K-State Q&A: Will Howard, Mike Gundy, lingering concerns from the BYU loss and more

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

No need for an elaborate introduction this week. Let’s dive right into your questions.

Thanks, as always, for providing them.

Are the Wildcats missing Will Howard? He is killing it at Ohio State right now. - Jeff M. via e-mail.

It’s way too early to tell.

Will Howard is off to a tremendous start with the Buckeyes. He has completed 51 of 74 passes for 795 yards and six touchdowns. He has also rushed for a pair of touchdowns.

Those numbers are superior to what Avery Johnson (58 of 95 for 620 yards and six touchdowns) has produced this season. Of course, it’s not hard for most quarterbacks to outplay the worst passing offense in the Big 12.

Ohio State is also undefeated and ranked in the top 5 while K-State is coming off a humbling loss at BYU. So, yes, I can see how EMAW supporters might wonder how things would be going if Howard was still in purple.

But let’s add some context before we go any further.

Ohio State has played three cupcakes. Of course, Howard’s numbers look good coming off games against Akron, Marshall and Western Michigan.

The quarterback at Manhattan High could probably put up decent numbers for Ohio State against that kind of competition.

Furthermore, I seriously doubt all of K-State’s problems would be fixed by simply replacing Johnson with Howard. The Wildcats probably miss Collin Klein, Ben Sinnott and Cooper Beebe more than they do their former quarterback.

The other thing to remember with this question is that it revolves around a moot point.

Even if Howard goes on to win the Heisman Trophy and leads Ohio State to a national championship, K-State fans shouldn’t second guess how things played out. Just tip your cap to Howard. Why? Because there was no future for him at K-State.

He started every game for the Wildcats last season and only led them to an 8-4 record. Johnson looked so good as his backup that some fans wanted him to replace Howard after he ran for five touchdowns in a game against Texas Tech. There was no way that Johnson and Howard could have co-existed in Manhattan this season. With that in mind, the Wildcats were better off keeping the younger and arguably more talented quarterback.

Besides, we’re only four games into the season. And Johnson has been fine. He just isn’t living up to the sky high expectations some fans had for him.

Give him time to learn and mature and it’s not hard to see him following in the footsteps of Clemson quarterback Cade Klubnik, who struggled as a sophomore to replace DJ Uiagelelei but is playing like a star for the Tigers now that he is a junior.

I have tons of respect for Howard and wish him nothing but the best at Ohio State. He helped win a Big 12 championship and has a future in the NFL. Still, the Wildcats made the correct call when they promoted Johnson to QB1. There is no need to second guess.

Why does Gundy own Klieman? Record is 4-1 recently. -@shanekrull11 via X.

And Chris Klieman’s only win in the series came two years ago when Oklahoma State was dealing with so many injuries that it sent a JV roster to Manhattan. Credit the Wildcats for taking advantage of the circumstances with a 48-0 victory, but things won’t be so easy when these teams meet again on Saturday.

Gundy is a good coach who has traditionally deployed new concepts against the Wildcats and caught them off guard.

His offensive line is also typically hard to deal with, and the Cowboys always seem to surprise the Wildcats with screens and other exotic plays.

In Klieman’s defense, he has only played one true home game against Oklahoma State. Gundy is 3-0 against Klieman in Stillwater. His lone win in Manhattan came during the coronavirus pandemic when the stands were empty. And the Cowboys only won that game by two.

If K-State whips up on Oklahoma State this weekend it will no longer be fair to say Gundy owns him.

What in the culture helps K-State have the attitude to not lose two games in a row? Does the culture just go back and not dwell on what’s happened and reset? This week will be a good test considering the record against OSU. -@ChadFullington via X.

I pointed this out in a story earlier this week, but it’s been three years since K-State lost consecutive games. The Wildcats are 9-0 coming off a loss since 2021.

Why do they keep winning in bounce-back spots?

It starts with coaching. I have heard that Klieman and his assistants react to losses like Michael Jordan. Please cue the “And I took that personally” meme.

Klieman coaches with an edge after his team drops a game. His assistants work longer hours. His players treat practice like the NFL Scouting Combine.

The Wildcats are also able to not dwell on losses. For them, it’s on to next week.

Oddly, I think the opposite is true after they go on a winning streak. That’s when they become vulnerable to a dud performance like we saw last week at BYU.

It’s sometimes hard to back this team as a favorite. But the Wildcats get their focus back after a loss.

How much of the disaster 6 minute (game time) stretch is an actual concern vs some freak moments and a snowball of negative momentum? -@scottwildcat via X.

Hard as it was to watch those 6 minutes of football, I wouldn’t panic.

I’m not worried about DJ Giddens losing another fumble, especially one that bounces right to the defense for a scoop-and-score touchdown. That was a complete fluke. I honestly can’t remember the last time the Wildcats let another team score on them like that.

The two interceptions from Avery Johnson were a bit more concerning. He found himself in a difficult situation and pressed. His first pick was inexcusable, considering it came on a screen pass. His second pick was a bad decision when he was trying way too hard to make something happen at the start of the third quarter.

A quarterback can’t make those mistakes when the game is slipping away. But Johnson is also a sophomore who was making his fifth start. He will learn from that and get better.

Then there was the punt that BYU returned 90 yards for a touchdown. Talk about a complete anomaly.

Give credit to Parker Kingston for making an incredible play, but there’s no way he scores without a comedy of errors from the K-State coverage team. The Wildcats saw a fumble and then all 11 of them tripped over each other trying to get close to the loose ball. It is comical to watch all the accidental take downs on replay. But I don’t see that happening again.

After talking to coaches all week, I think the Wildcats are more upset about settling for field goals on their first two drives than anything that happened during those six disastrous minutes. If they take a 14-0 lead instead of a 6-0 lead maybe that never happens.

Is the OSU game the game which K-State has a receiver with more than 80 yards? If not this game, what game will it be and how many times will it happen the rest of the year? - bfullingt1 via X.

My gut tells me K-State is going to run the ball with reckless abandon against Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys couldn’t stop Arkansas or Utah from gaining yards on the ground. K-State will likely try and do the exact same thing.

K-State is bound to get a big game from one of its receivers eventually. But I don’t think it will happen this week.

Odds are better that it will happen against Colorado in a few weeks. The Buffaloes are not very good on defense.

BYU fan here. Thank you for all of your great coverage from the game last week in Provo. Kansas State has a fantastic team and we were happy to host the Wildcats. My question to you is: What did you think of LaVell Edwards Stadium? - Cindy M. via e-mail.

It was a great environment.

The stadium wasn’t quite as large or as loud as what I have encountered at Oklahoma and Texas, but it was on par with Iowa State, K-State and Oklahoma State.

I was impressed by how many fans showed up early and stayed until the final play. Some stadiums tend to clear out at halftime. Not in Provo.

Watching a game with 60,000 sober fans was also interesting. BYU supporters didn’t blindly boo the officials every time a call went against them, and I think that helped their case when they did get on the refs. If the Mormons were pointing out a holding penalty the zebras knew it was probably legit.

What did you think of the K-State basketball schedule? I love having KU and Iowa State on Saturdays. I do hate how many conference games as a whole across the entire league are during Winter Break though. More reason to move the start of the season back to January! - @scottwildcat via X.

Well, I am definitely in favor of waiting to play basketball games. I would love it if we waited until January to start the season so basketball was only played in the spring semester.

As for my thoughts on the schedule, the Big 12 playing so many games on Sunday was a bit of a surprise. K-State will play two Sunday home games, and that will take some getting used to.

The two hardest stretches on the schedule seem to be at Kansas and at Baylor. That is a brutal road trip. Hosting Kansas and Arizona back to back is also no picnic.

A road trip to BYU and then Utah is convenient for everyone involved.

Saturday home games against Kansas, Iowa State and Houston are going to be awesome. Let’s enjoy those.