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Kansas State is one of three FBS teams "doing some soul-searching" this week after suffering losses at the hands of FCS schools on the opening weekend of the college football season, as the Wildcats lost to the best of the FCS bunch in No. 1-ranked North Dakota State.
As the team prepares to play host to Louisiana-Lafayette in game No. 2, coach Bill Snyder mentioned a number of times in his Tuesday press conference that he liked what he had seen from his team since the setback to NDSU in its preparation for Saturday's game against the Ragin' Cajuns.
Here's a recap of the highlights:
"Based on our practice (Monday) night, I thought that in some segments of our game, we practiced better than we anytime since we started on Aug. 2. That's a positive thing. And really, it was that determination aspect of it that seemed to be on the field yesterday, and I appreciate that."
Snyder went on to specifically call out the offense line as a unit that practices the best on Monday. Here's hoping that the case, because the performance from the offensive line against NDSU was perhaps the worst in four years.
"I think it was - I truly do - and I've had players say that to me."
This was in response to being asked if the game against NDSU was a wake-up call. Obviously, we'll see where the Wildcats go from here, but I think the players' pride was damaged in the loss to the Bison, and Louisiana-Lafayette provides them the opportunity to make up for it.
"It was a combination of things. I think, No. 1, we didn't perform as we are capable of up front,and I think all of our young guys, I think they're embarrassed. ... Our offensive line had the best practice that I know that anybody has had since we started. They've taken some ownership."
Again, for K-State to be successful the rest of this season, the offensive line has to get better. WAY better. Hopefully they are good and mad now and take it out on all future opponents.
"If you had to put it all in a nutshell, you'd have to say that third-down conversions made the ballgame. In the last drive, they had 18 snaps and they had four third-down situations, and converted all four of them. One of them was a running pay and the other three were throws."
Snyder hit on perhaps the most torturous aspect of the game against NDSU - Kansas State couldn't get off the field on third down on defense. Whether it was third and 2 or third and 12, the Bison figured out ways to convert time and time again. It was reminiscent of many of the victories K-State has had over the past two seasons, whether opponents couldn't get the ball back from K-State's grind-it-out offense.
"As you look at Louisiana-Lafayette, it's a team coming off back-to=back 9-4 records. I was just watching a bit ago the Florida ballgame last year, and they gave Florida all they wanted, and late in the fourth quarter was when Florida finally won the ballgame."
Is the game against Louisiana-Lafayette another one of those "on paper" games that the Wildcats should win that will end up being a much closer game than expected?
"I threw my headset down and cut my hand ... because we hadn't put him in before."
Snyder, joking about his reaction after Daniel Sams ran for a touchdown on his first carry against NDSU.