WILDCATS AND CARDINALS MEET ON SEPT. 17 IN NATIONALLY-TELEVISED MID-WEEK CONTEST
Kansas State, coming off a dominant 69-10 win over Montana State on Sept. 6, will hit the raod
for the first time in 2008 as it faces Louisville on Wednesday, September 17, in the Cats’ first regular season mid-week game since 1994.
The last time the Wildcats faced the Cardinals -- a 24-6 loss in Manhattan in 2006. Hunter Cantwell threw for 173 yards and a touchdown in the win. Senior Brock Bolen scored on a 17 yard run and
Cantwell threw a touchdown pass to Harry Douglas. The Cardinals stuffed the Kansas State offense, holding the Wildcats to just 247 yards of total offense, including just 108 yards on the ground.
Louisville’s offense, which came in leading the nation with more than 563 yards and 50 points
per game, totaled 393 yards against Kansas State’s young defense.
Kansas State will try and move its current streak to three wins when coming off a mid-season
bye when it travels to Louisville on Sept. 17. In 2005, the Wildcats knocked off North Texas, 54-7,
after a bye week before not receiving a bye week in 2006. Then, last season, the Wildcats traveled to No. 7 Texas following a bye and picked up their first-ever road win over a top 10 team.
Giving the Wildcats an extra week to prepare has traditionally been bad news for Kansas State
opponents. The Wildcats have had 16 previous mid-season bye weeks in the last 17 seasons and
have turned the extra week of preparation into a 12-4 record the following week.
Kansas State has been one of the most dominant teams in all of college football in non-conference play over the last decade. The Wildcats have won 11 of their last 15 games vs. non-conference opponents and have posted perfect non-conference ledgers eight times in the last 12 years. In all non-conference games over the last 12 seasons (Big 12 era), the Wildcats own a 43-10 (.811) record, with a 39-5 (.886) mark in non-conference regular-season tilts.
K-State QB Josh Freeman is a three-year starter. The 6-foot-6, 250-pound junior has rushed for four touchdowns and thrown five with no interceptions this season.
With five touchdown passes in the first two games of the season, quarterback Josh Freeman
has now thrown for at least one score in each of the last 13 games and has averaged 2.25 passing touchdowns in his last eight games. The last time Freeman did not register a touchdown pass was the 2007 season opener at Auburn. Furthermore, Freeman has thrown just one interception in his last five games dating back to 2007. The junior signal caller is currently on a 125-pass attempt streak without throwing a pick. He was efficient over the final six games of the 2007 season, during which he recorded a 13-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio.
Kansas State returns a veteran squad in 2008 as 39 lettermen and 24 players who earned starts
a year ago are back, led by national award candidates Josh Freeman, Ian Campbell and Brooks
Rossman. The Wildcats return key players in every phase of the game and enter year three of the
Ron Prince era with the most veteran squad in years.
• Seven Wildcats made their first career starts in the KST‘s ‘08 opener, four on offense and three on defense... Getting the nod in the starting lineup
Saturday on offense were receiver Ernie Pierce, running back Keithen Valentine and offensive lineman Edward Prince. Defensively, tackle
Brandon Balkcom, linebacker Olu Hall and defensive back Blair Irvin collected their first-career starts.
The Wildcats will head into the 2008 season with one of the most experienced offensive lines
in school history. In fact, if you look at the Wildcats’ current two-deep at each of the five line positions, the group has combined for 68 starts among the 10 players.
Watch List
Jordan Bedore: Rimington Trophy
Ian Campbell, returning two-time First Team All-Big 12: Ted Hendricks Award, Chuck Bednarik Award, Preseason All-Big 12, Bronko Nagurski Trophy
Last year, K-State was 4-2 at home and 1-5 on the road. In 2006, the 'Cats were 6-2 at home and 1-3 in true road games. In the two seasons before that, the Wildcats were 2-7 outside of Manhattan, and even in the 2003 Big 12 championship season, Bill Snyder's team was just 2-2 in road games, 2-1 on neutral fields, but 7-1 at home.
K-State sought immediate help and signed 15 junior-college players -- including current starters in linebacker Ulla Pomele and cornerback Blair Irvin. Pomele leads the team with 11 tackles through two games.
The Wildcats also got a boost from Olu Hall, a transfer from Virginia now starting at outside linebacker.
The running game is iffy on offense, the linebacker play, coach Ron Prince says, needs to be better on defense.
Those are the two areas of concern as Kansas State prepares for Wednesday's 7 p.m. game at Louisville.
Prince says that it's not a ghastly situation on defense, but, "It is just that this is a linebacker-driven defense. It is intended to be very disciplined, but also have it create some opportunities."
The most notable change on this week’s Kansas State football depth chart came at inside linebacker, where senior Reggie Walker was displaced by junior college addition Hansen Sekona. Walker will move to the outside, where he will back up Antwon Moore.
Also, sophomore defensive tackle Gabe Crews will be back with the team this week. Junior left tackle Edward Prince returns as well, but sophomore defensive tackle Xzavier Stewart will not. Freshman Brandon Harold will receive his first collegiate start, at left end. Ian Campbell moves to right end. Senior Ray Cheatham has slid in front of Blair Irvin at one of the cornerback spots, and junior safety Courtney Herndon is listed ahead of Gary Chandler at safety.
Kansas State coach Ron Prince has made improving the ground game a priority for the Wildcats during their off week. They play at Louisville on Sept. 17.
Louisville has allowed only 96 rushing yards in two games. K-State averages 4.3 yards per carry and 171 per game.
Quarterback Josh Freeman is averaging 5.8 yards a carry, best on the team. His four rushing touchdowns are three more than any running back
Prince sees Valentine, who leads the Wildcats with 104 yards, Logan Dold and Justin Woods as close competitors for more carries. Valentine, a junior-college transfer, came to Kansas State as a walk-on. Woods is a redshirt freshman, and Dold is a freshman many thought was ticketed for the secondary. The slow start isn’t entirely a surprise.
•Prince also said he thinks offensive tackle Edward Prince and defensive tackles Gabe Crews and Xzavier Stewart will play against Louisville. They did not play against Montana State because of unspecified reasons.
Prince suspended linebacker John Houlik -- Kansas State's leading returning tackler -- for the first three games after a July arrest for driving under the influence.
Prince also indefinitely suspended running back Leon Patton, who would have returned as the team's leading rusher, after he was arrested on outstanding warrants for theft and failure to appear in court.
Kansas State was picked to finish fifth in the north in the preseason media poll.
Louisville struggled to run the football -- 1.8 yards a carry -- in a loss to Kentucky. It totaled 234 yards and an average of 5.4 against in a 51-10 win over Tennessee Tech.
Against Kentucky, U of L limited the Wildcats to 210 total yards and just 63 rushing yards.
Louisville is limiting the opposition to just 48.0 yards on the ground through two
contests and are yielding just 1.7 yards per carry. Tennessee Tech and Kentucky have rushed 55 times for
96 yards.
The Cardinals’ offensive linemen were banged up pretty good in the win over Tennessee Tech. Louisville
lost four of their five starters at some point in the game. The only starter to remain was offensive
tackle Jeff Adams.
University of Louisville offensive coordinator Jeff Brohm is looking down while calling plays now, and the Cardinals are better off because of it.
Brohm, in his first season of calling plays, spent the Kentucky game on the sideline. Although being on the field allowed him to gauge the Cards' temperament, it didn't allow him a good vantage point for seeing defensive nuances.
It was the first time since 2000 that U of L didn't have an offensive score
"I do know reading the coverages, seeing the blitzes, seeing the type of leverage DBs (defensive backs) are having on receivers -- it's a lot easier to see there than it is on the field," he said. "I know my vision was a lot better."
It will mark the first time U of L will face a defense that primarily uses a three-man front. And Kansas State's mobile defensive ends allow it to get creative with its schemes.
Low scoring?????
Kansas State @ Louisville (Wednesday)
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