Arizona football wary of Kansas State rebound after stunning upset to Army

It was unconventional, but it worked.

Kansas State, Arizona’s upcoming opponent to conclude the nonconference schedule, lost to the Army Black Knights — which lost to Division II Tarleton State the week prior — 24-21 on Saturday in Manhattan.

Army replicated Hawaii’s death-by-a-thousand-paper-cuts game plan in the first half against Arizona, in its win over Kansas State.

Army nearly doubled Kansas State’s offensive play count, 82-43, and ran 63 of the game’s final 75 plays. Army dominated Kansas State in time of possession, 40:44-19:16, including 26:59-3:01 in the second half.

Kansas State punted to Army with 11:18 left in the third quarter and didn’t return for its next offensive possession until 2:52 left in the game. Army converted 6 of 7 fourth-down plays.

Scouting Kansas State’s defense against Army’s service academy-style offense “is useless, because the schematics don’t add up,” said Arizona offensive coordinator Seth Doege.

“You’re not going to defend us the same way you defend Army or Navy or Air Force or whoever they’re playing, so it’s a little bit useless tape,” Doege said. “Now, if you ask anyone in the country, you don’t really want to play those games because it could happen like it did. ... They’re a little worn down from that game, so they gotta do a good job of recovery this week, so they can come in and give us (their best shot), which I anticipate fully.

“It’s Kansas State. It’s a Big 12 game and these guys are full of tradition, so regardless of who they played the week before, we’re going to get their best shot.”

Added Arizona head coach Brent Brennan: “When you look at last week’s scheme, you don’t get a lot out of that because that’s so different. There’s only a few people who run that stuff offensively, and it’s one of the reasons they’re so effective. What you do see is Kansas State playing their tails off, you see them playing really hard, you see them playing with physicality.”

To get a closer look at the current state of Kansas State football, which is off to its worst start since 2009, KSU insider Tim Fitzgerald from GoPowercat.com joined “Spears & Ali” on ESPN Tucson this week.

What do you make of Kansas State’s recent loss to Army?

A: “This is a kind way of saying I’m old, but I’ve covered a lot of football and I’ve never seen anything like it. (Army) consistently picked up yards on first and second down, allowing them to be in third-and-short or fourth-and-short, converting six out of seven times. They had one big pass play, which Army will always hit you with, but they only did it once.

“It was just a consistent grind from the end of the first half. ... They came out in the second half and held the ball for nearly 27 minutes of the second half. Kansas State ran 13 offensive plays and had two possessions the entire half. ... This is not a record they keep, but it appears to be the fewest plays run in a half by a college football team since World War II. ... (Army) didn’t break any long runs at all.

“K-State’s defense was generally in the right place, but on the wrong side of the line of scrimmage. They actually did a pretty good job, but not precise enough to make tackles. ... I’m going to say it: this is not a tough K-State team. They’re not a fiery K-State team and they have let teams convert first downs on fourth down at a really alarming rate this year. I bet we see Arizona try to take advantage of that.”

So, you’re saying the offense will be fresh on Friday?

A: “Well, that doesn’t mean much. The offense has had its own struggles this year and I lay that at the coaches’ feet for having an incredible dual-threat quarterback that they’ve decided needs to be a pocket passer instead of running.”

Do you think the emphasis will be getting quarterback Avery Johnson on the run more and have some designed running plays for him?

A: “It seems logical. They’ve announced to the world that they’re not going to run him between the tackles and they’re not going to use quarterback power, which is a cornerstone play to K-State football’s success through the years, whether it was Colin Klein or one of the older quarterbacks.

“Avery is not built the same way, and they don’t have any experience behind him, so they’re being very careful to protect him — to the point where they lose games. That seems like a bad trade-off. They’ve gotta find a way to use him. They can’t just volunteer, ‘Hey, we’re not going to run him up the middle’ because the defense doesn’t honor that at all.

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“They don’t have to worry about it and they’re always waiting for him on the edge. They have to find a way to use him. Keep in mind, they almost lost to North Dakota the week before and what saved them was they were trying to move downfield, ran a bunch of deep patterns, hallowed out the middle of the defense and Avery ran down to the 6-yard line.

“They’re not even doing that on a regular basis, trying to create space for him to operate. It’s just maddening and it’s just crazy what they’re doing. ... The problems are so much greater than Avery. Honestly, the problems Avery is suffering from are inflicted by his own coaches.”

How has former Arizona safety Gunner Maldonado performed this season?

A: “Gunner has been hurt, as you guys know. He missed the spring and missed much of the fall, but he’s such an experienced player, they can put him all over the field. He’s not starting. K-State has some pretty good safeties, although you can’t tell. VJ Payne came in highly thought of, team captain and he’s stunk. He has absolutely stunk this season. I think we’ll see more of Gunner Maldonado.”

What are your expectations for the game Friday night?

A: “I don’t know. if K-State doesn’t fix some of its problems, which are mostly inside the helmet, playing with little fire, playing with passion and (not) making that definitive play, whether it’s offense or defense, they’re going to lose. They’re going to lose a lot of games this season and the coaches have to use their players better, but the players have to perform at a higher level. This is a talented team that is doing an incredible job of hiding that.”

Big 12 suspends officiating crew

The original officiating crew that was scheduled for the Arizona-Kansas State game in Tucson is suspended for the week.

The Big 12 announced that the crew is suspended after it allowed Missouri to punt a kickoff following a touchdown in its 42-31 win over Kansas.

Missouri scored a touchdown in the first quarter and was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct, placing the Tigers on the 20-yard line for the kickoff. Missouri punted the ball instead of kicking off the ball from the tee, which is a 5-yard penalty for an illegal kick.

Missouri head coach Eli Drinkwitz was aware of the rules, but asked the officials if the Tigers could punt the kickoff.

“Just wanted to see if we could,” Drinkwitz told reporters this week. “It’s like asking your parents if you can do something that you know they probably shouldn’t let you do. But sometimes they get it wrong.

“We told (the officials) they’d screwed up a lot of stuff in the game. That was just one of them. ... (Special teams coordinator Eric Link) asked if we could do that, just because we had seen in the pregame where they struggled with the sun and fielding punts and knew that that was only allowable after a safety; that’s the only time you get a free kick. Other than that, you can either drop kick or use a tee. So, they said yes. What were we supposed to say?”

The Big 12 announced that the officiating crew violated Rule 2 Section 16 Article 6 of the NCAA rulebook and removed them from the Kansas State-Arizona game.

“We believe we have one of the best officiating programs in college football,” said Big 12 chief football and competition officer Scott Draper. “When the conference’s high standard for officiating is not met, the Big 12 will take action.”

Extra points

– Brennan, on the shortened week: “I think the outside world would think it’s a big deal. For me, it’s not that big of a deal. For me, I’m excited because we get to play sooner. We don’t have to wait as long to play. Players were off (Sunday) and now we’re into the week now.”

– Arizona defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales said defensive end Tre Smith is a “game-time” decision for Friday after suffering a leg injury last week against Weber State.