On Saturday the Texas Longhorns travel to Manhattan, Kansas for a battle with the Wildcats. This is the first of back-to-back trips to the Sunflower State to close out the 2020 Big 12 Conference schedule. Both teams are coming off close losses. Texas fell to Iowa State 23-20 and Kansas State dropped a heartbreaker to Baylor.
The teams are a game apart in the standings. Texas is 4-3 in Big 12 play with one less game played than Kansas State, who is 4-4. A loss by Texas could impact which bowl game they are invited to as they could finish anywhere from the No. 4 to No. 6 depending on what happens with West Virginia in the final two weeks.
Notes from Chris Klieman’s Press Conference
The Wildcats head coach met with the media on Tuesday and here are a few of the highlights from Klieman.
On facing the Longhorns after a close loss to Baylor
“We just have to execute better to have a chance against a really talented Texas team,” Klieman stated as he opened his weekly press conference.
The return of Justin Hughes and Elijah Sullivan at linebacker
“Excited they get an opportunity to play on senior day. They are on track to play. Klieman continued, “as far as I know….it gives us much needed depth at linebacker.”
On the opt outs for Texas and how that changes the gameplan
“I don’t think it changes anything. They could be COVID guys for them. Or they could be COVID guys for us. Or it could be COVID later in the week for them. So you figure out on Saturday when you go out there like we have a number of Saturdays. Say here is the lineup we have and whoever is in there is going to be counted on by their teammates, by their coaches to get their job done.”
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Klieman on preparing for Sam Ehlinger
“It is tremendous because of what Sam [Ehlinger] can do. He can beat you with his feet, he can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his mind. He can run through arm tackles because he is a big physical ball carrier. [Ehlinger] throws the ball really well, he has a lot of different people he can get the ball to. He has powerful backs with a good offensive line so we need to be on point. We need to be better in limiting explosive plays.”
You can watch the full press conference from Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman below.