Kansas State Post Game Wrap Up

What happens when you get destroyed while seeming incapable of stopping an opposing team's two-play offense? The post game depression wrap-up post is not thrown out until late Monday night.

9/8/2012 - Miami 13, Kansas State 52 - 1-1 (1-0 in ACC)

After the horrendous defensive performance in Chestnut Hill, we were all waiting for the hammer to drop and the inevitable blow out to occur. We just didn't expect it so soon. But like a teenage girl texting and driving straight into a car wreck, it's a lot more noticeable how unavoidable it was in hindsight. The youth on the two deep, specifically the defensive side, is going to produce deer in headlights reactions coupled with poor technique and execution. Add all those up in the same game, and you get half a hundo put on you, in embarrassing fashion.

Kansas State only had to punt once, and that was very late in the game. The Wildcats had more yards rushing than Miami did yards overall. They led Miami in time of possession by 15 minutes. QB Collin Klein was 9 for 11 for 210 (!) yards, and they converted what seemed like every single 3rd down, but in reality was only 8 of 11. About the only thing that went bad for K-State was their behind the back jump pass.

Miami's offense tried to answer Kansas State's first score, but fumbled away the opportunity and before we fans could settle into our second Pain Killer #3, it was another 14-0 deficit. Once Allen Hurns went down, you could turn the lights out and head on home. Miami tried lining up Duke Johnson at receiver, but even he is human. Three drops, and one that looked like a sure touchdown early in the game when it was still close. Bill Snyder is too good of a coach to let a true freshman beat him, and that was all Miami had left in terms of playmakers. Sounds bad, right? Well, as RayRay alluded to in the new depth chart post, it is only getting worse. Ramon Buchanan is out for the year. Vaughn Telemaque is out for the Bethune Cookman game this week, as is Allen Hurns. Even after all that, Golden is remaining positive.

"I asked them to leave that game in Manhattan [Kan.]," he said he told his players. "We’re not going to let this game beat us twice. We just have to move forward. We have to execute, we have to keep our poise. And we have to create some value from that loss. I know it’s hard to do, but we have to learn. We just have to settle them down. We played a lot of young guys on defense. We need to take a deep breath, try to get better and go from there."

As I'm sure you've heard repeatedly by now, this was Miami's most points allowed since the 66-13 shellacking from Syracuse in 1998. Not to dismiss this terrible performance, but lets put this week's loss in perspective a little bit. From that 1998 game:

But the tone was set in a thrilling first quarter that featured two sacks, three interceptions, a blocked punt, a 50-yard field goal, a 100-yard kickoff return and 31 points.

Unfortunately for the Hurricanes, Syracuse put up 24 of them.

Saturday in Manhattan doesn't sound so bad now, does it? Yeah, ok, it's still really bad.

From there, the beat was on and McNabb was the drummer. He turned a quarterback draw that looked as if it might lose yards into a nifty, 51-yard touchdown run -- one of his three rushing touchdowns in a 99-yard day -- that began with a barely perceptible head fake that sent linebacker Dan Morgan sailing by.

That's future All-American, Butkus and Bednarik award winner, Big East Defensive Player of the Year, all-everything LB Dan Morgan going flying on a "barely perceptible head fake." Who was only a true sophomore. This is what happens when you are forced to play young defenders who don't know what they are doing. With 17 freshman or sophomores on the two-deep, things are not going to be getting better anytime soon.

Highlights:

Post game pressers:

If Royal Purple is your favorite color, here's a visual treat for ya: