K-State beats Huskers at their former game
MANHATTAN, Kan. — It was as simple as playground football.
Put the fast kid at quarterback. Snap him the ball out of the shotgun and tell him to run around as of neighborhood bullies were chasing him.
"Don't think. Just play," Kansas State junior right tackle Jeromey Clary kept telling the fast kid all week.
He didn't know if Allen Webb was listening. He wouldn't know until Saturday.
When the big day arrived, Kansas State whipped Nebraska 45-21 behind 271 total yards of offense from Webb, a sophomore who had compiled 106 rushing yards by halftime.
"Shocking," Clary said of Webb's performance. "We kind of beat them at their own game."
Indeed. That was probably the most disheartening thing to longtime wearers of scarlet and cream Saturday. K-State (3-4) stuck it to Nebraska the way the Huskers used to — with quarterback draws and option plays that churned out big yardage and left defenders sprawling.
After the game, K-State head coach Bill Snyder shook his head in disbelief while staring at the stat sheet.
"I have a great deal of admiration for the way Nebraska has played run defense this year," Snyder said. "To see here that we have 294 rushing yards is a tribute to our team against a pretty comprehensive defense. ...
"(Nebraska's) a major blitz team. They've got some things that I have never seen in my life before. They're coming from all angles, but that makes them vulnerable to option football and that's what happened."
Quite frankly, to anyone interested in this game in the days leading up to it, K-State was supposed to toil all day without Dylan Meier, the Wildcats' starting quarterback. Meier didn't play because of an apparent shoulder injury.
When everyone saw Webb coming out for the game's first snap, it seemed to signal advantage Nebraska.
That feeling quickly changed. Webb led the Wildcats to touchdowns on their first three drives. On K-State's second drive, the sophomore ran simplistic draw plays from the shotgun five times, picking up a total of 36 yards. The last of those was an 8-yarder for a touchdown, his second of four on the day.
"Really, I feel like the player of the game is our linemen," said Webb, who completed 14 of 23 passes for 147 yards. "They did a good job. Without them, the offense would be nothing."
Meanwhile, K-State's defense — save for two big first-half pass plays by the Huskers — seemed to have a bead on everything Nebraska did.
Perhaps the worst slap in the face to Husker coach Bill Callahan's newly-installed West Coast offense was given out by K-State sophomore linebacker Brandon Archer.
"Their offense was very predictable," Archer said. "Coming in, we felt they were going to run a lot of different stuff and do a lot of different things, a lot of disguises and motions — a lot of stuff to get us off of our keys. But we knew they had a base offense, base runs and base plays, so in that sense, they were predictable."
NU sophomore quarterback Joe Dailey completed only 3 of 12 passes and one of those was to an offensive lineman. None of those completions came in the second half, a half in which the Huskers failed to score an offensive touchdown.
Nebraska's 106 rushing yards were fewer than those gained by Webb (147 yards on 34 carries) and senior running back Darren Sproles (135 yards).
What's worse, the excitement level of the Kansas State players and coaches about the win seemed quite minimal. A win against the Huskers used to be cause for pictures with family and delirious yelling, but now the Wildcats have won three in a row in this series. It's becoming old-hat.
Snyder was even kibitzing about the negatives in his team — how the Wildcats looked as if they weren't ready to play hours before the game, how it was embarrassing they were called for nine penalties, how they couldn't pick up a fourth-and-inches late in the game.
And sophomore defensive back Maurice Mack was already looking forward to future wins against NU.
"I hope we can keep this streak going for years and years," Mack said.
Though Kansas State players seemed as if they had just beaten Baylor, and not Nebraska, Archer claimed "it's still a very big deal."
"The night before the game we watched a tape of the history of the series and how they had beat us for so long. That was huge in getting us ready."
There was a time not so long ago when you didn't need a videotape to get fired up about playing Nebraska.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Put the fast kid at quarterback. Snap him the ball out of the shotgun and tell him to run around as of neighborhood bullies were chasing him.
"Don't think. Just play," Kansas State junior right tackle Jeromey Clary kept telling the fast kid all week.
He didn't know if Allen Webb was listening. He wouldn't know until Saturday.
When the big day arrived, Kansas State whipped Nebraska 45-21 behind 271 total yards of offense from Webb, a sophomore who had compiled 106 rushing yards by halftime.
"Shocking," Clary said of Webb's performance. "We kind of beat them at their own game."
Indeed. That was probably the most disheartening thing to longtime wearers of scarlet and cream Saturday. K-State (3-4) stuck it to Nebraska the way the Huskers used to — with quarterback draws and option plays that churned out big yardage and left defenders sprawling.
After the game, K-State head coach Bill Snyder shook his head in disbelief while staring at the stat sheet.
"I have a great deal of admiration for the way Nebraska has played run defense this year," Snyder said. "To see here that we have 294 rushing yards is a tribute to our team against a pretty comprehensive defense. ...
"(Nebraska's) a major blitz team. They've got some things that I have never seen in my life before. They're coming from all angles, but that makes them vulnerable to option football and that's what happened."
Quite frankly, to anyone interested in this game in the days leading up to it, K-State was supposed to toil all day without Dylan Meier, the Wildcats' starting quarterback. Meier didn't play because of an apparent shoulder injury.
When everyone saw Webb coming out for the game's first snap, it seemed to signal advantage Nebraska.
That feeling quickly changed. Webb led the Wildcats to touchdowns on their first three drives. On K-State's second drive, the sophomore ran simplistic draw plays from the shotgun five times, picking up a total of 36 yards. The last of those was an 8-yarder for a touchdown, his second of four on the day.
"Really, I feel like the player of the game is our linemen," said Webb, who completed 14 of 23 passes for 147 yards. "They did a good job. Without them, the offense would be nothing."
Meanwhile, K-State's defense — save for two big first-half pass plays by the Huskers — seemed to have a bead on everything Nebraska did.
Perhaps the worst slap in the face to Husker coach Bill Callahan's newly-installed West Coast offense was given out by K-State sophomore linebacker Brandon Archer.
"Their offense was very predictable," Archer said. "Coming in, we felt they were going to run a lot of different stuff and do a lot of different things, a lot of disguises and motions — a lot of stuff to get us off of our keys. But we knew they had a base offense, base runs and base plays, so in that sense, they were predictable."
NU sophomore quarterback Joe Dailey completed only 3 of 12 passes and one of those was to an offensive lineman. None of those completions came in the second half, a half in which the Huskers failed to score an offensive touchdown.
Nebraska's 106 rushing yards were fewer than those gained by Webb (147 yards on 34 carries) and senior running back Darren Sproles (135 yards).
What's worse, the excitement level of the Kansas State players and coaches about the win seemed quite minimal. A win against the Huskers used to be cause for pictures with family and delirious yelling, but now the Wildcats have won three in a row in this series. It's becoming old-hat.
Snyder was even kibitzing about the negatives in his team — how the Wildcats looked as if they weren't ready to play hours before the game, how it was embarrassing they were called for nine penalties, how they couldn't pick up a fourth-and-inches late in the game.
And sophomore defensive back Maurice Mack was already looking forward to future wins against NU.
"I hope we can keep this streak going for years and years," Mack said.
Though Kansas State players seemed as if they had just beaten Baylor, and not Nebraska, Archer claimed "it's still a very big deal."
"The night before the game we watched a tape of the history of the series and how they had beat us for so long. That was huge in getting us ready."
There was a time not so long ago when you didn't need a videotape to get fired up about playing Nebraska.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7438 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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