Kansas State coach Chris Klieman held a press conference Monday at Manhattan, Kan., ahead of Friday’s non-conference game with fellow Big 12 school Arizona at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The game is set to kickoff at 5 p.m., Tucson time, on FOX.
On the connection between Arizona quarterback Noah Fifita and wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan:
“(McMillan’s) phenomenal, you watch him last year make plays. The first game against New Mexico, he exploited them every time they had a chance to go with him one-on-one. Those two are in sync. The quarterback and wide receiver are as in-tune and have as good a chemistry as any two people I’ve faced.”
On what he anticpates the environment will be like at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on a Friday night:
“I know we’ve got a great home environment, whatever it is — afternoon, 11 a.m., 6 o’clock, 7 o’clock — our fan base is so good, they’re going to probably enjoy themselves in the tailgate lot quite a bit on Friday during the day, and it’ll be a fun environment for sure.”
On his thoughts about Arizona’s defense, which was strong against NAU after struggling against New Mexico:
“I think they’re really good up front, for starters. I think they’ve got really disruptive guys up front, and then they have a bunch of experience at linebacker and at safety. There’s a lot of guys that you watch the the (Alamo) bowl game with OU (Oklahoma), and there’s a lot of guys that still have the same jersey numbers or the same players out there. They’ve got a lot of experience back on defense. I like their scheme. They’re really talented, and they run their scheme really well. They stunt (and) move up front, so they’re not giving you easy targets in the run game. I think they’re really well coached, and then they play fast.”
On the game not counting toward the Big 12 standings because it was arranged before Arizona joined the conference:
“Well, you kind of forget that they just joined the league. I still see it as a non-conference game. If you told us we were playing Baylor in a non-conference game, I’d say that sounds weird to us. We’re all still figuring this out. I mean, yes, it is fun to have two Big 12 teams that weren’t on the schedule. I’m telling you, this is the way it should be, and I’m not going to win that thing, but we need to play 10 conference games, or eight conference games. This nine, playing five on the road and four at home, doesn’t make any sense to me. We need to be able to play 10. Everybody should play 10 and we would have a lot more parity.”
On what he believes sets apart K-State’s fanbase that FOX will capture Friday:
“Two things … one, let’s go to the student body and let’s go to the band with Dr. (Frank) Tracz (K-State’s band director). We get home at 7:45 (after winning at Tulane on Saturday) and it’s packed out in front for our guys coming off that bus. For the new guys, transfers, freshmen, it’s the first road trip, you got the whole band playing the fight song, playing Wabash (Cannonball) as we’re coming in. That doesn’t happen at a lot of places in college football. Now, let’s go to Friday night, and I hope Fox goes out in the tailgate lots and sees that this is important. That’s what we tell recruits all the time. You want to go to a place where football is important. You go out in those tailgate lots, you have a crew out there. When those busses come up, it is electric. It sends chills down your spine to see the enthusiasm and passion for college football. Then, you go into ‘The Bill’ … we open up for pregame, and the students are there, the band’s there. It doesn’t get any better than that, and that’s why a lot of kids either come, or choose to stay, because football is really important with our students, with our community, with their state and with our region.”
CAT CLAWS: FOX will have the broadcast with Tim Brando (play-by-play), Devin Gardner (analyst), and Josh Sims (sideline) on the call. … This is the first trip to Manhattan in Arizona football program history. Arizona holds a 5-1-1 series edge with every game played at Arizona Stadium. The series started in 1941 with the most recent meeting in 1978, the first season Arizona was part of the Pac-10. … This will be Arizona’s first trip to the state of Kansas since the Wildcats played in Lawrence against the Kansas Jayhawks in the 1965 season. Arizona won that game 23-15. … Arizona has won nine straight games overall dating to October of last year, the longest active win streak in the FBS following Michigan’s loss last Saturday. The streak matches Arizona’s record last set from 1997-98. Arizona is averaging 39.3 points per game over this win streak (fifth most in the FBS over this span). … Kansas State has only one player on its roster from Arizona — redshirt freshman defensive end Ryan Davis of Phoenix O’Connor High School. Arizona does not have a player from Kansas on its roster.
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ALLSPORTSTUCSON.com publisher, writer and editor Javier Morales is a former Arizona Press Club award winner. He is a former Arizona Daily Star beat reporter for the Arizona basketball team, including when the Wildcats won the 1996-97 NCAA title. He has also written articles for CollegeAD.com, Bleacher Report, Lindy’s Sports, TucsonCitizen.com, The Arizona Republic, Sporting News and Baseball America, among many other publications. He has also authored the book “The Highest Form of Living”, which is available at Amazon. He became an educator in 2016 and is presently a special education teacher at Sunnyside High School in the Sunnyside Unified School District.
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