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THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chiefs' quarterback Alex Smith and Jamaal Charles (25) warm up prior to game against the Broncos on Sept. 14.
10 things to look for at Monday's Chiefs game
BRIAN HILLIX
@doublehillixt
The Kansas City Chiefs (1-2) will be in the national spotlight on Sept. 29 for their only Monday Night Football game of the season. They take on the New England Patriots (2-1) at 7:15 p.m. Here are 10 things to watch out for in the matchup:
1. Noise record - The Kansas City Chiefs will try to regain a world record they previously owned. The Guinness World Record for the loudest crowd roar at an outdoor stadium now belongs to the Seattle Seahawks at 137.6 decibels. Kansas City set the record with 137.5 decibels against the Oakland Raiders last season.
2. Rebounding at home - The Chiefs were humiliated at Arrowhead Stadium against the average Tennessee Titans in the team's home opener, which neutralized the crowd noise. Kansas City will need a much better performance to hang with New England and keep the crowd's energy up.
3. Talented tight ends - Both teams rely heavily on their tight ends. New England tight end Rob Gronkowski leads all Patriot receivers with two
4. New England's league-leading defense The Patriot defense allows a league-low 168.7 passing yards per game, which isn't good for a Chiefs offense that struggles in the passing game.
touchdowns, and Kansas City tight end Travis Kelce leads the team with 166 receiving yards.
5. Passing woes - With Kansas City averaging 197.7 passing yards per game and New England averaging 196.3, both teams are among the league's worst in the category. The Chiefs rank No.26 and the Patriots rank No.27.
6. Return of the speedsters
- Two of the team's fastest players, running backs Jamaal Charles and De'Anthony Thomas, are likely to return from injury. Charles sat out the last two games with a high ankle sprain while Thomas, a rookie, has been out the entire regular season nursing a hamstring injury.
7. Kansas City's running success - Especially with Charles likely returning from injury, the Chiefs will have an advantage in the running game. Knile Davis, Charles' backup, ranks seventh in the
9. Receivers needed - A big reason for each team's passing struggles involve a lack of depth at the receiver position. Beyond Julian Edelman, the Patriots don't have a wide receiver with more than six receptions on the year. The Chiefs don't have a wide receiver with more than 12 receptions on the season. Donnie Avery has 12 and Dwayne Bowe is second with six.
NFL with 214 total rushing yards, and that came without playing much in the season opener. New England running back Stevan Ridley is among the league's worst averaging 3.4 yards per carry.
8. Turnover disparity - Kansas City ranks worst in the NFL in turnover differential (-5) while New England ranks first (+6). The Chiefs haven't forced a turnover the entire year.
10. Decline of Tom Brady?
- Usually lighting up the stats sheet, New England quarterback Tom Brady's quarterback rating of 82.9 places him at No. 23 among qualified NFL quarterbacks.
Edited by Logan Schlossberg
No.25 K-State starting to get defensive again
Auburn wide receiver Ricardo Louis gets past Kansas State defensive back Dante Barnett to score a touchdown during the first half of the game on Sept. 18 in Manhattan.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
MANHATTAN — Since the arrival of Gus Malzahn at Auburn, only two teams have been able to look his high-powered offense in the face and hold it under 200 yards rushing. One of them is LSU, the only team to beat the Tigers in the regular season.
The other is No. 25 Kansas State.
The Wildcats shut down Auburn most of the night in a 20-14 loss last week, allowing just 128 yards rushing more than 200 yards below the Tigers' season average. That helped boost Kansas State into the top 25 among Bowl Subdivision schools in terms of rushing defense.
The Wildcats face another test this Saturday when UTEP (2-1) and Aaron Jones, the nation's fourth-leading rusher at 183 yards per game, visit Manhattan to close out non-conference play.
"I thought it was awfully good," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. "We probably would not have gotten all of that if we did not turn the ball over down there. (But) I thought that all of our youngsters played really well and played within the system."
Perhaps it shouldn't be so surprising that the Wildcats handled Auburn's vaulted ground game: Historically, Snyder's teams have limited the run quite well.
Only two of his last 14 have finished outside the top 60 in rush defense — roughly speaking, the top half of FBS. Twelve teams were in the top 40. and six inside the top 20.
Snyder said assignment-sound, disciplined football allowed his defense to excel against the No. 5 Tigers, a shared characteristic with his defensive units of the past.
"It takes some patience with some of the young guys that like to fly around and make tackles," Snyder said. "The added time I think helped. Coach (Blake) Seiler did a really nice job with our defensive ends because there was a lot of pressure on them to play well in that ballgame with so many responsibilities that they had."
Kansas State made Auburn's offense punt on nearly half of its drives, and caused all kinds of problems on third down for a team that was converted 60 percent of its chances.
"No defense has really been able to do that," said Kansas State quarterback Jake Waters, who goes against those guys in most practices. "I'm not sure what they did different, but they played so hard and were flying around and the crowd got them into it, that played a factor. But they went out and did their assignments and that's what
we've been seeing in practice all along."
After sitting for the majority of games against Stephen E. Austin and Iowa State, Dakorey Johnson made his first-career start. The junior college transfer provided a spark for the defense, giving it a more versatile and athletic front seven.
He had six tackles and an interception, and was voted Big 12 defensive player of the week.
"He runs well and that is a benefit," Snyder said. "It was a matter of him being able to adapt to the system and understand the responsibilities and having the discipline to carry out the responsibilities like we like, and he has gotten better at it and it has paid off for him."
Now, the task is to carry over that success from Auburn to UTEP - for Johnson and the rest of the guys on the Kansas State defense.
Barnes' catch lift Rockies over Padres. 3-2
ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN DIEGO — Drew Stubbs hit a tiebending home run leading off the eighth and left fielder Brandon Barnes robbed Rene Rivera of a tying shot in the bottom of the inning to lead the Colorado Rockies to a 3-2 victory against the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night.
The Padres, who were trying to extend their winning streak to a season-high six games, were assured of their fourth straight losing season. San Diego (75-82) can still finish with its best record in
Stubbs homered on the first pitch from Dale Thayer (4-4) into the Jack Daniel's party deck atop the right-field wall, his 15th. It was the first run Thayer allowed in nine outings.
Rymer Liriano was shaken up after slamming into the wall trying to make the catch but remained in the game.
Rivera sent a high drive to left opening the Padres eighth, but Barnes leaped to make the catch.
With the potential tying run on second base and two outs
three seasons. The team went 76-86 in 2012 and 2013.
in the eighth, Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu made a nice diving stab of Alexi Amarista's grounder and threw him out to end the inning.
NL batting leader justin Morneau went 1 for 4 with an RBI single to drop to .319, two percentage points ahead of Pittsburgh's Josh Harrison, who also went 1 for 4.
Juan Nicasio (6-6) allowed one hit in a scoreless inning for the win. LaTroy Hawkins pitched the ninth for his 23rd save in 26 chances.
Rockies lefty Jorge De La Rosa had allowed only three hits through five scoreless innings when the Padres tied it at 2 in the sixth with three straight two-out hits.
De La Rosa allowed a lead-off single to Jedd Gyorko before striking out Rivera and Yasmani Grandal. Tommy Medica singled before Liriano and Amarista each had an RBI base hit.
Padres lefty Robbie Erlin lasted four innings, allowing two runs and six hits. He was making his second start since missing four months with a sore elbow. He allowed RBI singles by Morneau in the third and LeMahieu in the fourth.
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