Saturday, September 02, 2006

Rambling: New Coach, Old Result

In case any KSU football fans had any questions about whether it was the coaching or the players who fell off during the past few years at K-State, today's game against Illinois State should leave no doubt. KSU barely eeked out a win, 24-23, and they needed an unusual play to do it -- recovering a kickoff muffed by Illinois State and returning it for a touchdown.

The offense was not good. The epitome of the offense's problems was the first play of the game: Meier overthrew his receiver, resulting in an interception. Throughout the game, the offense struggled, including having trouble running out the clock late in the fourth quarter.
As bad as the offense was, however, the defense was even worse. The poor pass coverage that has plagued K-State throughout its recent fall from the elite showed up again. K-State seemed unable to cover Illinois State receiver's consistently. K-State was outgained by about 100 yards.
The overall result of the game was the same as when Coach Snyder was in charge. Changing coaches has not done much. K-State needs better players if it ever hopes to become an elite football program again.

1 comment:

B. D. Mooneyham said...

Yea, it was pretty crazy being in the student section with all the spine-tingling excitement and anticipation. Everybody's pumped, we receive the kickoff, have a decent return. Then, first play of the game, we're all yelling and cheering, and . . . interception. Our jaws dropped. And the noise quickly changed from cheering to cursing.

And it didn't get much better for the rest of the game.