NCAA Football

As the Kansas State Wildcats dominated their home opener on Saturday afternoon, memories of yester year flooded to the forefront. Arthur Brown, Larry Brown, Darren Howard, Collin Klein, Tyler Lockett and Ell Roberson were inducted into the Kansas State Ring of Honor this weekend. I am not old enough to remember Larry Brown’s playing days. However, I have watched Arthur Brown, Howard, Klein, Lockett and Roberson play. I think I watched every televised game they played in. All of them played for Bill Snyder, who was present to hand them their awards on the field on Saturday. Darren Howard and Tyler Lockett went on to have prolific careers in the NFL. All the inductees dominated during their time at KSU. It is good for the new generation to see how Kansas State honors these men and their past accomplishments. Hopefully it is motivation for the new generation to strive to be their best.

If there is one thing Coach Jim Harbaugh believes in, its SMASHMOUTH football. That was on full display Saturday morning as the Wolverine defensive line smothered Clay Millen, quarterback for Colorado State, with seven sacks. Meanwhile, the Michigan offensive line wore out the Colorado State defensive line. Led by Blake Corum, the Wolverines rushed for over 200 yards, relieving an anemic pass attack. Coach Harbaugh understands the need to control the line of scrimmage. So much of today’s football centers around a prolific passing attack. Even Alabama’s Nick Saban has succumbed to the need to focus on a great passing attack. Yet, Coach Harbaugh remains committed to the run. Really, Coach Harbaugh remains committed to dominating the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. He understands that football is about physically dominating your opponent. Physical domination starts with an effective smashmouth offensive and defensive line. The Wolverines have that in spades.

What a way to cap off a long difficult season. Kansas State came to play! Some may say that LSU was down a bunch of players and lacked a head coach. So what! Bowl game wins are hard to come by. Julien reminded me that his Miami Hurricanes have only 1 bowl game victory in the past 16 years. In Coach Chris Kleiman’s three years at Kansas State, he has led the team to two bowl games, winning only one. A win is a win, and we will take it! Besides, KSU just beat down an LSU team who has stacked up top five recruiting classes in each of the last five years. They won the national championship in 2019. They don’t get excuses. As we all know, talent drives college football. Just look at Alabama and Georgia.