100 Questions: Busting some K-State myths

In an attempt to pass the time this off-season we're fortunate to have secured the help of scottwildcat from Boscoe's Boys. Scott is going to provide 100 questions about the past, present, future (and who-knows-what) involving Kansas State sports, and I'll do my very best to answer them.

Let's dive in to the 100 Questions.

Question No. 93: What is one misconception you perceive that K-State fans have going into this season, one misconception you perceive (non-K-State) Big 12 fans have about K-State coming into this season, and what is one misconception you believe the national (or non-K-State regional) media have about K-State coming into this season?

I don't say this just to pander to the subscribers of K-StateOnline (okay, not JUST for that purpose), but I think members of the site probably already have a good sense of most of what I think about the K-State program.

So, I'm going to write the fan misconception thinking of a bit more "common" fan, not one subscribing to this site.

K-STATE FAN MISCONCEPTION - Skylar Thompson is not a gifted runner

As Skylar Thompson and Alex Delton split reps the last two season, Delton was the far better runner than Thompson, right?

If you just look at the numbers, there's virtually no difference between the two in the running game. Taking away sack yardage, Delton ran 185 times for 998 yards (5.3 yards per carry) over the last two seasons. Thompson, on the other hand, carried 174 times for 872 yards (5.0 yards per carry). Delton had 10 touchdown runs; Thompson had eight.

So, yes, a slight edge to Delton - who's now at TCU - but from a statistical perspective the two put up nearly identical numbers carrying the football over the past two years.

If you narrow it down to just each player's most recent season in 2018 - still taking out sacks - last year Thompson ran for 548 yards on 105 carries (5.2 yards per carry) and five touchdowns against Delton's 338 yards and two scores on 85 rushes (3.9 yards per carry).

I've actually always found Thompson to be better in his lateral movement as a runner than Delton, who unquestionably owned better straight-line speed than Thompson.

And no, K-State won't run the quarterback nearly as often under Chris Klieman as it did Bill Snyder, but as we saw with Easton Stick at NDSU - especially in last year's FCS Championship Game - the QB run game is not a tool ignored by Klieman.

BIG 12 FAN MISCONCEPTION - K-State is a bottom half Big 12 football program

Full honesty here, what's below is simply a copy and past from an earlier 100 Questions piece I wrote on K-State's all-time standing in Big 12 football and basketball. It just fits too well here, though, not to use:

Instead of picking a time-frame, I went with entire existence of the Big 12 Conference, starting in 1996 through the completion of the most recent football and basketball seasons.

There are a million different ways this could be judged, but I decided the most apples to apples numbers I could use (and to keep it somewhat simple) were conference standings in both sports.

Since only eight teams - Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas - have been in the conference for duration of Big 12 play, I ranked those teams finishes within the league for every season.

So, in theory, finishing first would give you eight points, while finishing second seven points, and so on.

To give greater credit for winning championships, however, I attached a 12-point value to a conference championship. In that instance, the top team receives 12 points, No. 2 gets seven, No. 3 gets six, and on down the line.

The difference in reward between first and second, then, becomes far greater than second and third.

There were two exceptions to that scoring rule:

1. If the actual Big 12 Champion (Texas A&M in 1998 football, for example) is no longer in the league, I will give the next highest finishing team eight points (K-State, in this example) for finishing higher than all league peers but not the full 12, since a championship wasn't won.

2. League recognized split championships will be awarded with both champions getting 11 points.

I did not recognize ties, however, beyond conference championships and simply used the official league rankings. In the event of ties beyond that, I broke them myself through highest Associated Press ranking and then best overall record.

To rank West Virginia and TCU, I simply compared them against each other, going back in and assigning them the same set of values for their Big 12 finishes every year since entering the league.

BIG 12 1996 - 2018 FOOTBALL ONLY RANKINGS

1. Oklahoma 202

2. Texas 152

3. Kansas State 130

4. Oklahoma State 116

5. Texas Tech 109

6. Baylor 80

7. Iowa State 64

8. Kansas 55

9. TCU 47

10. West Virginia 39

The reality, here, is K-State is virtually as close to being the second highest ranking Big 12 football program (22-point difference) as it is to being the fifth best (21-point edge). The Wildcats are a solid No. 3 in all-time Big 12 standings, and it's impossible to argue they've posted just "middle of the pack" results since Big 12 play began.

NATIONAL MEDIA MISCONCEPTION - Reggie Walker is K-State's best defensive player

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This is not meant on a knock on Reggie Walker. I was happy to see him earn a preseason First-Team All-Big 12 selection from the media, and I don't think it was unwarranted.

You could make a reasonably good argument, however, he may be the third best player on K-State's defensive line. Defensive tackle Trey Dishon and defensive end Wyatt Hubert would probably rank a hair higher for me, personally, if I were forced to make a list of K-State's best players. I think Dishon has been more consistent than Walker in his career, and I think Hubert has a greater chance of blossoming into a star.

Now, Walker had a great freshman season and a quietly good junior campaign. I could look silly at the end of the year for stating this as a misconception, but going in to the year I feel like the media is missing the mark, at least a bit, when it comes to K-State's defenders.