No. 17 K-State Overcomes Ireland Hangover in Week 1

Johnson Not the Problem

Johnson is not the problem with the Wildcats this season. So far on the season he is 49-of-73 for 591 yards and five touchdowns adding 64 yards rushing with one touchdown. He has done this without one of the best offensive weapons—running back Dylan Edwards—K-State has to offer being down with an ankle injury after muffing the first punt return of the season against Iowa State. The numbers could actually be more impressive if there were not some key drops from the wide receivers. 

Issues All Around

Offense

In week one the offense opened the game conservatively opting to run the ball into the stacked Iowa State defense. Losing a playmaker like Edwards and a very sloppy field at Aviva Stadium can be contributed to that issue. By the time offensive coordinator Matt Wells made changes to the gameplan it was too late to help them get over the hump. The offensive coaching staff made a change against North Dakota throwing the ball more than Kansas State normally does, leading to Johnson dropping back to pass 45 times. While the change made the K-State offense have more explosiveness in their second game, the offense still at times struggled to sustain drives.

Defense

Against Iowa State the defense played well throughout most of the game until late where depth and conditioning became a problem. With it being the first game of the season some of those issues can be expected. This week against North Dakota the defense was feast or famine. They had three sacks, 10 tackles for a loss and one forced fumble, and even held North Dakota to minus-10 yards in the third quarter. When they were not being disruptive North Dakota moved the ball at will scoring 35 points. Head coach Chris Klieman in the postgame press conference said the defense had “discipline issues” that became evident when they kept losing assignments on pre-snap “eye candy.” Klieman went on to promise that defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman and himself would fix the problems. 

Special Teams

The special teams in two straight weeks have had two turnovers—the muffed punt by Edwards and a fumble by Bryce Noernberg on a kickoff return against North Dakota. One bright spot for the special teams has been junior college transfer kicker Luis Rodriguez. He has gone 1-of-1 on field goals and 8-of-8 on PATs.

Ireland Hangover

Since 2020 when the Aer Lingus College Football Classic started, at least one of two of the teams that played in the game had a losing record. Headlined by 2024 preseason No. 10 Florida State who ended up being 2-10. Iowa State looks to be on their way to avoid that setback after their convincing 55-7 win over South Dakota. Leaving Kansas State as the team that needs to figure it out. 

In 2011 K-State beat Eastern Kentucky 10-7 and still finished 10-3 that season. Two years later in 2013 they lost to North Dakota State but finished the season 8-5. Struggling against an FCS opponent is not ideal but it is not the end of the season and things can be fixed.

Klieman has won eight or more games every season—minus the COVID year—he has been at K-State, so if there is a coach and a staff that can figure it out, it is his staff.