Quotes & Video: Klieman, players speak on win

Thank you to K-State Athletics Communications for providing the following quotes after Kansas State's 24-17 win over TCU.

Videos provided by Matt Hall and Grant Flanders.

On the last drive and the stop on defense...

“Coach Haze (Scottie Hazelton) put us in a great position to do the play on that call. That call that he made put the two defensive ends in a position to make a play, so I’m just glad we came out.”

On the team’s chemistry…

“As the season goes on, you just get a little more comfortable with the guys you’re playing next to and the chemistry just gets stronger and stronger throughout the season. Obviously, it’s just us gelling together and just executing well.”

On being tested down the field…

“I think from an offensive standpoint they want to test everyone and especially if someone gets hurt and gets down, and a new guy coming in. They want to test you and I don’t think they did as much as they should’ve. I mean either way I would’ve been prepared and it’s always next guy up in this business. I think I had a good supporting cast around me thankfully, and we just got the win.

On the defense’s mindset going into the final drive…

“Maintain your leverage on everything, and y’know just keep things in front of you. I mean they’re not going to get a 70-yard play on, on one play, so just be smart about it.”

On the emotions of catching his first touchdown...

“Oh it was great, it was unbelievable, everything I’ve ever dreamed of all I remember is my boy Logan Long running out and just celebrating with me and it was just a great time.”

On how that play action opened up on the opening touchdown…

“Just the people in the trenches, the O-line being very physical and making them honor the run and then just being able to sell it a little bit, and then be able to have a release and get a great pass from Skylar (Thompson)”.

On the difference in the offense with success coming more in the passing game....

“It still all goes back to the O-line you know they’re doing a great job. Play action was really good for us and just drop back, I think the O-line did a great job protecting, getting Skylar (Thompson) plenty of time to throw and he was throwing strikes.”

On his emotions following the win…

“Pretty much the same thing (elation). We obviously have had two tough games back-to-back, and then you add that bye week in and you kinda just have to, y’know deal with that loss for longer. Really both of them. So, y’know that was a huge win, and that was a lot of fun to be out there. I’m hoping it can, y’know, set some things in motion going forward, so that’s exciting.”

On the team continuously coming through in big moments…

“Yeah, that’s huge. Those are, y’know we talked on the sideline; those are the situations that we practice for and really why we play the game, to be out there in those big, big situations like that. So to be able to come through in those, that’s awesome and y’know just adds to that great feeling we have right now.”

On the adjustments the defense made to stop TCU Quarterback Max Duggan’s scrambling…

“I think we started twisting a little more to uh, try to stop that draw that he was really hurting us with early. But he’s really good on his feet. A lot of people think of him just as a thrower, but he’s a really athletic quarterback. He definitely gave us plenty of issues, but y’know I did think we made some adjustments to at least slow him down a little more.”

CHRIS KLIEMAN, K-STATE HEAD COACH

On the final drive and big run from Skylar Thompson…

“Well the drive in general, I remember, having a talk with Coach Mess, ‘let’s be aggressive’. You know they kicked it down to the five, we could easily run it three times, punt it back to them, and take our chances. We said ‘let’s be aggressive’. And we throw it on first down and Malik (Knowles) almost makes a guy miss and takes it 70-90 yards himself but we get a 2nd and five. And then we were running a lot of shallow crossings mesh routes and stuff where they were doing a good job later on of picking them up but when you do that you lose your eyes on the quarterback so Skylar (Thompson) saw the opening after the mesh route was taken away and then made a big play. But just making that play was important. What we hadn’t done is have an explosive play and then all of the sudden you end up not getting anything out of it but to be able to finish the drive, Chabastin (Taylor) makes a big catch, we actually convert a fourth and one. You know it was good stuff. And it was not a question in our mind that we were going for that on fourth down because I didn’t want to have a three-point lead, we wanted to have a seven-point lead and so obviously, and then cap it off with Skylar making a tough run.

On if Duggan’s running game was surprising…

“It really was because we were thinking that that was going to be more Delton and so we had a game play for Max (Duggan) and didn’t execute it very well and had a gameplan a little bit for Delton and we only had him I think maybe three or four plays and so we kind of had to flip it a little bit in the second half. And I give Duggan a ton of credit because he had shown that on film but he’s a tough kid, he’s only a freshman. I thought he played exceptionally well. But all those things being said, I think our pass defense is what really won us the football game. Pash rush and pass defense.”

On the opening touchdown pass to Nick Lenners and if that opened things up…

“Yeah I think so. You know we’d seen that where we could maybe lose the inside linebackers eyes and get Lenners behind him and we were trying to do things with motions to try to lose the linebackers eyes to get some semblance of a rush game going early. And obviously our play action has to continue to improve but our running game has to improve for our play action to.

On the importance of Wyatt Hubert’s sack…

“Yeah it was a big play. You’re talking on the last drive I believe? Yeah he makes, we called a pressure and let the ends get upfield and go and he dipped the corner really well and you’re right, to get them into a 2nd and 19 or whatever it was after they had thrown a couple of passes to number one, who’s a great player, we were able to at least get them off schedule on the chains. And then we pressured them on the last play on fourth down, we said we’re not going to let that quarterback sit back there or run to the ball to beat us, we were going to bring heat.

On what he was most proud of with Skylar Thompson today...

“Just the toughness and resolve because he got hit a lot and he always, he just kept coming back. I mean the fourth and one play, I didn’t have a great vantage point but I thought they had him pinned in and he kind of knocked off that tackle and then kind of ran through a guy for the first down. And then I just thought he was more decisive and we took some shots, I know they were incomplete but son of a gun if we can take some shots vertically down field it’s going to soften some people up and Malik (Knowles) made a good play and I thought the throw he made to Dalton Schoen was big time so Skylar (Thompson) continues to impress me and I just love the kid because he’s such a competitor.”

GARY PATTERSON, TCU HEAD COACH

Opening statement…

“I would tell you it came down to one play call. A lot of other things, but it came down to one call.”

On the play call on Skylar Thompsons long run…

“That was the call, we ran a zone blitz too shallow. He made a check down draw and it was a good call by him. That call had been a good call for us all day.”

On Kansas State’s characteristics under Chris Klieman…

“I don’t know but they beat us. The bottom line is they run the football and that is what they are good at. They do not beat themselves. They do a good job on defense, especially when it comes to third down. They are doing things to make sure they don’t beat themselves, which is as big as anything.“

On the message to the team after dropping to 3-3…

“Winning is hard. Winning is hard to do, especially going on the road and this year we have a lot of road games. It is hard to lose ball games when you hold somebody to 266 yards. I think you have an 80 percent chance of getting beat if you have a punt blocked. We have been talking to our guys about protecting first the last two or three weeks because we have been running out too soon. Iowa State almost blocked one last week and this time K-State did. We have to get the ball off and get ready to go because it came close again after that.”

On the Kansas State defense…

“If you look at K-State they are good against the pass. They never put more than six in the box which allows you to run the football better. Today they locked people down in there more than what we have seen them do on film. The bottom line is that it is hard to throw the football against them.”

On the game…

“You have to understand they are at home and their defense plays pretty well. We had our missed chances. There were dropped balls and a list of things but it still comes down to one, and before I can blame anybody else, it comes down to one play call. I hold everybody to higher standards and the bottom line is it comes down to one call. If I keep them there then we have an opportunity to win the ball game.”

On any positive takeaways from the game…

“You have to score one more point. Nobody likes my philosophy of one more point until we don’t score one more point. You have to find a way to make plays. There were probably seven plays where we could have made a bigger difference. We have to keep improving on the pass rush. In our three-man rush on defense today on third down we played really well. The only one we screwed up was when we did not call the coverage that was called on third down they caught Malik Knowles on the sideline. We were supposed to be in man coverage and they called a two-shell which nobody sank and played man, which is not a good thing.”

DAVID BOLISOMI, SENIOR OFFENSIVE LINEMAN

On how the team might bounce back at 3-3…

“First of all, losing sucks. First and foremost, we came out here to get the ‘W’ and we didn’t do that. What do I tell the guys? Our back is against the wall. When we start to come out, we come out swinging. Play like street football. You guys know who our head coach is, you guys know what kind of football he likes to be played and we didn’t do that today as a whole team. When you lose, you lose as a team. We lost today as a team and it’s time to come back swinging.”

On the offense going for 228 yards rushing…

“We rushed the ball for 228 yards, we lost the game. And, again, this is a team game, you win as a team and you lose as a team. We lost the game 24-17 and that’s all that matters. It’s about that when the clock hits four zeros, what’s on there? And today we lost.”

On a momentum shift after the TD drive…

“That was a heck of a play by Max (Duggan). He broke like two tackles, got outside, stiff-armed the safety, scored. We believe in whoever the quarterback is back there and he showed why we believe in him.”

JULIUS LEWIS, SENIOR CORNERBACK

On what’s next…

“We’ve just got to keep working. Every week, we’ve just got to keep working.”

On the goals in front of them…

“Same goals as the beginning of the season, get to the bowl game first and then just keep going from there.”

On if he was surprised by some of the deep passes…

“I mean, we practice what they do and then we react to whatever else they do.”

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