KStateSports.com
D. Scott Fritchen
Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman knew before the season that the Wildcats would have three bye weeks this fall. While each bye week in part allowed some players to recover from injuries, and allowed for some development of younger players, Klieman in his weekly news conference on Monday admitted, "I think everybody would agree three was probably too many."
"You get into a rhythm and want to play," Klieman continued. "When we played early in August, we knew we had three bye weeks, but it's hard to get into a rhythm. We're going to play three games in a row. I'm glad we're able to do that."
This past week included rest for veterans due to their wear and tear, and developmental drills, and lifting weights and watching game film.
The NCAA's summer ruling to reduce roster size has apparently taken a toll on the Wildcats.
"We're down more bodies than I've ever been down before," Klieman said. "Part of that is our roster number is so small, and we have a bunch of guys hurt. But that's everybody right now. In the past, you always had those numbers, which we don't anymore. It's piecing it together.
"Practice is different out there right now."
Klieman said that his two scout-team running backs during the bye week were safeties Jet Dineen and Mike Bergeron due to a lack of numbers.
K-State standout junior running back Dylan Edwards is no longer a member of the team after missing action on the field much of the season.
"Last week, he decided to redshirt and that he was going to leave the program," Klieman said. "I wish him well. It's unfortunate, but I wish him well."
The show goes on, and this week it's all systems go for K-State, 4-5 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12 Conference, which prepares to visit Oklahoma State, 1-8 and 0-6, in Saturday's 11:00 a.m. kickoff at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
K-State's final three regular-season games include playing at Oklahoma State, then playing at No. 13 Utah, and then returning to Manhattan to face Colorado on Senior Day.
As for any formal team discussion regarding the fact K-State must win two of its final three games in order to become bowl eligible?
"Our kids are smart enough to know what we have to do, but we can't focus on what is three weeks from now," Klieman said. "We need to focus on today and on what we need to do this week to be successful."
K-State suffered a 43-20 loss to No. 13 Texas Tech prior to its bye week. Afterward the game against the Red Raiders, preseason All-Big 12 junior middle linebacker Austin Romaine, whose 66 total tackles and seven tackles for loss lead the team, appeared for postgame interviews following another game in which he wore a protective cast or club over his hand.
Turns out it was the final time Romaine, a team captain, would speak this season.
Klieman announced on Monday that the 6-foot-2, 245-pound Romaine will miss the remainder of the season for the Wildcats, leaving them without one of their top playmakers.
"We needed to get something done for him," Klieman said. "The club was kind of a stopgap a little bit. He and I talked before that game and then after that game. We decided to shelve him the rest of the year."
In Romaine's absence, senior weakside linebacker Des Purnell will slide into the middle linebacker position and shoulder a majority of the defensive leadership duties with Rex Van Wyhe playing a backup role. Asa Newsom, who spent a part of the season injured, will start at weakside linebacker with junior Ohio State transfer Gabe Powers playing behind him.
"Sometimes that call is coming into you and you have to tell everybody what's going on," Klieman said. "Des understands our defense as well as anybody. Now he's going to be thrust into a bigger role. He's a senior, he'll be fine, he can do that."
Klieman looks for positives of having three bye weeks. He believes that the bye weeks allowed players such as star senior safety VJ Payne, seventh-year offensive lineman Taylor Poitier, and Purnell to recover and play in games.
"That's been a huge thing for us on those bye weeks," Klieman said.
But K-State has experienced disadvantages along the way as well — things simply out of Klieman's control.
"What you wished with three bye weeks is a roster of 120 kids so you can practice your freshmen and walk-ons," Klieman said. "We don't have enough players to do that. We had four defensive linemen practice last week that are either redshirting or not in that two-deep, but you can't practice four or five plays in a row before you have to take a break because those guys can't play every play.
"We were able to get some individual stuff done and more special teams work than we've been able to do in the past just because we've had to have different ways to practice," Klieman said. "But just going team against team, that's what typically you do on bye week, but we don't have enough numbers to do that."