sports
the university daily kansan 3B
K-State's defense slacks in'Cats defeat of California
By Kevin Flaherty
kflaherty@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas State coach Bill Snyder was unhappy with his defense's effort in a 42-28 win against California Saturday night.
On a night when the Wildcats allowed Cal to rack up 440 yards and four touchdowns, Snyder had a gruff response towards the 'Cats defensive ineffectiveness.
"They'll be tested on Monday," Snyder said.
sayer said.
The 28 points were the most given up by Kansas State since October 5 of last year, when the injury prone "Cats allowed 35 points in a loss to a Colorado team that later clinched the Big 12 North.
"The play just happened to come mv
The Golden Bears did most of their damage through the air. Starter Reggie Robertson threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns, but was removed in the second half for Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers responded by completing nine of his 13 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown.
yards and a touchdown He was later knocked out of the game with a bruised sternum, thanks to a hit by 'Cats defensive end Andrew Shull.
Andrew Shultz While Kansas State's defense struggled to get pressure on the quarterbacks and cover Cal's receivers, the 'Cats offense looked
way."
KSU's Darren Sproles runs past a jubilant bench on the first play of the game, a 54-yard run. Kansas State beat California 48-28 in the Black Coaches Association Classic at Arrowhead Stadium Saturday.
Josh Buhl
Kansas State Lineback
dominant all game. The unit rushed for 330 yards and piled up 535 yards of total offense.
Kansas State quarterback Ell Roberson threw for 205 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 145 yards and another touchdown.
One of the major questions this year was about Roberson's throwing ability — his previous high for passing touchdowns in a game was one. Roberson hit receivers downfield all night long, including a 57-yard strike to James Terry, who lost his defender on a stop-go route. That touchdown put Kansas State up 27-7. Terry had 4 catches for 116 yards.
Mighty-mite running back Darren Sproles ran for a career high 175 yards, including a 53-yard burst from scrimmage on Kansas State's first offensive play that set up the game's first touchdown, a six yard run from Sproles off a Roberson option pitch.
Classic at Arrowhead on the Wildcats' career leader in 100- yard games.
in games. In a game of duelling offenses, the biggest play may have been made by Kansas State's defense.
a 14-10 lead over Kansas State on a fourth down play from inside the one-yard line. There was still room to get a first down inside the one, or get a touchdown. Robertson tried to run the option, but 'Cats linebacker Josh Buhl sliced
"If we don't make a play there, it's a first down or a touchdown," Buhl said. "The play just hap-
down at the two.
Buhl said the play turned the momentum of the game around.
Kansas State then reeled off a 98-yard touchdown drive to take a 17-7 lead and never looked back.
back. Kansas State will play Troy State this Saturday in Manhattan.
Nebraska to rely on active passing game after summer
The Associated Press
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nobody will confuse University of Nebraska coach Frank Solich for Stephen Hawking when it comes to mathematics, but the Nebraska football coach does know this much.
"If you're [completing] 46 percent," Solich muses, "do you want to throw the ball 40 times a game?"
Thus has been the problem fusing the public's fantastical
dreams of an air-it-out Cornhusker offense with the reality of the tools with which it is working.
the tools with which he started quarterback Jammal Lord has completed just 47.8 percent of his career passes, and his backup has all of 25 attempts under his belt in only two seasons.
tons.
“It’s obvious from the offensive side,” Solich said, “we must throw the ball better.”
throw the ball on his
So Nebraska's passers headed
to Memorial Stadium every Monday,
Tuesday and Thursday this
summer for 30 to 60 minutes of seven-on-seven passing drills in hopes that this "passing league" will bring progress to the arms of NU throwers and the hands of its catchers.
catchers.
Quarterbacks, running backs and receivers all met up with linebackers and secondary players for basically what comes down to backyard football with scripted plays, better athletes and better trash talking. The sessions were supposed to last for an hour each time.
"Then we realized we didn't have 100,000 passing plays," said backup quarterback Mike Stuntz, "so the defense started to figure things out and we cut it down to half an hour."
down to hannah the Timing was the biggest aspect quarterbacks and receivers worked on, Stuntz said, not to mention the occasional flee-flicker to keep the defense honest and keep things lively.
and keep them Players also worked on adjusting to the new offensive schemes Nebraska's new coach
"I think it's been pretty proven that when you throw the ball on running downs you have a better chance of completing the pass," first-year offensive coordinator Barney Cotton said.
Cotton added that he believes a team becomes better at passing with a combination of the right philosophy and repetition.
enthought philosophy. Lord has obliged with the latter. He told reporters at last month's Big 12 Conference Foot-
Every player, he said, not just one has stuck out in his mind.
"I can't say, 'He's done this, or he's done that.'" Lord said. "As a whole, as a team, everybody's doing good right now."
doing good right now. Stuntz said the workouts had been beneficial.
"We made a lot of progress," he said, "especially because we had a whole new offense in the spring."
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