Kansas State and Tulane didn’t have to reveal a whole lot of their identities in season-opening victories against outmanned FCS opponents.
The Wildcats defeated UT Martin 41-6 and the Green Wave blanked Southeastern Louisiana 52-0.
So both teams realize they might witness more than what they’ve seen on film when No. 17 Kansas State visits Tulane on Saturday in New Orleans.
“We have a lot of things we haven’t shown yet,” Wildcats coach Chris Klieman said.
The Green Wave are even more of a mystery because they have a new head coach in Jon Sumrall. Kansas State isn’t totally in the dark about Sumrall because it defeated his visiting Troy team last season, 42-13, in one of just four losses Sumrall had in two seasons there.
“We watched all the Troy film from last year when we played them last year and now it looks like we’re playing them again,” Klieman said. “There are a lot of similarities, offensive and defensively in scheme.”
Klieman’s team prides itself on discipline, but it was a mixed bag in regards to that in the opener.
The Wildcats weren’t penalized the whole game — “Our kids know how important it is to play a clean game,” Klieman said — but Kansas State was minus-2 in turnovers.
“We’ve got to get that thing flipped,” Klieman said.
This game marks the first true road start for quarterback Avery Johnson.
“I think it’s important for this group to go on the road because we’re going to have to win some games on the road in order to have a successful season,” Klieman said.
Both coaches dismissed the significance of Tulane’s 17-10 road victory against a Kansas State team favored by two touchdowns two seasons ago. In addition to the Green Wave’s coaching change, both teams feature just a handful of players that played significant snaps in that game.
Sumrall acknowledged that this game is “a big opportunity against a really good opponent in our stadium.”
But he cautioned that his team must improve significantly even from its lopsided victory in the opener.
“They’re a top-20 team,” he said. “We’re not and we didn’t play like one last week. If we don’t get ready and improve a lot it’s not going to matter what the opportunity looks like. We’ve got to get better in house before we worry about the opponent.”
Redshirt freshman quarterback Darian Mensah made his college debut for the Green Wave last week, completing 10 of 12 passes for 205 yards and two touchdowns.
“For his first game action along with his first start I thought he looked poised and played with good command,” Sumrall said. “I’m not really surprised by that, but you never know what a guy’s going to do when he gets in a game under the lights and he handled the moment really well.”
Tulane and Mensah are stepping up in class as the game against the Wildcats is followed by a visit to No. 15 Oklahoma next week.
“The challenges are about to get much harder,” Sumrall said. “We’re going into big-boy football real fast.”
–Field Level Media