How bad is Kansas State's offense? Plus, a shocker at the end | Daily Delivery

GoPowercat publisher Tim Fitzgerald offers his daily thoughts | The Kansas State Wildcats rolled into Houston on Saturday for their sixth Big 12 game of the season and lost 24-19. Following the upset defeat of the then-No. 17 Wildcats, fans have shown their disapproval of K-State's offense. Today, Fitz examines the raw stats of how the Cats stack up in the Big 12. Plus, while researching the official Big 12 statistics, Fitz came across a shocking statistic that needs an explanation.

[LifeofFitz]

I appreciate all of the comments. It's helping me assess content for the week. Believe me, there's more to come. This was just the starting point to lay the groundwork.

[commonsense-yf]

Hey Fitz, love listening to you. Just throwing in my two cents to keep this interesting. Stats are important for both players and coaches, as an old man that loves the game however, the only stat that actually matters is win and losses. Let me tell you stats that I see from watching the game.

KState passing - Receivers have jumping eyes syndrome. Avery is almost always trying to hit moving receivers. The passes across the middle where there is little separation does not give him a quality throw most of the time. Even the tight ends are always moving during the pass plays. See Colorado, Kansas city chiefs, timing patterns where the receiver is coming back directly or finding open spaces and sitting for the ball is very effective, Avery does not get to set up and hit his targets. He does throw well on the run, however it appears that there is a set route the receivers take and not much play on the fly. They do not exploit the mis matches, they have big tall tight ends, again thing Travis Kelce, play some basketball on the football field for 7-8 yards at a time.

Receiving core is small so more use of tight ends will be the game changer they need.

Running backs - both awesome in their own ways, but so predictable the opposing coaches probably get a week off of game film when playing K State. DJ is keyed at this point and the passing game has to open up for him to be able to be affective at what he does. Dylan is a multipurpose guy, they should use him as such.

KState offense is like watching a bunch of really good football players doing stretches rather than playing football, you have to turn those kids loose and let them play a little backyard football. Avery reminds me of a caged lion. A majestical beast you see in the zoo, you know it is not happy, it just wants to run and kill stuff but has to eat whatever is thrown in the cage. KState needs some flash, there is no flash. They have a big QB recruit that can run and throw the ball a mile, Avery needs pushed by someone. Just my two cents on the topics.

[hjnick-qi]

Fitz, we have way too many 3 and outs and we cannot sustain long drives like we have in years past. We have more 'explosive' plays that lead to scores instead of methodically moving the ball down the field like we used to. We used to wear down opposing defenses with our physical OL, now we are ones being dominated. The offense has regressed the last couple of weeks and we do not adjust... just keep running it up the middle guys... IF we could have longer drives, that would give more 'touches' to others in the offense. Right now we are a feast or famine offense that is not complementary to our defense. The 2 headed OC monster is NOT working.

[ryanmendenhall]

Wish I would had seen this yesterday. 😢 Good take

[bobbybartow]

The more shots a team takes downfield yields more defensive pass interference calls, and holding. One of each per game would add 25 penalty yards in our favor in just 2 extra flags on our opposing defenses. That shoots us up from dead last pretty quick. We simply don’t take deep shots though, which is a problem. The game is skewed to benefit the offense and we choose to disregard that advantage.

[danielburdiek]

Fitz your thoughts on having Riley just doing the O line and Wells doing th OC job by himself.

[hmj]

There was a time during the game when I noticed we had about 8 consecutive offensive plays that we did nothing; actually we did less than nothing (stay tuned).
With 8:24 left in the first quarter, we are at the Houston 5 yard line and it is 2nd down and 4 yards to go. Note that we have 2 plays to get 4 yards for a fresh set of downs. We would have first and goal from the 1 yard line. Needing 4 yards in 2 plays Avery throws on 2nd down - incomplete. 3rd down, Avery throws again - incomplete. So the team that is supposed to be able to run at will, with all these playmakers (Avery, Giddens, Dylan) cannot get 4 yards on 2 plays! Unacceptable and bad play calling. We kick a field goal (This a special teams play, not an offensive play). Our next two possessions: 3 plays for -8 yards, and 3 plays for 0 yards. So yes, 8 consecutive offensive plays that yielded a total of -8 yards. Every team we play the rest of the year should give Willie Fritz a call because apparently he has Coach K's number. A 7-1 team is not supposed to lose to a 3-5 team. Stop talking about the road to a big 12 championship game because right now we aren't deserving of it. Avery had more bad throws than good throws, missed several open receivers, and so far his development has plateaued. Do I think we are one of the top 4 teams in the Big 12? Sure, but that ain't saying much.

[roywall]

The penalty thing is an odd stat, but could be valuable I guess. It would tell the staff how many explosive play opportunities are being created. You are not drawing defensive PI calls, or offensive holding calls it would appear (unless for some reason those penalties are being declined by KSU). That could be a lack of pass routes that typically draw PI, or it could be that the receivers aren’t fighting for 50/50 balls, or that the receivers just aren’t beating their man (and thus requiring the db to interfere). Similar thing with the front 7. 🤔

[EMAWgasm]

I'd be curious to see pass interference stats. How many PIs have we drawn? How many do other teams get? Could be a disparity there. Jayce drew one during the CU game winner, but we don't get them often.

[thekrakenguy]

I think the penalties come down to scheme, we just run inside zone and comeback routes with the occasional deep ball. These other teams actually attack corners and force them to try to make plays, tough to get calls on 5 yard comeback routes and in between the tackles.

[richardstones]

The 4th in yards vs. 8th in points stat is better than what I would have guessed. How many times have we have an explosive play that gets us to the red zone - only to watch them piss it away. Our red zone play calling hasn’t been good, but our execution has been the bigger problem. Our offensive line needs another year to mature into a dominant group.

[Rick-wxmd]

It's okay... KSU will be okay. KSU couldn't take advantage of it's late game 9 point lead and lost. KSU is still a young team on Offense. Next up! Go Cats

[smitty]

4 road games vs 2 home games is probably part of the reason we don't have a lot of opponent penalties. And CU I can believe draws a lot of pass interference calls.

[kenneaderhiser]

Stats you need to add. Percent three and out, percent red zone TD’s and most importantly percent of drives reaching the red zone. Of your first in scoring in the red zone, but last in getting to it you have problems.

[jeffayres]

It feels like defensive PI increased after national media attention to the last play of Colorado’s offense in boulder.

[rickcoonrod]

More players are better in the conference now. For next year we need to get two 6'5 wide receivers. I would try to poach one from Oregon like they poached Coby Savage from us. Better have the NIL money up there to get it done. GO CATS!

[streetcrawler]

I think those offensive rankings after 9 games are plenty of reason to make coaching changes.

[stevetaylor]

The opponent penalty stat per game might be due to the fact that each team we play treats us as their super bowl meaning they prepare better and play better than other games. Idk maybe maybe not.

[topcitydog]

Here is the issue with play calling. Execution of the play. Either we don’t present enough looks (window dressing) to give a defense pause or defenses are saying screw it we are playing run first and forcing you to throw over us.

I noticed in the Houston game we were throwing sideline to sideline. The vertical threat wasn’t there. Our zone runs were lacking pulling guards or at least motion TE to come in and block. If you are the OC it’s responsibility to come up with the game plan and be able to adjust on the fly. Do we ever audible at the line of scrimmage!?

[SilverMt.]

questions about Avery . Is he healthy? . it seems every since that strange non contact injury he is a step slower. D lineman are able to run him down now when he scrabbles or runs. 2nd is his development. does not look like he is improving much. does not seem to read defenses and just throws a predetermined spot and misses some open receivers And his small size has always been a worry. not getting bigger. I know he is young but Fitz what do you think of Avery and his development and will he be the QB of the future or will Klieman bring another QB next year to challenge him?