It's Good To Be Kings! Who Will Be Crowned?

By Ben Brake

Sports Editor

Oklahoma #1 in all polls... K-State #7 Coaches, #8 AP, and #9 BCS.

K-State will win the Big 12 title if and only if they play to win. They can not play the Sooners like they did on
October 11 of this year. They can not have the mistakes like they had in that game.

K-State wants to give OU the royal treatment this coming weekend. That’s right, they want to kick their royal
butts. They want to find a place to muffle the "Boomer Sooner" song. They want to lay out that crimson and
cream carpet and walk all over it. KSU wants to make OU’s quarterback breath in a paper bag while he is
"Heuple" ventilating.

K-State feels that they need to prove to the country that they are the team that everybody thought they were at
the beginning of the season.

In order for K-State to beat Oklahoma they will need to do several things.

On offense the receivers need to catch the ball. They can’t have 400 drops like they did in the first game against
OU. K-State could have had at least 5 more 1st downs in the game if the receivers would have caught their
passes. The offensive line will need to stop the defensive pressure and keep the penetration on Beasley at a
minimum. K-State had pretty good success in rushing the football in the first meeting. I expect them to have the
same luck in the second showdown with the Sooners. One play that I would like to see is the "Flee Flicker"
where the running back takes the handoff and appears to be running up the middle, but stops and pitches the ball
back to the quarterback who then passes to a receiver down field. Oklahoma’s secondary disengages from the
receivers a lot when they see it is a run play and I think they could have some success with it if it is setup
properly.

On defense the players need to wrap up on the tackles and complete the play. Make the ball carrier know that he
is going to get nailed hard when he touches the ball. Jarred Cooper has the right idea, but just needs to do it
before the play is over.

Coach Snyder gave the indication that they will stay with the same defense he had been using and not revert to
the soft zone defense that Texas A&M, Texas Tech, and OSU used with some success against the Sooners.

I believe that you will see a soft zone but with a Bennett touch. I think you will see pressure in certain situations
and a modified zone in other situations. K-State did have a lot of success with the blitz against the Sooners, but
they also got burned a couple of times. When they got burned it was mainly because of the missed tackles and not
from being out of position. In the first game there were a ton of missed tackles that would have reduced the
success of Oklahoma tremendously.

I still believe you have to put a lot of pressure on the opposing quarterback or they will be able to take that time
and make you pay. OU Quarterback Josh Heupel is not a real good scrambler, but if you give him time he will kill
you with accuracy to his receivers. With a good mixture of zone and blitz I believe that the Wildcats can keep
them in check, but they will need to play as close to error free as possible.

K-State’s special teams need to get all the bugs worked out before the game against OU. They have been having
troubles for the last few games and it has really cost the team. The frontline on the punt team will need to make
sure they make their blocks and not allow the other team to come in and block the punts. They have allowed 3
blocked punts in 3 games, which is not the special team that we are accustomed to.

Penalties, Penalties, Penalties, have cost the Wildcats greatly. The bogus penalties like offsides, false starts, and
delay etc... of game have been a nightmare for the Cats. They have to have their mind in this next game and
reduce those penalties or it will bite them. They can’t keep having 12 or 13 penalties a game and expect to win,
especially against Oklahoma.

If K-State plays heads-up ball, I expect them to come out with a victory. If they keep their penalties down, make
good tackles, and catch passes they will be the Big 12 Champions for the year 2000.

Prediction: K-State 35 Oklahoma 24