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Ugly
Tackling.
The K-State defense has been pretty good overall, thanks in large part to some great pass defense statistics. Part of that could be that the run defense has been so bad that teams haven't been as reliant on throwing the football.
K-State is giving up 195 yards per game on the ground on the season. That number jumps all the way up to 253 yards per game in Big 12 play. The good news here is that Scottie Hazelton's unit was much sharper in their pre-snap alignment and post-snap gap responsibilities against TCU.
The bad news is that tackling and wrapping up is continuing to be a serious issue for this team. Too often we have seen the K-State defense go for big hits and trying to force turnovers that resulted in giving up unnecessary yards. I think a lot of this is mental but there is also a physical/talent aspect to it as well.
The task doesn't get any easier against a loaded OU offense this week.
