The Chiefs have a bye this weekend, and I simply couldn't help but get a post up on my blog about the football team most Kansas Citians are thinking about. No it isn't the Jayhawks, they're just as bad as the Chiefs. No, not the Tigers, they're kind of wallowing around being not-very-good themselves. (Unless of course you're talking about the Detroit Tigers, but that's baseball...)
No, it is the Kansas State Wildcats, who obliterated a good West Virginia team tonight. I mean really, how many Chiefs fans have said no fewer than 57 times so far this season, "At least there is the Wildcats!"
I really don't pay much attention to college football at all, but am kind of psyched about K-State. My folks went there and I myself was born in Manhattan. The school is actually on course to put itself in a position to actually -- if you can believe it -- challenge for a national title.
Now, I know it is college football and the Chiefs play in the NFL, okay, I got that, but I'm posting here to point out the light-years apart difference between the two teams. It doesn't matter what level you're at, if you can't fend off the four horsemen of the football apocalypse, you're toast.
The Wildcats are fantastic at keeping them in Siberia, the Chiefs have these guys in their backyard for barbeque every weekend.
What are the four horsemen?
They are turnovers, penalties, injuries, and bad calls wherever they come from.
Let's look at each one.
Turnovers. The Chiefs have a -15 turnover differential in six games. That's an average of almost three times more that the Chiefs fumble or throw picks than the Chiefs get those things. The Wildcats, on the other hand, picked off studly West Virginia QB Geno Smith twice tonight, and he hadn't thrown an interception all year.
Penalties. Do you remember the Jets game last year? I know I know it's last year, but stay with me. There was a point in that game when we had the ball on something like the Jets 4-yard line and then we started committing penalty after penalty after penalty, ending up on like our own 4-yard line with a 2nd-and-90. Actually, I think that was the game that finally got Todd Haley fired.
See, here's the thing. This year's Chiefs are still just a penalty waiting to happen. It isn't a disciplined team and it doesn't look like it is disciplined, ya know?
The Wildcats, however, are probably the most disciplined team in college football. They are so fundamentally sound across the board and it is a testament to the work of Bill Snyder, definitely. The insane thing is that any coach, really, could get his team to be sound as such, it's just getting your team to understand their roles, to know what to do, and to play smart.
Annnd what's the Chiefs coaches' excuse?
Injuries. This is not to blame anyone for this unfortunate reality, but it is a reality just the same. This year has been wretched for the Chiefs, just like last year. It may even be worse because I just don't see Eric Berry and Tony Moeaki back yet to their former selves. Jamaal Charles has looked like he's back, but then, is that going to last.
This year we've had our fine new center Rodney Hudson break his leg. Our two top signings in the off-season, Kevin Boss and Peyton Hillis are out -- and I'm just not sure how long they'll be gone but they haven't been seen for a long time. Half our D-backs were gone at the start of the season, and Glenn Dorsey's been out for a while.
Bad calls. If it is the referees making calls against us, we've had our share, especially in the Baltimore game. But the bad calls thing more importantly is about the bad play-calling and team-managing by the coaching staff. I really had high expectations for Romeo Crennel, hoping he'd coach more games like the one he did last year against Green Bay. Instead he's coached way more games like the one he did against Oakland. Ick.
Unimaginative, uninspired, unremarkable, unbelieveably astounding in its ineptitude. The Chiefs just aren't doing the things it can do to make the most of its best players. And the refs' poor calls will always come more against teams which everyone knows aren't just governed well from the sidelines.
Meanwhile, there's the Wildcats.
Proficient, deft, opportunistic, rigorously ruthless in its execution. An interesting and quite novel stat shown during tonight's game pointed out that in execution covering all aspects of the game, K-State ranks right at the top next to No. 1 ranked Alabama, with all other teams a bit farther back.
One of the keys to all this is with one of the most widely disparate characteristics of all, and that is quarterback (as it may go without saying). Collin Klein was Superman out there today, not just running for scores but throwing for them with pinpoint accuracy. He is now mentioned as a top top Heisman Trophy candidate.
Meanwhile, Matt Cassel is dead last among NFL quarterbacks in QB rating. The top few guys, people like Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers are above 100, the benchmark for QB excellence. Cassel is slogging along down there at 66-point-something. Ahem, he's even 33rd. There are only 32 teams in the NFL, the disparity coming because some team certainly has two of its guys in there somehow. Still.
(BTW, the only reason I know about the Cassel rating since I regularly never look at this stuff because it does, as you can easily see from this, drive me crazy, is because I was just doing a bit more Quarterback Project stuff -- just looking around at which QB's are future Hall-of-Famers. As I consider what to do with it you'll get to read it here, definitely.)
But, well, there ya go.
There's K-State.
And there's the KC Chiefs.
Yay for a bye (we can't lose!) and a splendid Wildcats rout of a top-20 team.
"At least there's the Wildcats!"
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