The case for Will Howard at QB

[AJcat7755]

But it's not 100% Thompson that is not getting it done. QB play wasn't the biggest problem that needed to be addressed. The OL, and lack of a running game was far more the problem then Thompson's play. Changing QBs wasn't going to stop the failed runs up the middle or the lack of time for the QB to pass the ball.

Biggest problem was our playcalling. Just like it was in the Navy game and much of the second half of last season. Or scheme. Zero trick plays. Ark State ran tricks and they worked.

One team played to win. One team played like they had it won.

There will be plenty of games with CK as coach where the team cannot run in the future. Better figure out an alternative starting with playcalling and ending at an alternative QB.

We lost to an Ark St team with 9 starters missing and did nothing. NOTHING...to change the course of the game. The lack of creativity and willingness to try things was nuts. Same thing against Navy.

New oline or not, K-State should not lose to Ark St under any circumstances. Bill Snyder won B12 games with 3rd string QB's who didn't even start in HS or Juco at QB. Enough with the excuses.

I have been a fan of CK, but right now he is having a Who Moved My Cheese moment. He needs to adapt. He doesn't have overwhelming superior personnel like he had at NDSU.

Which is why all the talk about changing QBs is meaningless. Insert Howard in with the same play calling and it's still a loss. I would even argue the offense would have been more conservative with a freshman QB in there and the result could have been even worse. Doubtful the staff would trust Howard with some of the same passes they trusted Thompson with, even if he missed on some of them. Everyone jumping to blame Thompson and campaign for the backup QB when that really wasn't the issue.

[Hypeman]

Biggest problem was our playcalling. Just like it was in the Navy game and much of the second half of last season. Or scheme. Zero trick plays. Ark State ran tricks and they worked.

One team played to win. One team played like they had it won.

There will be plenty of games with CK as coach where the team cannot run in the future. Better figure out an alternative starting with playcalling and ending at an alternative QB.

We lost to an Ark St team with 9 starters missing and did nothing. NOTHING...to change the course of the game. The lack of creativity and willingness to try things was nuts. Same thing against Navy.

New oline or not, K-State should not lose to Ark St under any circumstances. Bill Snyder won B12 games with 3rd string QB's who didn't even start in HS or Juco at QB. Enough with the excuses.

I have been a fan of CK, but right now he is having a Who Moved My Cheese moment. He needs to adapt. He doesn't have overwhelming superior personnel like he had at NDSU.

Which is why all the talk about changing QBs is meaningless. Insert Howard in with the same play calling and it's still a loss. I would even argue the offense would have been more conservative with a freshman QB in there and the result could have been even worse. Doubtful the staff would trust Howard with some of the same passes they trusted Thompson with, even if he missed on some of them. Everyone jumping to blame Thompson and campaign for the backup QB when that really wasn't the issue.

It’s too early to cash it in on Thompson. The question about Thompson will be next year. Surely he’ll be back unless he graduates and decides to transfer for grad school or something.

[tmcats]

Biggest problem was our playcalling. Just like it was in the Navy game and much of the second half of last season. Or scheme. Zero trick plays. Ark State ran tricks and they worked.

One team played to win. One team played like they had it won.

There will be plenty of games with CK as coach where the team cannot run in the future. Better figure out an alternative starting with playcalling and ending at an alternative QB.

We lost to an Ark St team with 9 starters missing and did nothing. NOTHING...to change the course of the game. The lack of creativity and willingness to try things was nuts. Same thing against Navy.

New oline or not, K-State should not lose to Ark St under any circumstances. Bill Snyder won B12 games with 3rd string QB's who didn't even start in HS or Juco at QB. Enough with the excuses.

I have been a fan of CK, but right now he is having a Who Moved My Cheese moment. He needs to adapt. He doesn't have overwhelming superior personnel like he had at NDSU.

Which is why all the talk about changing QBs is meaningless. Insert Howard in with the same play calling and it's still a loss. I would even argue the offense would have been more conservative with a freshman QB in there and the result could have been even worse. Doubtful the staff would trust Howard with some of the same passes they trusted Thompson with, even if he missed on some of them. Everyone jumping to blame Thompson and campaign for the backup QB when that really wasn't the issue.

k-state scored plenty of points to win that game. yet almost every facet of team play failed, including our field goal specialist who is on every preseason award watch list. he hits those two and k-state wins. so putting this loss on any single factor, particularly skylar, is absurd.

[MajorAppleCat]

Thompson has not improved. There were many instances Saturday where if he had tucked the ball and ran he would have made positive yardage. This is especially important when the line cannot hold long in pass protection. In fact the games that KState won in the past were due to his running the ball, not passing. (With the exception of his winning pass in the Iowa State game several years ago.)

The difference between Thompson and Colin Klien is that Klien understood his limitations. He knew that he was a better runner than passer. When Klein got in open field he was difficult to stop. Thompson still believes he can complete passes which to date, has not occurred. Until Thompson starts running the ball, and becoming a threat to the line backers, KState will continue to lose games. KState is too one dimensional when all he does is hand off to a running back or try to chuck the ball downfield.

[wazucat]

Thompson has not improved. There were many instances Saturday where if had tucked the ball and ran he would have made positive yardage. This is especially important when the line cannot hold long in pass protection. In fact the games that KState won in the past were due to his running the ball, not passing. (With the exception of his winning pass in the Iowa State game several years ago.)

The difference between Thompson and Colin Klien is that Klien understood his limitations. He knew that he was a better runner than passer. When Klein got in open field he was difficult to stop. Thompson still believes he can complete passes which to date, has not occurred. Until Thompson starts running the ball, and becoming a threat to the line backers, KState will continue to lose games. KState is to one dimensional when all he does is hand off to a running back or try to chuck the ball downfield.

but CK said they had to abandon the QB run game after Skylar was dinged up, Ark State coaches saw that and took advantage, we are not going to beat anyone with OL play like game one but I am also sure that the OL will get better

[gdgjr78]

Which is why all the talk about changing QBs is meaningless. Insert Howard in with the same play calling and it's still a loss. I would even argue the offense would have been more conservative with a freshman QB in there and the result could have been even worse. Doubtful the staff would trust Howard with some of the same passes they trusted Thompson with, even if he missed on some of them. Everyone jumping to blame Thompson and campaign for the backup QB when that really wasn't the issue.

k-state scored plenty of points to win that game. yet almost every facet of team play failed, including our field goal specialist who is on every preseason award watch list. he hits those two and k-state wins. so putting this loss on any single factor, particularly skylar, is absurd.

At this point its not just last game where the offense performed sub par (31 points after being practically handed a td by STs against a poor defense is not impressive). The last half of last year even with a senior laden OL the offense performed pretty poorly. ST and the OC both deserve criticism imo because the STs and defense bailed them out numerous times over that span.

[tmcats]

pfff, skylar had his best game against the league's best team last year and despite our defense, he pulled off the season's biggest upset. he also single-handedly destroyed ku.

[gdgjr78]

pfff, skylar had his best game against the league's best team last year and despite our defense, he pulled off the season's biggest upset. he also single-handedly destroyed ku.

OU's defense was not good but that was a good performance by the offense. If you're hanging your hat on beating up on ku's defense you're proving my point. KSU ran the ball nearly 2/3 of the time on first down against ASU. Out of those 19 carries the offense gained 55 yards.
20 of those yards came on a wr jet sweep so if you take that out we ran 18 times on first down for a grand total of 35 yards. ASU was absolutely selling out to stop the run and thats less than 2 yards a carry but KSU just kept trying to do it over and over and over. Defense and STs had serious problems as well but that shouldn't alter the fact that QB play and play calling were problems too.

I'm also not necessarily calling for Howard to play either but the entire offense needs to be better and that includes ST and the OC.

[tmcats]

bump for experts' review.

[KITNooga]

these threads are fun to read, in context of final score at OU, with clock reading 'zeroes'.

someone remind me: did OU cover?