QB Comps: Skylar Thompson Looks to Became Landlord of Stillwater

Skylar Thompson enjoys visiting Stillwater, USA.

He’s the epitome of the archetype. The former backup K-State passer who torches the Pokes by land and by air. In his second career start, Thompson put a damper on Mason Rudolph and James Washington’s penultimate home game, throwing for 203 yards and three touchdowns while picking up what is still a career-high 93 yards and a fourth TD on the ground.

In Round 2 last October, K-State hosted OSU in Manhattan. While his numbers weren’t quite as eye-popping, 130 passing yards, no scores, he did turn in a season-high 80 rushing yards as he and the Wildcats sent the Cowboys home packing an L.

On Saturday, he’ll look to make it 3-0 against the Cowboys and 2-0 inside BPS, but he’ll face a dynamic young Cowboy QB in Spencer Sanders looking to bounce back after his team’s loss to Texas in primetime.

Let’s look at how the two passers stack up so far this season. (It’s important to point out that Kansas State is coming out of an early bye week so Thompson has played just three games to Sanders’ four.)

While it’s been just three games, Thompson is putting up career numbers so far under first-year head coach Chris Klieman and K-State’s new offense.

The Wildcats’ have yet to get into conference play but have knocked down the pins in their lane, hanging over 100 points between their two wins over Nicholls State and Bowling Green before going on the road to beat Mississippi State 31-24. Despite the off week, the Wildcats sneaked into the AP poll at No. 24.

Again, the sample size is small and competition less than fierce, but the Wildcats’ 44 points per game is their highest scoring average through three games since 2012 when they went 11-2, the last time K-State hit double-digit wins.

As far as this year’s team goes, Mike Gundy said that he sees plenty of similarities between Klieman’s offensive attack and what he’s grown accustomed to over the years from Bill Snyder-coached teams.

“Lot of similarities in everything they’re doing, concepts, 21 personnel, 22 personnel, lot of pull plays, they wanna run power,” said Gundy. “Special teams is essentially the same.”

Gundy was asked about Thompson’s low rush attempts through three games and whether he expects that to be the case on Saturday.

“They had two blowout wins,” said Gundy. “I’m guessing that played a role. I would say that he will rush the ball more than three times against us, cause that’s been his average, 3.3, and in blowout wins you just don’t see it as much. I would say that that’s a little bit more their package. I’m just guessing.”

That would be a good guess. Heading into this season, Thompson averaged over nine carries per game through his freshman and sophomore seasons combined and, as mentioned above, has beat the Cowboys up on the ground historically. In his two games against OSU, he averaged 14.5 rushes per game.

From a talent standpoint, I think we know who the more proficient passer is between Sanders and Thompson, but the way Kansas State is able to play to their QB’s strengths — and the ability of OSU’s defense to limit that — will go a long way in determining who get’s the better of the matchup on Satuday.