The Nightmare: What I saw

       Bryce Brown against Western Kentucky (via Tennessee Journalist)

 -Ty Zimmerman did not muff a punt, according to many recaps on the web, it was actually Curry Sexton.

 -Tyler Lockett got big cheers once he made his first catch. Then came the fumble.....

-Collin Klein looked average. He had some ugly passes, but most of the time he was on target. His interception was a lob on 3rd and 23, so he didn't really care what happened to that ball. It was basicly a punt.

 -Brodrick Smith didn't put a lot of effort into his play. Collin Klien threw a beautiful deep pass play to the sideline, it was right in front of Smith, but he didn't make any effort at all to catch it. That was the last we saw of him.

-Tyson Hartman supposedly went out with an injury. I didn't see it, but heard it after the game.

-Apart from the fumble, Bryce Brown looked good. He had a 10 yard run, a 5 yard run, and a 1 yard fumble. During the fumble, he was trying to get as many yards as he could. He was pushing, really pushing and trying hard to get some extra yards. Too bad he didn't pay attention to the football. If I were Bill Snyder, I'd make him the starter.

 -The offensive line is awful. If you are a Chiefs fan and complaining about your offensive line, you haven't seen anything yet. It seemed like every play the Eastern Kentucky DE's would break through the line and tackle the running backs for loss. The even blocked a punt (well, sort of). Since when has that happened?

-John Hubert looked average to me. He had a 20 yard run, and a couple of other runs for large chunks of yardage. But apart from those, he was just picking up 2 yard gains or less. He rushed for 93 yards, but with the number of carries he got, the other running backs could do that too no doubt.

-Angelo Pease isn't a great running back. At least, that was my conclusion after seeing him with limited playing time. But, perhaps a lot of it was the OL problems. But, what he did well was play in the wildcat. He had a long run out of the wildcat, can't remember the yardage, but it worked out well. When he gets into space, he can use his speed to gash defenses.

-No Tramaine Thompson

-Jordan Voelker had a great game. He had 2 sacks and a couple of big tackles.

-Arthur Brown had a quiet 1st game. He only had one or two tackles. I actually saw him miss a fairly easy tackle early in the 1st quarter, but don't worry, I haven't seen him miss one since. He made a great tackle along the sideline though. He used all of the armstrengh he had to pull the runner down, and Arthur was on his back while doing this. My guess was that EKU tried to stay away from Arthur as much as possible, as not a lot of runs were straight up the middle.

  -Vai Lutui looked decent too, listing one sack and a key tackle for loss.

-Sammy Lamur and Justin Tuggle did not play

-The run defense is the real deal, holding EKU's starting running back to only 1.9 yards per carry. As it may not be elite yet, it is a huge improvement from a team that gave up over 40 points to North Texas.

-Sheldon Smith isn't too good in open space. After catching a pass in the flat from Klein, he just stood there, almost waiting to be tackled. He's going to need to get quicker reflexes.

 -Robert Rose as far as I could see, was not in the game. Perhaps he is out of the running back competition?

-Chris Harper is the hero of the game. He had a drop early in the game, trying to run before securing his catch. But, the thing about Harper I notice is that he makes big catches when you need them the most. He didn't fail this time, catching a 38 yard TD pass from Klein in the 4th. Oh yeah, he had a 47 yard kick return that set up a Cantelle field goal attempt too.

  -Meshak Williams did okay. He had a nice tackle for loss, but was offsides during which would have been an interception. Lucky for him, Malone had another interception the next play.

-Not a lot of penetlys for K-State in this game. A key one was a illegal block on a 27 yard kick return by Tyler Lockett.

 -Oviously, Bill Snyder is a little clueless on special teams returners right now. We saw a little bit of everyone returning punts and kickoffs. Tyler Lockett and Chris Harper looked the best, and David Garrett wasn't too bad either. Curry Sexton and Tyson Hartman need some work.

 -The center struggled. He snapped the ball way too high during one play, causing a turnover, and then had a problem during a play with Klein under center. Maybe it was partly Klein's fault, I don't know.

-Nigel Malone had two key interceptions, one on 3rd and goal and another on Eastern Kentucky's final drive. Big 12 blogger, David Ubben, had this to say about Nigel:

Best defensive player: Nigel Malone, CB, Kansas State. In his first-ever game, the Wildcats' juco transfer intercepted a pass in the end zone and picked off another on the final drive to seal the Wildcats' 10-7 win against Eastern Kentucky. In a game that close and that low-scoring, those kinds of plays are monumental.

What they need to do next game on offense:

 -Get rid of the ball quick. Pass the ball to guys like Pease or Lockett in the backfield and take advantage of their speed.

  -Use the wildcat. Pease is able to do it, and you can even offset the defense by passing it with Pease a little.

 -Hold Braden Wilson to pass block. We are going to need all of the help we can get blocking, and holding him back could help.

 -Use Justin Tuggle. In a quick firing offense, we don't need a great passer. With the offensive line so messed up, we need someone agile enough to dodge potential sacks. Tuggle can do that, and he is much more agile than Klein. Tuggle supposedly runs the offense the best, and in a quick tempo offense, we need as much of that as we can get.

 -Start Bryce Brown. Give him a chance, but don't foget to teach him to hold on to the ball.

 *Don't give up Wildcat nation, Iowa slid past Northern Iowa 10-7 a few years back, but then went on to win the Orange Bowl. There is still hope!