THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2018
Chris Klieman introduced as Kansas State’s new coach
needed no better reminder of the monumental task ahead of him Wednesday than the one sitting in the front row of his introductory news conference at Kansas State: Hall of Fame coach
Klieman was hired this week to replace what Wildcats athletic director called “a legend.” Snyder won 215 games during two tenures lasting 27 seasons, and a large statue of him sits just outside the recently renovated football stadium that now bears his name.
Klieman was hired after winning three national titles in his first four seasons at North Dakota State. And he will have a chance to continue the pursuit of a fourth when he returns to Fargo to lead the Bison in Friday night’s national semifinals against South Dakota State.
There are no doubt challenges at Kansas State, many of which Snyder was able to overcome. The school has a local airport but is a long drive from a major metropolitan area, and only a handful of Division I recruits are produce within the state each year.
Klieman also has little experience recruiting Texas, Oklahoma and other Big 12 hotbeds.
But he also went head-to-head with big-name schools in recruiting at North Dakota State, and he pointed out that three years ago he coached quarterback the No. 2 pick in that draft.
“You don’t always need five-star recruits,” Klieman said, “but you need guys that have great character, leadership and hold each other accountable. Make no mistake about it, when you put guys between the lines there is no one looking across the field wondering what star recruit a guy was.
“I know many people in Oklahoma and Texas,” he added, “so I will be getting a hold of them soon to help me out.”
Domestic assault charges filed against Missouri DE
Missouri defensive end was charged Wednesday in a domestic assault case.
The Columbia Daily Tribune reported that the probable cause statement alleges Williams and his girlfriend argued early Sunday and that he hit her several times while she was driving and at one point began choking her. The woman eventually was able to drive away. Williams, a 21-year-old redshirt sophomore who started six games this Knowles said after the Cowboys’ 31-24 loss at TCU, one of a few games when one more defensive stop could’ve altered the outcome.
“At times, we played well, but after 12 games, we still haven’t learned how to win a game on defense.”
With more than a dozen extra practices, Knowles’ objective is to put a better defense on the field when the Cowboys take on Missouri in the Liberty Bowl on Dec. 31.
Statistically in Knowles’ first season, the Cowboys got better in some areas from where they stood in 2017, fell off in others, and were about the same in a few. Overall, not a significant enough change to move the needle in either direction.
This year’s defense allowed three points and about 30 yards per game more than a year ago. It was better on third downs and had nine more sacks, but caused 12 fewer turnovers, which might be the most significant statistical deficit.
What’s most important from this season is that Knowles and his players saw improvement, even if the numbers didn’t always back it season, remains indefinitely suspended from the team. Boone County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney
told media outlets earlier Wednesday the case had been dismissed after the office received new information. However, Boone County Attorney later said the case was not dismissed.
No. 23-ranked Missouri (8-4) will play Oklahoma State (6-6) in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis on Dec. 31 (2:45 p.m., ESPN).
Extra points
MEMPHIS: All-American running back says he’s leaving Memphis after his junior season for the NFL Draft.
It is unclear if Henderson will play in the Birmingham Bowl against Wake Forest.
• SYRACUSE: Coach has been signed to a contract extension, the school announced Wednesday night.
Details of the deal were not revealed, but the school said in a news release that the contract will keep Babers, in his third season, at the “helm of the program well into the future.” • up.
Veterans got comfortable. Young players grew up. Everyone better learned what to expect.
“We made a ton of progress since spring,” senior defensive tackle Enoch Smith Jr. said. “At times, you can’t really see it, because it gets overshadowed by certain mistakes that we made.
“In my personal opinion, being a part of this defense, I feel like we’ve grown a lot.”
In the middle of the season, Knowles — who spent the largest chunks of his career coaching at Duke and Cornell — scaled back the complexities of his schemes, and the defense seemed to find its footing.
“We had a lot of growing pains,” junior defensive end Jordan Brailford said. “I don’t want to say it’s a complex defense, but it has a lot of moving parts. First year having a defense like this, I think we did pretty well. We had times where we locked some pretty good opponents down, and we had times where we were gashed by some decent opponents.”
Between bowl practices and spring ball, Knowles wants to continue to reshape the mental characteristics of his defense, from one that just needs to be good enough to support a potent offense to one that can lead OSU to victories.
“We can get stops, make the plays on defense that allow our team to get momentum,” Knowles said. “That’s building a defensive culture, that’s having a group that people can rely on when other things aren’t going right.” options several times this season — including each of the season’s first three games.
This isn’t quite getting ready for Iowa State’s Zeb Noland or UCLA’s Dorian ThompsonRobinson, though.
“They’ve both played so much ball for them,” Riley said Wednesday. “Jalen (Hurts) obviously brings a little more athletically to the table. Tua’s a good athlete as well, no question.
“The one nice thing here — it’s always a good and bad — we’ve had some of these games where we’ve had maybe a guy that’s gonna play that we have virtually no tape on, which is good because it means he hasn’t played much either.
“We’ve seen these guys. We kinda know what they can do.”
And both have led a team to the College Football Playoff.
Hurts led the Crimson Tide to last season’s title game before being replaced by Tagovailoa in that game against Georgia.
Tagovailoa led Alabama to a win in that game and then earned the starting job this season, helping the Crimson Tide keep their perfect record alive before Hurts took over to lead the team to a come-from-behind win over the Bulldogs in this year’s SEC title game.
The day before the Heisman ceremony, Tagovailoa was wheeling around the New York Stock Exchange on a scooter that kept his injured ankle immobilized and kept weight off of it.
But for Saturday’s presentation, Tagovailoa had ditched the scooter and boot.
“I’m feeling a lot better,” Tagovailoa said before referencing Alabama’s head athletic trainer, who was with Tagovailoa on the awards circuit last week.
“Thank God we have Jeff Allen.”
Murray said he expected Tagovailoa to play after spending time with him over the last week.
In the 20 previous seasons since the debut of the Bowl Championship Series, the Heisman winner has faced a fellow finalist quarterbacking the other team in a championship or playoff game five times.
The last came in 2010 when winner Cam Newton of Auburn helped his team to a 22-19 win over LaMichael James’ Oregon squad to take the national title.
James finished in third place in Heisman voting that season.
Oklahoma has been on both sides.
In 2008 when Sam Bradford won, the Sooners were beaten 24-14 by Tim Tebow and Florida after Tebow finished third in voting.
Eight years earlier, Oklahoma won the national title with a 13-2 win over Florida State in the Orange Bowl with help from runner-up Josh Heupel with winner Chris Weinke quarterbacking the Seminoles.
Murray and Tagovailoa hadn’t met until last week when they were both in Atlanta for the College Football Awards show and then in New York for the Heisman ceremony.
“It wasn’t weird at all,” Murray said. “It would have been awkward if we made it awkward. He’s a good dude. His family was very supportive of me. I’m glad I got to meet him.
“We were just kind of enjoying the experience.”