Count on KStateOnline recruiting analyst Derek Young to offer his fresh, unique and informed observations following every game this fall.

1. Isaiah Zuber is deserving on the offensive side of the ball. He hauled in seven passes for 73 yards with a long of 15. Four of the seven receptions came on one drive alone. The sophomore led the Wildcats in both receptions and receiving yards.

2. I’m awarding another game ball on offense to someone that just came in and stepped up when his number was called. He isn’t a starter but was thrusted into the starting lineup early on Saturday against Charlotte, and that was offensive lineman Nick Kaltmayer. He answered the bell when Dalton Risner left the game with an injury. Meanwhile, the offense did not miss a beat and totaled over 300 yards on the ground.

3. The final game ball is Kendall Adams, who led the defensive charge. If you’re asking me, I thought Adams was the best football player on the field yesterday. I believe I still would have considered him that even if he didn’t find the end zone twice.

It hasn’t been mentioned a lot but Kansas State has yet to turn the ball over this year. This sounds simple, but that matters. It matters because this is how the Wildcats have to play to reach their goals in the more competitive portion of their schedule and when they are on the road.

What is my point? It’s kind of reiterating what J-Mart has already written, but the Wildcats aren’t playing sloppy. They’re not committing stupid penalties or giving the ball away repeatedly. This isn’t one of those teams that you have to worry about beating themselves - at least not yet. There have been good teams in the past that still have a penchant for defeating themselves even against subpar competition.

This isn’t one of those teams. It can get by nearly 90 percent of its schedule doing exactly what the Wildcats are doing now for the large part and that should be comforting to the coaches and the fans alike.

But it can’t be all sunshine and rainbows. I think one area being overlooked that we have not seen enough from is a consistent pass rush from the front seven. A lot of the folks covering the team are overlooking this aspect or at least glossing over it in my opinion.

I will concede that the game plan and strategy has impacted this quite a bit. The coaches haven’t called an aggressive game. Nothing exotic or anything over the top has been sent at the opposing quarterbacks K-State has faced.

My concern would be that the Wildcats are not generating a pass rush by just sending four. This shows that K-State will likely have to manufacture a pass rush this year. Defenses are better when able to pressure a quarterback without sending extra guys, and I’m not sure the Wildcats have that ability right now. Or they haven’t shown it to date.

I’m not going to get on a soapbox and bemoan when players should be pulled from the game. I think it’s a tough decision to make.

But the Wildcats were having their way with Charlotte. They did not re-insert lineman Dalton Risner back into the lineup. Receiver Byron Pringle and cornerback Duke Shelley were held out altogether despite dressing for the game.

Nothing negative happened, so maybe I’m being too cautious, but it stunned me that K-State didn’t handle quarterback Jesse Ertz the same way. He wasn’t injured heading into the game, so there wasn’t anything to protect him from there. But I thought limiting the tackles and hits he takes in the second halves of non-competitive games would have been the priority this year.

I’m not suggesting Ertz should have been pulled earlier because I imagine being sharp and taking additional reps was something the staff wanted for him in preparation for Vanderbilt. I’m suggesting that they take the ball out of his hands some later on in the contest