MANHATTAN (AP) — Kansas State can’t help but wonder which defense will show up Saturday to confront Iowa State at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.
Will it be the swarming, aggressive unit that forced three turnovers and held UCLA to 120 yards passing while beating the Bruins in the season opener?
Or will it be the defense that let Missouri State amass 447 yards last week?
The lower-division Bears rolled up almost 200 more yards than the Bruins and took better care of the ball. The Bears threw 42 passes, but Kansas State picked off only one.
“It was a disappointment,” said defensive back David Garrett. “That was not us. They had a 99-yard drive against us. That is never good. Then they had 11 minutes of possession time, which is a whole quarter for their team basically. For us to win the game, we have to keep them out of the end zone and keep our offense on the field. So that was a letdown for our defense and as a team.”
The team goal is to get at least three turnovers a game.
UCLA quarterback Kevin Prince, coming off an impressive 2009 campaign, is generally thought of as one of the top passers in the Pac-10. But on Sept. 4 against the Wildcats, Prince was only 9 for 26. A week later, Missouri State’s Cody Kirby was 20 of 42 for 281 yards.
“One of our captains spoke of maturity throughout the week for (the Missouri State game) and whether we were mature enough to handle it,” coach Bill Snyder said. “I am not so sure we were mature enough, in all honesty. We really need to more consistent in order to have any degree of success.”
Despite allowing three touchdowns to an FCS team, there were positives.
Defensive linemen Brandon Harold and Raphael Guidry each had nine tackles, and linebacker Alex Hrebec brought his season total to 20. Snyder said he was pleased with how the defense played for the majority of the first half against the Bears. Until the last two snaps of the first half, the Bears had only 80 total yards.
Iowa State comes in following a 35-7 smackdown at the hands of No. 9 Iowa. The Cyclones (1-1) got their only score late in the game after Iowa had pulled most of its starters.
“We want to come out and prove something and they (Iowa State) had a tough loss against a great team in Iowa, so I know that they will come out hungry,” said Garrett. “It is going to be a great game.”
Snyder is also warning the Wildcats not to be fooled by the lopsided loss to Iowa.
“I think the score was a little bit deceiving,” he said. “I think they are a very good football team. They play extremely hard. They play with passion on both sides of the ball. I think they have some good athletes on offense. Their quarterback (Austen Arnaud) has about 6,500 total yards of offense in his career, so that is pretty good. He can throw it and run it.
“They are a lunch-pail offensive line that really works hard to get on blocks and stay on blocks. They are big.”
Snyder is taking a wait-and-see approach to his team’s defensive improvement.
“They better be (focused),” he said. “They want to be focused —I do not have any doubt about that. But ‘want to’ and ‘doing’ is two different things.”