Kansas State Football: Death By 1000 Mistakes

Sep 20, 2022 - 1:15 PM

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Folks, I’m sorry. I’m shocked by how poorly the Kansas State offense performed on Saturday. I’ll look at the passing game tomorrow, because it was a mess, but that shouldn’t have mattered against Tulane. K-State should have been able to bully Tulane in the run game to the point where (another) poor passing performance shouldn’t have mattered.

Instead, the Green Wave played K-State to a stalemate up front. Deuce put up 81 yards on 20 carries, for a paltry 4.1 yards per carry and no touchdowns. That’s not going to get it done for this offense. They need explosive plays in the run game because of (waives hands in the general direction of the quarterback) whatever is going on between the ears, or in the shoulder, of Adrian Martinez (I’ll talk more about that in another article).

The K-State offensive line is normally a symphony of violence. Everyone does their job, and everything melds together to form a dominant and explosive run game. On Saturday it seemed like there was a small mistake on every play that kept the Wildcats from breaking off big plays and getting into a rhythm.

I’ll try to get to one of the 4th down horrors this week, but I wanted to focus a play that was successful, but should have (or at least could have been) a huge play for the Wildcats. Full credit to Tulane, they made every tackle in the second level, but they had the opportunity to make those tackles because of missed assignments.

So Close, and Yet, Not Close Enough

On initial inspection of the replay from Saturday. K.T. Leveston had an uncharacteristically poor game. The massive left tackle was either a step slow in finding his assignment or missed his assignment all together on multiple runs. On this run, he’s a step slow, and it costs Deuce the opportunity to bust something big.

Key

Offense
Green Box - Left Tackle (K.T. Leveston) and Left Guard (Cooper Beebe)
Blue Box - Right Guard (Hadley Panzer)
Purple Box - Tight End/Full Back (Ben Sinnott)

Defense
Green Circle (DL) - Defensive Tackle
Green Circle (LB) - Weak Side Linebacker
Purple Circle - Strong Side Linebacker
Blue Circle - Defensive End/ Outside Linebacker

K-State lines up in 11-personnel (1 RB, 1 TE), with Deuce in the pistol (lined up behind the quarterback in the shotgun). They are attacking the front side B-gap (between left tackle and left guard) on this play. I’ve used colors to correspond to the blocking assignment (my apologies if you’re color blind, I’ll try and explain things as well).

Left tackle K.T. Leveston (green box) is the weak link on this play. He is responsible for working a combo block with Cooper Beebe (green box) and then finding the back weak side linebacker.

Right guard Hadley Panzer (blue box) is responsible for pulling around and kicking out the stand up defensive end (blue circle).

Tight end Ben Sinnott (purple box) is coming across the formation to kick the strong side linebacker (purple circle) out of the hole.

So Far So Good

Offense
Green Box - Left Tackle (K.T. Leveston) and Left Guard (Cooper Beebe)
Blue Box - Right Guard (Hadley Panzer)
Purple Box - Tight End/Full Back (Ben Sinnott)

Defense
Green Circle (LB) - Weak Side Linebacker
Purple Circle - Strong Side Linebacker
Blue Circle - Defensive End/ Outside Linebacker

Note: There is a lot of stuff going on in a small area. I’m pulling my markers off the field whenever possible to give you a better look.

The goal for the Leveston/Beebe (green box) combo block is for K.T. to punch the outside shoulder of the defensive tackle to give Beebe a better angle to seal the defensive tackle, and then climb to the second level and find the weak side linebacker. The first part of the combo block needs to be quick. Cooper doesn’t need much help and K.T. is a strong dude. A quick shove on the outside shoulder of the defensive tackle should get the job done. This isn’t a double team, but it looks like a double team in this shot because K.T. is too engaged with the defensive tackle. He needs to be looking for the weak side linebacker already but he’s stuck.

Panzer (blue box) moves incredibly well for a guard, and is lining up the play side defensive end (blue circle) for the kick out block.

Sinnott (purple box) is a human bulldozer and is in perfect position to come around the edge and find the strong side linebacker (purple circle).

You’ll notice this is a slow developing run. I’ll talk more about this later, but the important thing to keep in mind is the timing. Deuce doesn’t have the ball yet because Panzer and Sinnott need time to pull around.

Stuck...STUCK! STUCK! (not to a frozen light pole this time)

Offense
Green Box - Left Tackle (K.T. Leveston) and Left Guard (Cooper Beebe)
Blue Box - Right Guard (Hadley Panzer)
Purple Box - Tight End/Full Back (Ben Sinnott)

Defense
Green Circle (LB) - Weak Side Linebacker
Purple Circle - Strong Side Linebacker
Blue Circle - Defensive End/ Outside Linebacker

K.T. (green box) is stuck on the combo block. At this point, he needs to be sealing off the weak side linebacker (green circle). Instead, he’s giving Beebe help he doesn’t need. The defensive tackle is already out of the play and will have to fight his way through half man/half grizzly bear Cooper Beebe to get back into it.

Panzer (blue box) is executing a textbook kick-out block on the defensive end (blue box).

Sinnott (purple box) is chugging along, and is about to hit the B-gap and take on the strong side linebacker (purple circle) in the hole (black arrow).

Deuce has it timed up perfectly and is 2 or 3 steps behind Sinnott. Everything on the front side is set up for a big run.

Front Side Perfection, Backside Issues

Offense
Green Box - Left Tackle (K.T. Leveston)
Purple Box - Tight End/Full Back (Ben Sinnott)
Yellow Dot - Running Back (Deuce Vaughn)

Defense
Green Circle - Weak Side Linebacker
Purple Circle - Strong Side Linebacker

K.T. (green box) is still stuck and the weak side linebacker (green circle) is still untouched. This is not how the play is designed.

I took out the blue markers, because Panzer has the play side defensive end in jail. Deuce (yellow dot) is cutting off his backside.

Sinnott (purple box) is leading Deuce through the hole. The strong side linebacker (purple circle) thinks he’s in a good place right now. He’s about to meet Mr. Sinnott.

Once More Unto the Breach, Dear Deuce

Offense
Green Box - Left Tackle (K.T. Leveston)
Purple Box - Tight End/Full Back (Ben Sinnott)
Yellow Dot - Running Back (Deuce Vaughn)

Defense
Green Circle - Weak Side Linebacker
Purple Circle - Strong Side Linebacker

K.T. (green box) is lost at this point. He tried to reach for the weak side linebacker (green circle), couldn’t get him, and is now useless on this play. His job was to tag the defensive tackle and climb to the linebacker. Instead, he tagged the defensive tackle, and then kept tagging him. The defensive tackle is not making this play, but that’s Cooper Beebe’s job.

Sinnott (purple box) executes a textbook kick-out of the strong side linebacker. There is a breach in the Tulane line and Deuce (yellow dot) is about to hit the gas.

Only One Man to Beat!

Offense
Yellow Dot - Running Back (Deuce Vaughn)

Defense
Green Circle - Weak Side Linebacker

I’ve lost track of K.T. at this point. I think he’s around the green dot, but regardless, he’s not blocking the weak side linebacker (green circle).

Deuce (yellow dot) is about to pop out of the pack, and has his eyes on the Tulane defensive back. If he beats the defensive back (who I probably should have marked, but he’s in the bottom left hand corner of the screen). He’s gone...but....

While Deuce is contemplating how to embarrass the defensive back, and the defensive back is hoping for divine intervention to keep him of Sports Center, the weak side linebacker (green circle), who shouldn’t be in this play, snags Deuce by the leg.

Deuce was almost able to accelerate past the unblocked linebacker, but Tulane’s linebackers did an excellent job all game of, if nothing else, getting a piece of Deuce and slowing him down for the deep safeties to clean up.

2nd and 10 Instead of 7

The weak side linebacker (green circle) holds on for dear life and his friends show up to clean up. It’s now 2nd & 10 (ironically enough K.T. jumped on 1st and 10, making it 1st and 15) instead of another electrifying Deuce Vaughn run and potential touchdown.

In Conclusion

This is an example of how one guy missing an assignment ruins the work of 10 other guys doing their job. If K.T. gets to linebacker, this entire game could change on this carry. Instead, it’s back to the huddle for 2nd and 10. That happened more (by multiple players, not just K.T.) than I care to mention.

The passing game was a dirty diaper fueled trash fire, but the run game should be able to bail the Wildcat’s out against Tulane. Instead, Tulane refused to let K-State bully them, and K-State didn’t execute the basics. You can get away with that against a team like Missouri, but a well coached team like Tulane exploited every mistake.

I’m sure film review was not fun for a few players yesterday.