Tag: Deuce Vaughn

Tank Bigsby ranks among top returning running backs

Tank Bigsby looks to turn it around in 2022.

Heading into the 2021 campaign under new head coach Bryan Harsin, Auburn Tigers running back Tank Bigsby was among the best-returning players at the position. It was a toss-up as to who was viewed as the top sophomore running back along with Kansas State’s Deuce Vaughn and Texas’ Bijan Robinson.

Essentially came down to what is your favorite flavor of ice cream. Each of them has their strengths. All three were among the various Freshman All-American teams.

Unfortunately, Bigsby didn’t have the season that many expected in his second season on the Plains. He would finish the year with more yards than his freshman year but it didn’t seem to meet those high expectations. His yards per carry dropped from 6.0 as a freshman to 4.9 in 2021. Bigsby was more productive as a receiver, averaging 8.8 yards per reception out of the backfield.

After starting the season with three-straight 100-yard performances, he would add just two more over the final nine games. In that stretch, Auburn finished 4-6. Not all of the failures can be tied to Bigsby as he was slowed down by an injured offensive line that underperformed.

Looking to the 2022 campaign, Tank was named No. 10 of the top 10 returning running backs by Pro Football Focus.

What PFF Says…

Jeff Blake-USA TODAY Sports

Bigsby will be looking for a bounce-back season in 2022 after a disappointing true sophomore season in 2021. He went from generating 0.24 WAA in 2020 to -0.08 this past season. For reference, that’s the difference between the 96th and 25th percentile among FBS players at the position. A shift in offensive philosophy under the new regime could have played a part in that — Bigsby ran a zone concept on 76% of his runs in 2020 to just 52% in 2021. The Auburn star has every bit of a chance to become a first-team All-American in 2022.

The team will likely be looking to rely on Bigsby quite a bit in 2022 with the quarterback situation. It could be one of four guys taking snaps under center for Auburn. Zach Calzada has the most experience of any of the passers on the roster. He took over for Haynes King at Texas A&M last year after suffering an injury against the Colorado Buffaloes.

Either way, this is a make-or-break year for the former four-star running back from Georgia. Along with Jarquez Hunter, this duo should be one of the better one-two punches in the SEC.

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Texas Bowl: Handing out game balls for LSU and Kansas State

Which players stood out in the Texas Bowl?

The LSU Tigers football team never had a chance; Kansas State beat them 42-20 in the Texas bowl. LSU was missing a lot of players due to many reasons and could not overcome it. Now the Brian Kelly Era will begin. Here are the players of the game of both teams; it was hard choosing for LSU. 

Game balls

LSU

Jontre Kirklin, a receiver, was thrown in the quarterback position in the Bowl game. Kirklin passed for 138 yards, three touchdowns, including an 81-yard touchdown pass to Chris Hilton Jr. to end the game. Kirklin also threw two interceptions. All night, Kirklin was throwing the ball up for grabs, and LSU receivers came down with the ball a few times. Kirklin also rushed for 61 yards, giving him 199 total yards for the game.

Defensive back Pig Cage had six tackles, three TFLs, and one sack. He played well Tigers, it’s pretty amazing that a defensive back has three tackles for a loss.

Kansas State

Quarterback Skylar Thompson passed for 259 yards and three touchdowns. Thompson was under pressure early in the game but scrambled and was able to find open receivers down the field. He completed 75% of his passes and had a 188.1 passer rating. 

LSU’s defense did an ok job holding Deuce Vaughn in check to start the game, but as the game went on, Vaughn got it going. He finished with 146 yards in 21 carries and three touchdowns. His long was 48 yards, and Vaughn averaged seven yards per rush.

Five reasons Kansas State could beat LSU

Playing devil’s advocate, five reasons that LSU falters on Tuesday

LSU will face off against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl on Tuesday night. It’s the final bowl game of the season before the championship next Monday.

Kansas State comes into this game with a 7-5 record. Outside of their loss to Texas in the final game of the season, four of those losses came against good teams. For the most part, this is a Kansas State team that took care of business when they were supposed too.

They are coached by Chris Kleiman, who’s in his third-year of the program after running a dynasty at North Dakota State in the FCS.

LSU will be coached by Brad Davis in what is the final game before Brian Kelly assumes that roll. Davis was hired by LSU in June to serve as the offensive line coach. Davis will remain in that position as Brian Kelly takes over.

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With all that being said, Kansas State is the favorite tomorrow. To put it mildly, LSU is dealing with a lot of adversity right now. It’s difficult to imagine them winning this game unless some unexpected names step up. On the other hand, Kansas State has some good things going for it. Here are five reasons the Wildcats could take care of LSU in the Texas Bowl.

LSU vs KSU: Previewing the running backs the Texas Bowl

Can the LSU defense contain Deuce Vaughn?

With the uncertainty surrounding the quarterback position, we could see plenty of action on the ground in this game. The Kansas State offense features one of the best backs in the country, Deuce Vaughn. Don’t let his size fool you, he plays much bigger than his 5’6″ stature.

The Wildcats also use his backup, Joe Ervin, to some extent, both averaged over five yards per touch this year. The Tigers counter with Tyrion Davis-Price and freshman Corey Kiner. Much like the quarterback injuries for Kansas State, LSU had those issues with their running backs staying healthy. Also missing their top weapon in John Emery Jr hasn’t helped one bit.

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We preview the running backs for this game:

Running Back Comparison

Scott Sewell-USA TODAY Sports

Breaking down who has the edge in the tale of the tape.

Vaughn vs Davis-Price
5-6 Ht 6-1
173 Wt 232
Sophomore Class Junior
214 Att 211
1,246 Yards 1,004
5.8 YPA 4.8
582 YAC 591
15 TDs 6
43 Missed Tackles Forced 36

Edge: Deuce Vaughn

As a runner the edge goes to Vaughn, he has been a consistent threat for the Kansas State Wildcats all season. He was also named as an All-American as an all-purpose back. His ability to create offense on the ground has been a big boost to the KSU offense that had a revolving door at quarterback due to injury.

Vaughn also gets the edge over Davis-Price in the receiving game. TDP caught just 10 passes all season while Vaughn hauled in 47 passes at 10 yards per catch. He totaled 18 touchdowns this year for the Wildcats. For reference, the top three players on LSU’s roster combined for 20 touchdowns.

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Caleb Williams among USA TODAY Sports’ top 10 contenders to win the Heisman Trophy in 2022

Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams was listed as one of the top-10 contenders for the 2022 Heisman Trophy by USA TODAY’s Paul Myerberg.

Alabama sophomore quarterback Bryce Young captured the Heisman Trophy after passing for 4,322 yards and 43 touchdowns. Young led the Crimson Tide to an SEC championship and a 12-1 season thus far.

He and Alabama will square off in one of the College Football Playoff’s semifinal games against Cincinnati in the Cotton Bowl on Dec. 31. Young will have the rare opportunity next season to join Ohio State running back Archie Griffin as the only two-time winners of the Heisman Trophy.

Oklahoma true freshman quarterback Caleb Williams will be a popular pick to capture college football’s coveted individual crown in 2022 as well. USA TODAY Sports listed Williams as one of the top 10 contenders to win the Heisman Trophy next season.

USA TODAY Sports’ Paul Myerberg wrote this about Williams’ chances.

Williams will enter next season with enormous name recognition after spending a few midseason weeks as the talk of college football. Being a household name may only get him so far. There are some major questions about the future of Oklahoma’s offense without coach Lincoln Riley and just how strong his supporting cast will be given the rash of transfers and lost verbal commitments since Riley left for Southern California. – Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

Of course, Oklahoma has since hired Brent Venables as its new head coach and announced Jeff Lebby as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator for next season.

Oklahoma wide receivers Jadon Haselwood and Theo Wease each entered their names into the transfer portal following Riley’s departure to USC. Tight end Austin Stogner did as well.

Haselwood is transferring to Arkansas, Stogner to South Carolina and Wease’s future is still uncertain.

Still, finding skill players to come join Lebby and Williams in Norman shouldn’t be a problem fans have much to worry about with.

Two other Big 12 players made Myerberg’s top-10 Heisman Trophy contenders list for the 2022 season. Texas running back Bijan Robinson and Kansas State running back Deuce Vaughn.

Here’s what Myerberg wrote about the Longhorns’ Robinson.

Robinson was one of only a few bright spots during coach Steve Sarkisian’s miserable debut season. Whether the sophomore factors into the Heisman race depends on what sort of growth Texas and the offense makes during a crucial offseason. If Sarkisian can identify a permanent starting quarterback and take the next step in a roster rebuild, Robinson has the ability to run for 1,500 yards with another 500 as a receiver. – Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

Myerberg discussed Vaughn’s prospects, too.

Robinson may not be the best option at running back coming out of the Big 12, however. The one reliable piece of Kansas State’s offense in each of the last two seasons, Vaughn went over 1,000 rushing yards during the regular season and is leading the Wildcats in receptions for the second straight year. There’s a matter of getting his team into New Year’s Six consideration, but Vaughn’s numbers may speak for themselves. – Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports

Oklahoma has seven Heisman Trophy winners in its program’s history: Billy Vessels in 1952; Steve Owens in 1969; Billy Sims in 1978; Jason White in 2003; Sam Bradford in 2008; Baker Mayfield in 2017; and Kyler Murray in 2018.

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Texas Bowl Preview: Stats that define Kansas State

Taking a look at LSU’s bowl game opponent, Kansas State.

On January 4th, LSU will face off against Kansas State in the Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston.

Kansas State is a rare foe for LSU, with the two squads only having faced off once in 1980. Because of this unfamiliarity, LSU fans probably don’t know much about this Kansas State team. Let’s dive in.

Coaching Staff

Kansas State is led by head coach Chris Klieman, now in his third year with the Wildcats after putting together an incredible 69-6 record at North Dakota State.

Klieman has yet to win a bowl game at Kansas State but has had his team ranked at one point or another during every season of his tenure.

Shortly after the regular season ended, Klieman decided to part ways with OC Courtney Messingham and TE’s coach Jason Ray. Former Kansas State QB Collin Klein will take over the play-calling duties against LSU.

Despite the change at OC, it’s no secret what Kansas State wants to do on offense. They will try and establish the run game, playing a physical brand of football with some short pass game stuff spruced in.

The defense is run by Joe Klanderman and Van Malone. Klanderman has worked under Klieman for some time now, following him from North Dakota State. Malone, who works with CB’s and is the team’s defensive passing game coordinator, has a rich coaching history in Texas and the Big 12.

On defense, Kansas State will typically appear in a 3-man front, allowing their LB’s and DB’s to be patient and fly to the ball.

Next, the offense

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Texas opens as slight favorite over Kansas State

Even amid a six-game losing streak, Texas is viewed as the slight favorite over Kansas State for the regular season finale.

Even amid a six-game losing streak, Texas is viewed as the slight favorite over Kansas State for the regular season finale. Continue reading “Texas opens as slight favorite over Kansas State”

How will the Oklahoma Sooners contain this Baylor Bears’ running game?

The Baylor Bears’ much-improved running game serves as a stiff test for this Oklahoma Sooners’ defensive line.

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As Oklahoma wraps their final preparations for their trip to Waco, Texas, the Sooners’ minds are squarely on winning this game. How they go about winning the game is an entirely different situation. Baylor presents unique challenges on both sides of the ball, but for Oklahoma’s defense, they must overcome one big obstacle: Baylor’s rushing attack.

Baylor’s running game is the foundation of their offensive attack. Gerry Bohanon is a solid college quarterback in his own right, but it’s his duo of running backs that make this offense go. Abram Smith and Trestan Ebner run a version of the zone running scheme to near perfection.

After struggling with the running game in 2020, Baylor’s rushing numbers did a complete 180 in the spring thanks to tinkering by Jeff Grimes, their new offensive coordinator who spent time recently at BYU. Baylor averaged a very light 90.3 rushing yards per game last season, and that was very close to the bottom of the totem pole across all of the FBS. Currently, they are 7th with 230.9 YPG at a clip of 5.89 yards per rush.

The “wide zone” is used in the professional ranks as well, and it simply allows your ball carriers to give their offensive linemen time to out-leverage their assignments until a hole opens up. It allows for teams to be very multiple and versatile in formations as well. Baylor dresses their wide zone runs on film quite a bit, but they’ve run it out of at least 12 different formations this year.

The Sooners will trot out a likely starting defensive line of Perrion Winfrey, Jalen Redmond, Isaiah Thomas, and Nik Bonitto as the edge. When defending against this scheme, teams struggle because their interior defensive linemen get double-teamed far too easily. Whichever way the play comes, there’s likely some sort of combination block by the center and the play side guard, which becomes a double team. Too many people leave the double team too soon, allowing for the defensive linemen to penetrate. That’s where Oklahoma can make its stand. Perrion Winfrey is very disruptive, and so is Jalen Redmond.

Both have excellent play strength and can shed blocks before offensive linemen can truly engage them and dictate where they want them to go. If they can do that right, it should leave gaps for their linebackers to fill. The other side to this equation is the linebackers finishing plays by wrapping up and tackling these Bears’ running backs.

Tackling has been a significant issue for Oklahoma this year. If they tackle and play good football with good gap integrity, there’s no reason to believe they can’t stymie this Bears rushing attack enough to walk away victorious.

The Sooners have faced some good running backs this year. Names like Bijan Robinson, Deuce Vaughn, Kendre Miller, and SaRodorick Thompson are just a few. The Sooners have fared pretty well against them all. If the Sooners are to remain undefeated, Alex Grinch and his defensive staff will have to conjure up another good performance.

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6 Takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners’ 37-31 win over Kansas State

The Sooners did a lot of good things in their win over the Kansas State Wildcats, but there are some they need to tighten up before Texas.

Another week, another one-score win for the Oklahoma Sooners as they took down their nemesis from the last couple of years, the Kansas State Wildcats. Though the first half was a close affair, the Sooners started to pull away in the third quarter outscoring the Wildcats 14 to seven to take a 27-17 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Though Oklahoma would be outscored in the fourth, they continued scoring, unlike in last year’s matchup, and made enough plays on both sides of the ball to come up with the big win. Oklahoma is now 5-0 (2-0 in the Big 12) with a big-time matchup with the Texas Longhorns on the horizon.

But before we get to Texas, here are six takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners win over the Kansas State Wildcats.

Oklahoma Sooners pick up big win over Kansas State 37-31

In one of their most complete performances of the season, the Oklahoma Sooners beat Kansas State 37-31 to move to 5-0 on the season.

As crazy as it may sound, this was the best Oklahoma Sooners win of the season. They went to Manhattan, Kansas for their first road game of the season and took care of business against a tough Kansas State team, 37-31.

The game wasn’t necessarily as close as the score indicated.

The Wildcats got the ball to start the game and methodically worked the down the field with some timely completions by super senior quarterback Skylar Thompson, who played despite a week-long game of smoke and mirrors from head coach Chris Klieman about the quarterback’s availability.

Kansas State made its way into the red zone before a forced fumble by defensive end Reggie Grimes and subsequent 60 yard return by Nik Bonitto set the Sooners up nicely.

After making it inside the 10, penalties, a botched snap, and poor blocking would result in the Sooners settling for three points off of a field goal from Gabe Brkic.

The Wildcats would answer on a touchdown pass from Thompson to star running back Deuce Vaughn.

The Sooners would respond with a 12 play 75-yard touchdown drive of their own capped off by a very creative run play involving Jeremiah Hall.

The Sooners and Wildcats swapped field goals before halftime. Oklahoma went into the locker room with a 13-10 lead.

Neither team punted until the 3rd quarter. Kansas State kept opting to go for it and the Sooners defense couldn’t get off the field. Conversely, Kansas State simply could not stop Oklahoma as every drive ended in points.

Things would get weird in the third quarter thanks in part to two different reviews.

Trailing 27-10, Kansas State attempted and recovered an onside kick, and referee Kevin Hassell went to confirm the ball traveled 10 yards. It did, but Lincoln Riley smartly and probably due to information he was receiving via his headset challenged the play again.

Riley argued that kicker Ty Zentner had accidentally kicked the ball twice (which he had). The illegal touching gave Oklahoma the ball. They would do nothing with it and instead turned it over on third and long on a Spencer Rattler interception putting Kansas State deep in their own territory. The pick amounted to nothing more than a punt as Rattler threw it up there hoping to make a play or catch a defensive pass interference call.

Another review came on a 4th down completion from Thompson to receiver Landry Weber. A superb attempt to catch it was ruled incomplete as the ball hit the ground as he attempted to secure it.

A slick Jeremiah Hall TD reception on a shovel pass from Rattler put the Sooners in front 34-17.

The Wildcats would eat up a lot of clock while scoring to make it 34-24.

The Sooners responded with another field goal from Brkic, which was followed by a kick return for a touchdown from Malik Knowles. Knowles now has three return touchdowns this year. Kansas State had one last attempt to get an offside and the attempt was unsuccessful as wide receiver Jadon Haselwood calmly caught the kick and took a knee.

Spencer Rattler threw for 243 yards and two touchdowns, running back Kennedy Brooks was the lead back of the day posting 91 yards and a touchdown while Jeremiah Hall scored twice and Marvin Mims re-emerged with four catches for 71 yards.

Oklahoma can now return to Norman and prepare themselves for the Red River Shootout with the 4-1 Texas Longhorns. Kansas State will have a bye before playing Iowa State on October 16th.