From the Other Side: Talking Kansas State With Gracey Terrill

Despite big expectations heading into the season, the Kansas State Wildcats are 5-5 and in danger of missing a bowl game for the first time since 2009. Despite that fact, OSU and Kansas State have a habit of playing close games, so I thought it best to find out what to expect this Saturday.

To preview this Wildcat team, I turned to Gracey Terrill, who covers the team for the Kansas State SBNation site Bring on the Cats. We talked some about the Wildcats team, and a lot about what’s going wrong in Manhattan this season. (Something I never thought I’d see, fans are not happy with Bill Snyder, and at this point it looks like the writing is on the wall for his exit at the end of the season.)

Gracie discusses who will start at quarterback (there have been injuries), so goes off on the coaching staff (and I thought OSU fans were unhappy with their team’s coaching)

If you’re interested, the full audio interview is available to listen to at the bottom of this post.

Phillip Slavin: Who is playing quarterback for Kansas State on Saturday?

Gracey Terrill: “It looks like we’ve got Skylar Thompson and that’s pretty much it. Ertz has been knocked out. Alex Dalton has literally been knocked out. Skylar Thompson, redshirt just sitting here like ‘okay I guess I’ll take over now.’ Being 5-5 is not ideal for having adjustments at quarterback this late in the season, because right now they’re just struggling to be bowl eligible. This is very frustrating because the injuries that have happened on this team are unimaginable. It feels like 2014 all over again.”

PS: What are the thoughts about Skylar Thompson among Kansas State fans?

GT: “I think at this point it’s all we got. So unless we’re going to have another wide receiver step up and be eligible to play quarterback, we are putting all our reliance in this guy who has little to no experience and has had to step up in the past few games. I think it’s completely unfair to be the pressure and the losses on a kid like this. He’s obviously playing his heart out and doing the best that he can. Truth be told. It doesn’t really matter. This is how bad it is in the season for us now. It doesn’t really matter who is on the field or how much the players play their hearts out, and they’re there for the right reasons, and they’re putting in the effort, because our current coaching staff, Bill Snyder included is just a complete mess right now. We have people who have been asking for Dana Dimmel and Tom Hayes to be fired for two years now. Instead of firing them, they let them keep doing the same things over and over again, which is not adjust to the opposing team. They don’t adjust at half, they don’t adjust after they (the opposing team) score 14 unanswered points. There’s no adjustments. Where our secondary was doing better, now we have this complete mess on defense. Tom Hayes, I think the collective coaching average age is 84 at this point. I just don’t understand how we continue to think that the same moves and the same schemes are going to work against teams that have watched film. They know we don’t adjust, they know our weaknesses, they know what we’re capable of, and unfortunately that’s pretty much getting out onto the field and having the talent at the beginning of the year. We have the talent to beat Oklahoma and to win out the Big 12 and we had so much momentum going into the season. Injuries, yeah terrible, however the inability to adjust to said injuries and adjust our game plan in game is pathetic and it completely falls on the coaches.”

PS: Outside of the TCU game Kansas State hasn’t been blown out this season. Every other loss was by 6-7 points. Why isn’t Kansas State getting wins in these games?

GT: “I hate to harp on the coaching staff, but obviously this part 100 percent falls on the coaching staff. Not being able to adjust. I keep saying the word adjust. But if you watch K-State through and through, the reason that they have not succeeded, and it’s been so close in all those wins and losses, we look at the team, and if we run the ball, we feed Alex Barnes. We continue to run the ball and do something that we’re great at. Despite the fact that we’re on our last leg at quarterback, we still had a solid run offense. It’s just this weird setup. There’s something going on in the infrastructure that causes us to crumble. It’s week after week after week and it’s incredibly upsetting and frustrating to watch, because these kids put their heart and soul onto the field. I know that they’re to play for Bill Snyder. They’re there to represent the 16 goals and to never give up and to be unselfish. The coaching staff is just not where it needs to be. The only thing I can see after every single season is that we had the talent, we had the players, they had the heart, and despite injuries the only thing that remained the same was the coaching staff that didn’t perform.”

PS: Who do you expect to play well for Kansas State this weekend?

GT: “Number one, Dalton Risner has been talking about how being a 21-point underdog is something that he loves because it motivates him so I really expect him to play well. This team, the positive is these kids don’t give up. What you’re going to see is these kids scrambling to make plays. It would be cool if we could see the defense step up a little bit and make some of those prized interceptions, recover some fumbles. But honestly the offense is less than ideal right now without Jesse Ertz. That’s been our missing puzzle piece the last few games. I think if we just had a little more experience at quarterback we would have been better off.”

PS: If Kansas State were to win on Saturday, what did they do to get the win?

GT: “Knowing K-State so well that would be a combination of trickery and Bill Snyder’s play-calling that is absolutely mind-blowing to watch. The main thing that they’re going to have to do is take control of the situation against Mason Rudolph. This guy is absolutely amazing. Obviously you have James Washington as well who is ridiculously talented. Our defense might have a little bit of a problem going against them. On the bright side for us, Oklahoma State’s defense hasn’t looked as great as they once were at the beginning of the season. I don’t know what’s going on there, but it looks a little on the decline. If we could take advantage of that, that would be great. However the fact that we don’t really have a quarterback with as much experience, taking on a defense even half as great as Oklahoma State’s, we’re going to have some secondary issues for sure on our side of the ball. At this point, I’m just scrambling for ways for them to possibly win. I really do like being positive. I wish I could be more positive. The way it’s looking right now Oklahoma State is just going to roll on us unless we can stop them somehow with our shotty defense and maybe hope that Justice Hill and James Washington get stuck in traffic or something, because I don’t see it happening.”

PS: Do you have a prediction?

GT: “Snyder usually covers most of the time, but I’m going to say that it’ll probably be a pretty strong victory by Oklahoma State. Let’s say, best bet, it’ll be 35-14.”

If you’ve got 25 minutes, take a listen to the full interview. Gracey also discusses goes off on the report that Bill Snyder blocked a coach in waiting the school wanted, what she thinks about the potential of Sean Snyder as head coach, why she doesn’t like Stillwater (!!!), her kid interrupts us for a moment, and we talk about the history of the series.