Watch Kansas State defensive coordinator speak with the media in Manhattan on Thursday as well as checking out his key points.

One of the larger talking points since Texas hung on to knock off Kansas State in Austin, 27-24, has been the third and long for the Longhorn offense on the last drive just short of midfield. A stop there would have given the Wildcats possession late with a chance to win, while a conversion would push Texas down the field further and allow the Longhorns to run off a substantial amount of time on the clock.

K-State chose to throw a blitz at Texas, a blitz that had been their most successful blitz all season. It was also a blitz, according to defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton, that is pretty difficult to identify and assess and plan for. You have to gamble as an offense yourself in order to defeat it.

Unfortunately, Sam Ehlinger was up to the task. The experienced veteran was able to recognize it, and they did take a gamble and cashed in with the conversion.

I know some didn’t agree with it, but it’s hard to complain about a call from a defense that throws their most effective pressure at an offense, one that is complicated to identify and you have to gamble to win against, especially in a game when you’re without your best cornerback.

The benefit of hindsight even left Hazelton wondering what would have happened with a different call, but there's something to be said for K-State being aggressive and actively trying to make a play to win the game.

I think I just enjoy how genuine the coaches are at times. It took me by surprise to hear Courtney Messingham discuss how much of a loss it was to not have Samuel Wheeler at tight end the rest of the season. Hazelton practically echoed the same sentiment about starting cornerback A.J. Parker.

Of course, Wheeler is out for the season. If we were to provide an educated guess, Parker probably won’t play again until the bowl game. Hazelton admitted that the loss of Parker was felt against the Longhorns and they took advantage of his absence at times.

Something that stuck out to us during Thursday’s afternoon press conferences inside Vanier Family Football Complex was the manner in which Hazelton raved about his defensive tackles this season. He’s provided words of encouragement and praise and showed some pleasure about a variety of things so far this year, but not the way he did on Thursday about his defensive tackles.

The question was specifically about Trey Dishon, but Hazelton took the opportunity to shine a light on all of them and their play this season. He spoke on the little things they have done, how hard they have played and how they have been the difference in some very meaningful plays against some of their better competition, such as Texas and Oklahoma.

There hasn’t been a game where they haven’t played well, according to K-State’s defensive coordinator. Nobody has been able to manhandle them on any level.

If he was asked about a position that has been the most key, he’d probably admit that it was the defensive tackles. if today’s availability was any kind of sign.

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