Why K-State prepared for its Week 3 opponent during spring practice

When Kansas State hosts Army on Sept. 6, they’ll be well-versed in the challenges that the Black Knights present.

That’s because the Wildcats will have prepared for them over 100 days before, during their spring practice.

“We’ve already kind of dove into them from a defensive coaching staff,” head coach Chris Klieman said before spring practice began. “[Defensive Coordinator Joe Klanderman] has done a really good job of meeting with our staff, starting to watch film, and starting to break them down [and] develop game plans.”

Preparing for the Army’s offense requires early reps because of the overall uniqueness of their looks. Unlike any other team that K-State will play this season, Army’s offense is a blast from the past.

On offense, the Black Knights will line up in an under-center, flexbone offense, reminiscent of the early days of football. Barring a potential matchup in postseason play, it will be the only time that K-State sees the offense, and it might be the first time that a lot of their defense has ever played against it.

“They’re unique, so you can’t just try to prepare for them in one week,” defensive ends coach Buddy Wyatt explained. “We have to spend some time with them. We spent some time with them this off-season, and we’ll spend … a little bit of time with them in spring ball. We’ll spend a bit more time on them this summer, just trying to get the basics to our guys to understand that this is a different type of offense than you normally face.”

As one can imagine, preparing for an old-school offense is hardly fun. The three programs that run the triple option – Air Force, Army, and Navy – are known for causing headaches for opponents because of how well they execute the offense. After all, outside of a few seasons where they tried to modernize it, these programs have been running the offense since their inception.

In particular, Army was also a pleasant surprise last season, winning the American Conference Championship with a 12-2 record. The Black Knights averaged an astonishing 300 yards rushing and 5.5 yards per carry.

While star quarterback Bryson Daily is out of eligibility, head coach Jeff Monken is a disciple of Paul Johnson, who famously brought the offense to Georgia Tech as their head coach. With that experience, Monken is as familiar with the offense as anyone and knows how to maximize the talent available.

“It’s still a unique offense,” Wyatt said. “[They] make you have to defend the entire field, and then you cap that off with the fact that they have some talented players.”

The offense is also tough to replicate with a scout team because most players have never seen the offense played. While some high schools nationwide still run the offense, it’s becoming phased out as coaches begin to modernize their offenses. For the most part, K-State will have the body types to match Army’s roster, but they won’t have the same understanding of how to run the offense.

“It’s tough to simulate that style of offese with a look team or a scout team,” said Wyatt. “The speed at which they execute their offense, it’s hard to duplicate. I think that’s the biggest part of trying to prepare for a team like that.”

The good news for K-State is that the coaching staff is fairly knowledgeable in the triple-option, dating back to their time coaching at the FCS level with North Dakota State. Linebackers coach Steve Stanard, who followed Klieman to K-State from North Dakota State, estimated that he’s coached against a similar offense around 14 times.

While that won’t make the preparation any easier – Stanard mentioned that K-State can’t just prepare for Army in three days – he does know some tricks to stop the offense.

“You got to be very disciplined to defend it. They may throw the ball three, four times a game if you’re not stopping them and forcing them into it,” he said. “If they’re on schedule, they don’t have to throw the football, so it’s the same old deal. Someone’s got to take care of the quarterback, someone’s got to take care of the pitch. Just being a disciplined defense. This is so much different than what they’ll go against.”

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