MANHATTAN — Kansas State football is going from facing one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12 to… facing one of the best quarterbacks in the Big 12.
Such is life in a league known for its quarterback-heavy nature. The Wildcats, who have a solid QB of their own in Avery Johnson, will now have to find a way to limit TCU’s Josh Hoover, hoping to improve upon their performance against Baylor’s Sawyer Robertson.
“He knows what he is doing with the football,” K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. “He is athletic enough to keep plays alive.”
Hoover and the Horned Frogs will visit Manhattan on Saturday, Oct. 11, for a 2:30 p.m. game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Hoover is averaging 303.4 yards per game, completing 67.3% of his passes for 15 touchdowns and four interceptions. In TCU’s lone loss, a Sept. 26 defeat at Arizona State, he was held without a touchdown while throwing two picks. In all other games, he’s thrown for at least two scores and no more than one interception.
Hoover ranks among the best throwers against the blitz and as one of the better deep ball throwers in the country.
Klanderman expects TCU to continue spreading its receivers out, leaving him alone in the backfield to dissect defenses. Don’t expect the Horned Frogs to run too much, with TCU only averaging 125.6 rushing yards per game, ranking last in the Big 12.
“You’d think that would lead to a lot of sacks and stuff, and he does take some hits, but it doesn’t lead ot that much,” Klanderman said. “He sees the field so well, so having a fifth option out in the route a lot of times is beneficial to them.”
Kansas State‘s defense has put the Wildcats in positions to win, but they continue to lose one-score games. The unit has made progress, particularly in run defense, in recent weeks, but tackling has been an ongoing issue, having missed a season-high 16 tackles at Baylor.
The Wildcats will need to find a way to improve against another explosive offense for the second week in a row, hoping they have a different result than the one they had in Waco.
“I don’t fault those guys at all; I think they prepared hard, they had a week of practice and prepared hard, and we were in the game,” Klanderman said. “My regrets are on me, and I didn’t do a very good job at getting those guys in a position to have success.”
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at @WyattWheeler_, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@gannett.com
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