Yes, Kansas State won yesterday 45-37. They're 3-1 going into conference play with their only loss being on the road to a team from a BCS conference. All they have to do is win three more games to become bowl eligible.
So, why do I feel like that's such a longshot now?
First of all, I have to admit that I didn't go to the game on Saturday. I have season tickets, but before the season even started, we agreed to give them to relatives. Mainly, I gave them away because I just bought a new house, and I've been spending the vast majority of my weekends working on all sorts of projects. Also, since KSU was playing a team from the Sun Belt conference, I thought that I wouldn't really miss much...
Well, I guess that I was wrong.
Listening to the game in vivid "Wyattvision" (K-State fan codeword for listening to a game called by Wyatt Thompson) while seeding and fertilizing my lawn, I have to admit that I wanted to chuck my broadcast spreader halfway across my backyard on more than one occasion. Even while listening on the radio, I could 'see' the defense getting gashed for 335 rushing yards, and 509 total yards. Michael Desormeaux, the greatest dual-threat QB of all time per Ron Prince, ran for 98 yards and threw for another 136. His backfield mate, starting running back Tyrell Fenroy, ran for an astounding 183 yards on 20 carries.
No, I'm not making those numbers up. Louisiana, a Sun Belt team, rushed for 335 yards on 51 attempts. For those of you who are too lazy to get out your calculators, that breaks down to 6.6 yards a carry. Fenroy, alone, rushed for fifteen less yards than Kansas State did the entire day, and he did it on 25 less carries. His yards per carry averaged out to be 9.1. Let that sink in.
Now, I don't want to take anything away from a day where Lamark Brown had a coming out party at running back (137 yards, 1 TD), or a game where Josh Freeman broke the career record for passing yardage at KSU (6,238). Also, to their credit, the team fought through all of their deficiencies, stood up to a furious second half comeback by the Ragin' Cajuns, and marched down the field with a seven minute drive that ended in a field goal to put the game out of reach for Lousiana. And, like Coach Ron always likes to say, "I don't want to bedruge a win..."
But does that feel like a win to anyone? Sure, the scoreboard says it's a win, and it gets this team one step closer to bowl eligiblity, but does anyone really take more than a handful of positives from this game? Honestly, to this humble blogger, it certainly doesn't inspire confidence.
Going into conference play, I don't think many Kansas State fans feel very confident about their team picking up three conference victories. Sure, Texas A&M is awful, Iowa State has to come to Manhattan, and you'd like to think that KSU could squeak out a surprise win against some other team like Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, or Missouri. But, given that Louisville and Louisiana have laid out a very simple blueprint on how to completely dismantle this defense (i.e. Run the football. Anywhere.), it seems like KSU is in trouble.
Last week, in my open letter to Coach Prince, I laid out very simple expectations that I think most KSU fans have for this program. Again, those expectations weren't even remotely met. Sure, style points don't matter when you're not jockeying for a spot in the BCS title game, but getting pimp slapped, two straight games in a row, by mediocre teams doesn't really pass muster.
Eight games are left in this season, and the competition is only going to get tougher. Let's see if this coaching staff, and this team, can raise the bar.
If they can't, God help us all, because we're going to get obliterated.
Tsar bomba (via kuroiso)