Here we go, our first film review. This is a great one to start out this process with, it was such an important game for this season. This is the first half film review, and I will seperate it into offensive and defensive categories.
Drive #1: 1 play -- 0 yards -- INT
Not exactly how you want to start out on the road, not to mention a place you haven't won in since 1989. Todd Reesing, making his first career road start, showed off his jitters by flat-out making a horrible throw.
--> Wildcats rushed 4, and the protection was good although Cesar Rodriguez was getting manhandled on the way to the QB. Still, Reese had shorter options and didn't have to force into Aqib Talib. Oh well, he got better...
Drive #2: 6 plays -- 23 yards -- PUNT
Raimond Pendleton almost fumbles up the ball on the punt, which would have shot us in the foot. Dodged a bullet there.
--> Three wideouts, Derek Fine goes in motion to act as a fullback. Fine misses on Ian Campbell of the Wildcats, Brandon McAnderson only gains three.
--> Fake a run to McAnderson, throw a bubble screen out to Dexton Fields. Good call, a safe throw for Reesing to allow him to work himself into the game, and we get a 1st down out of it.
--> Draw to Mac, we get 11. Really good block by Fine and center Ryan Cantrell.
--> 3 wide, both Mac andJake Sharp in the backfield. Reesing pulls a Freeman and runs prematurely, picks up 7 yards.
--> Pitch out to Sharp; play comes back thanks to a dumbass chop block by Chet Harley. A clear penalty, a real drive-killer.
--> A safe throw out to Sharp in the flat, his speed allows him to pick up 11 yards. All Sharp...
--> 3rd and 10, Reesing makes a horrible throw. He stares down Fields from the snap, should have been an interception by Chris Carney, again.
Crappy offensive series, although we did semi-switch field position. The chop block by Harley really killed us.
Drive #3: 3 plays -- -8 yards -- PUNT
--> We did that dumb WR formation where 3 of them line up behind eachother. A screen to Fields, both WR's have pretty bad blocks and Fields has no chance. Loss of four and a horrible play call.
--> A dropped screen by Dezmon Briscoe. There wasn't much to it anyways, he doesn't gain anything more than 4 or 5 yards even if he does catch it.
--> LG Adrian Mayes doesn't pick up John Houlik, at all, and Houlik has a free shot at Reese. Horrible protection, Reese couldn't do anything with it.
Drive ended with a pretty horrible punt, thanks to the wind. Our offense looks like absolute crap at this point.
Drive #4: 3 plays -- 4 yards -- PUNT
--> Short run by Sharp. Good job blocking overall, they just had 8 in the box and were ready for the run.
--> They blitz 4 in a semi-exotic blitz package, great job of pickup by Sharp. A bad throw from Reese to TE Derek Fine or we have a first down.
--> Another bad throw from Reese to Derek Fine, this time it almost led to an INT. Poor, poor drive from Reesing. He has played like crap at this point.
Drive #5: 3 plays -- 4 yards -- PUNT
--> Another quick Sharp run; Cantrell gets beat from the backside and Sharp gets tackled from behind.
--> Kerry Meier sees his first action, lining up in the slot. We run an option with Meier (who was in motion) to the left, but the safety comes up and sniffs it out. Great play by the K-State safety.
--> Anthony Collins was obliterated on the play by a speed rusher, and 3 or 4 guys meet up at the QB and Reesing has no shot. No shot.
Our offense hasn played horrible so far, especially the offensive line and Reesing. Either they give him time and there is a bad throw, or Reesing has no time at all. Ugh.
Drive #6: 10 plays -- 86 yards -- TD (Jake Sharp Run)
--> Draw to Sharp, he breaks an ankle tackle and picks up 5 yards.
-->A side pitch to Sharp gets negative yardage. Poor play call, plus RT Cesar Rodriguez doesn't block who he should.
--> Huge play by Reese there. It almost looked like a designed QB draw, but he just lets the two crossing routes clear the middle and he takes off. Smart, smart, smart play.
--> Up the seam to Marcus Henry, but Henry drops the ball. Talib was a decoy, going on a short route while Henry went deep. Great throw from Reese, Henry needs to make that catch.
--> Tremendous blocking on the blitz from the Cats, good pass and catch to Fine. If Reesing gets time, he can pick apart a defense.
--> McAnderson runs into the pile up the middle for 3 yards. There was a hole to his right, not sure why he didn't take it.
--> Another McAnderson run, this time to the left. Nothing special, but it makes it a manageable 3rd and 3.
--> Henry streaks across the middle and picks up the first down. Really good blocking up front, and he had Fields on the far right open too. Good play call by Ed Warriner, the offensive coordinator.
--> Absolutely fantastic run from Sharp, sprung by quite a block by Fields. He jukes #36 out of his shoes with a stop-and-go.
--> TOUCHDOWN JAYHAWKS!!!! First Hawks TD since 1999 in Manhattan. Absolutely pathetic tackling by the Wildcats, 22 actually gives up on the play and Sharp runs right through his hands. A couple really good blocks too, especially Adrian Mayes.
Drive #7: 5 plays -- 29 yards -- INT
--> Run up the middle from Sharp goes nowhere. Chet Harley was beat on impact.
--> Great blitz pickup by Sharp there, otherwise Reese was sacked. Good pocket awareness from Reesing as well, helped by a downfield block from Dexton Fields.
--> Dezmon Briscoe was wide open coming across the middle, that is the third or fourth time we've gone to that play. Another good pickup from Sharp, giving Reese time to find Dez.
--> Reese finds Briscoe again, although he almost dropped it. Yet another good pickup by Sharp.
--> Reese made bad decision x 2, throwing it across his body allowing a safety to jump in front and pick it up. He obviously didn't see him, because he only had to take a step and the pass was right to him. A potential game-killer, although our defense picks him back up.
Drive #8: 6 plays -- 44 yards -- TD (Aqib Talib Pass)
--> Reese was sacked, as Rodriguez and Adrian Mayes were both flat-out beat by their guys. At least Mayes recovered the fumble, thanks to the ball richocheting off of Reese's leg. Otherwise, it could have been a return for a TD by Kansas State.
--> Great pass from Reese, he finds the true freshman Briscoe again. Good job by Chet Harley and Cesar Rodriguez to give him time.
--> He finds Fine wide open for a yard more than needed for a first down.
--> 4 wideouts, BMac in the backfield, great run from BMac after the catch. Almost an interception, but after the missed tackle BMac takes it down to the nine. Tremendous improvisation by Reesing too, lots of QB's just run in that situation.
--> Henry was open on the bottom of the screen, but Reese goes the safe way and throws it to BMac over the middle to the 5.
--> Both Henry and Fields, lined up on the far left, run slants to the inside. It draws all of the secondary to the middle, allowing Talib to flare out to the far left, where he is left wide-open. TOUCHDOWN JAYHAWKS!!!
Biggest drive of the game in my opinion. We had to score before halftime, and the fact that it was a TD is huge. Mark Mangino huge.
Drive #1: 3 plays -- 0 yards -- PUNT
--> On the first play, our line gets decent pressure (namely Caleb Blakesley) and they are pushed back virtue a holding penalty.
--> Good pursuit on play #2 by Joe Mortensen on a swing out pass.
--> On the third play Josh Freeman freaks out and runs pretty early, Chris Harris makes a really nice foot tackle.
Good tackle by Mike Rivera on Jordy Nelson on third down, we forced them to throw short.
Really good defensive series overall, kept us in the game and didn't allow the Wildcats to gain a major momentum edge.
Drive #2: 1 play -- 68 yards -- TD (Pass to Jordy Nelson)
--> Ugh. Aqib is one-on-one with Nelson with zero safety help. A perfect pass from Freeman and Nelson just simply outruns Talib.
Drive #3: 7 plays -- 29 yards -- FG MISS
--> Poor rush, a bad Freeman pass saves us from a deep gain.
--> A couple missed tackles and James Johnson gets a first down. Mortensen almost makes aplay in the backfield, and McAnderson misses a block downfield. Only time you'll see that.
--> Mike Rivera gets overzealous on a blitz, runs right by Johnson. FSDarrell Stuckey barely tackels him, or he could be gone.
--> Good play by Rivera, who sniffs out the stretch run and waits for Leon Patton to run into him.
--> Great tackle by Mortensen, he had a gaping hole and Mort tackles him around a block. Key tackle.
--> Tremendous play by James McClinton. He was double-teamed, and still fights through it and gets to Freeman. A dumb decision by Freeman almost results in a pick-six for the 'Hawks.
A missed FG saves us, along with a great 3rd down stop led by McClinton.
Drive #4: 3 plays -- 5 yards -- PUNT
--> Bad pass from Freeman. Both QB's played poorly in the 1st quarter, Freeman's deep hookup with Nelson aside.
--> Another missed tackle by McClinton (among others), although it would have been a tremendous play. Harris gets his helment in there again, getting his second of what will be eight tackles, but a personal foul on Alesana Alesana negates the entire play.
--> They throw a hitch screen to Harris' side, really good tackle by Harris. This kid was a WR in spring camp, so the fact that he is already tackling this well is really good news.
--> Sadiq Muhammed takes out Talib instead of Nelson, but holds on to Jordy's leg and prevents them from getting a first down. Great throw by Freeman, we had him double-teamed. Horrible rush, Freeman had all day long.
Drive #5: 4 plays -- 6 yards -- PUNT
--> McClinton gets in there again, but Freeman rolls out and finds Daniel Gonzalez.
--> Poor pass from Freeman. Good coverage from Harris, he would have been tackled for a little gain were he to catch it.
--> Missed tackle from Mortensen on a 12 yard run, but the play comes back due to a hold. Kansas State really killed themselves early on in the game with all of these penalties.
--> Great read by Mortensen, snuffing out the screen and stopping them for a loss.
--> Freeman to Nelson again, but another good tackle by Chris Harris. Well, I guess he doesn't "tackle" him, just shoves him out of bounds.
Drive #6: 11 plays -- 80 yards -- TD (Leon Patton Run)
--> Missed tackle by James Holt, and Harris got completely taken out of the play by a WR block.
--> James McClinton hustles from his DT position to chase the RB off a swing pass. Poor job by Russell Brorsen and Mortensen, they were right there and neither could get Freeman down.
--> Good play by John Larson to force Freeman to get rid of it, and good job by Holt to tackle.
--> Absolutely sick catch by Jordy Nelson on the sideline. This kid is insane, he is just another of the numerous tremendous Big 12 receivers: Limas Sweed, Michael Crabtree, Adarius Bowman, etc.
--> Larson stuffs the RB for a loss. Swarm tackle, great reaction by our entire D.
--> McClinton got pressure on Freeman, but Deon Murphy comes back to Freeman and finds an open hole. Nobody's fault, although Patrick Resby could have been better-positioned.
--> More pressure from McClinton, and another pass completed on-the-run from Freeman.
--> McClinton, for the third play in a row, blew up the play. He was double-teamed and STILL shoved them both back, forcing Johnson to bounce it outside. Larson was there waiting for him, just a great job by that side of the line on that play.
--> Great play by Aqib Talib on 3rd and 3, even better by Nelson. Against nearly every WR in college football Talib knocks the ball away, but Nelson catches it BETWEEN HIS LEGS and gets the first down.
--> Absolutely pathetic tackling. Just about everyone had a shot to tackle Johnson, and no one does, namely Joe Mortensen. Pathetic.
--> TD Wildcats. Yuck. They just drove it down our throats, and this was really the first time I got really nervous. We had finally gotten the game back to an even slate, and they drove down and retook the lead.
Drive #7: 3 plays -- 8 yards -- INT
--> McClinton doesn't get pressure, but still prevents Freeman from picking up some yards on the ground. McClinton played a huge role in keeping us in this game in the second quarter.
--> Really good tackle by Stuckey, but Rivera was caught out of position. Rivera overpursued, if he plays his zone Freeman has to throw it away.
Tremendous play by Caleb Blakesley, tipping the ball up and even better reactions by Brorsen. He must have heard McClinton yell at him or something, because he was pursuing the RB and all of a sudden looks up and makes a play on the football. In any case, we are back in business...
Wow, that is quite a lot of words. I won't do a play-by-play thing anymore after tomorrow's second half film review, but oh well. I wanted to see what it was like, and it is very time consuming. But this was a tremendously important game, and the first one I got to see, so no real problem.
But just to clarify, I will just summarize my thoughts from my film review, not analyze every play or even every drive.
ROCK CHALK!