How Kansas State Wildcats can get offense back on track against Rutgers at Rate Bowl

It’s fair to say that Kansas State’s offense hit a proverbial wall as the Wildcats entered the home stretch of this football season.

Not only did K-State waste a 7-1 start by limping to the finish line with three losses in November, it did so in the most frustrating way possible. An offense that averaged 32.8 points and 429.9 yards in its first eight games managed just 23.8 points and 382 yards in its final four games.

And that finish included an easy 41-15 victory over a reeling Cincinnati team. Take away those numbers and K-State averaged 18 points and 367.7 yards in its final three losses.

An offense that was humming along under first-year coordinator Conor Riley ran out of gas. That is a big reason why K-State fell out of playoff contention and is now preparing to play Rutgers in the Rate Bowl at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday at Chase Field in Phoenix.

What went wrong? K-State head coach Chris Klieman says he hasn’t had enough time to formulate an answer.

But one thing is for sure: The Wildcats have an opportunity to get right against the Scarlet Knights.

This is the type of opponent that K-State usually thrives against. Not only does Rutgers allow opposing teams to gain 4.9 yards per rush attempt, a number that ranks 17th in the Big Ten, but Greg Schiano’s team won’t have a full-time defensive coordinator for this game: Joe Harasymiak left to become the head coach at Massachusetts.

It’s unclear how the Scarlet Knights will call defensive plays against Avery Johnson, Dylan Edwards and Jayce Brown.

“We are doing it together,” Schiano said on Tuesday at a Rate Bowl news conference in Phoenix. “The whole defensive staff has been great, contributing. We miss Joe. He was a huge part of what we do on defense. Together we’ll kind of figure it out and it will be a challenge.”

Schiano went on to say preparing for this game without a defensive coordinator has been a major headache.

“It’s been a challenge, really,” Schiano said. “This preparation has been, like, probably other than the COVID year, when we did a bowl game in eight days, it’s rivaled that because of all the stuff going on with transfer portal and NIL. Then also the bowl game without Joe. It’s been quite a task.”

The prevailing thought is that defensive coordinators in the Big 12 figured out K-State’s offense near the end of the season and adjusted their strategies accordingly.

As soon as Houston was able to contain K-State running back DJ Giddens and pull off an upset against the Wildcats, other teams mimicked that game plan.

The Wildcats didn’t know how to handle that. They were a power running team in their first eight games. But it was hard to figure out their identity as the season came to an end. Johnson attempted a season-high 39 passes in a monsoon against Houston and then followed that up with 40 passes against Arizona State. Not surprisingly, he threw a pair of interceptions in both of those defeats.

K-State bounced back with a big win over Cincinnati, but then nothing seemed to go right during a loss to Iowa State in the regular-season finale.

Johnson has critiqued his own game since then.

“Being able to look back at 12 games and really depict those things that I need to work on (has been helpful),” he said. “I got an early offseason. I got two or three weeks to patch some of those things up. Obviously in two or three weeks it’s not going to be perfect, but being able to look at 12 games at the end of the season, I can figure out the things i need to get better at.”

Perhaps stepping out of Big 12 play and facing a Big Ten team that isn’t familiar with K-State will help the Wildcats get their mojo back. The Wildcats haven’t played the Scarlet Knights since 2006. It stands to reason that K-State will have a few surprises in store for Rutgers

K-State won’t have Giddens, who “opted out” of the bowl to begin preparing for the NFL Draft. But Joe Jackson and Edwards are capable replacements. Rutgers shouldn’t know exactly what to expect from them.

It will also be hard for Rutgers to simulate the speed that Johnson has when he makes plays with his legs. The Scarlet Knights didn’t play anyone like him during the regular season.

“They are very, very skilled and fast,” Schiano said of the Wildcats. “The quarterback is very fast, as well as being a very good quarterback, which is a dangerous combination. They have real good team speed, which will be a challenge for sure.”