Kansas State and LSU will square off in the TaxAct Texas Bowl on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, inside NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The game, which kicks off at 8 p.m., will be televised by ESPN.
KSU head coach Chris Klieman met with the media Sunday. These were his comments.
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
“Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much for everybody joining us. We're excited to play in the Texas Bowl against a great opponent. Just learned a couple minutes ago that it's going to be LSU, so it's going to be exciting for the guys. We’re practicing this afternoon and they knew it was the Texas Bowl before we started practice but didn't know the opponent. So, I'll be excited to talk to the guys as we finish up practice. Gives us an opportunity to play a great opponent, gives us an opportunity to continue to grow with our developmental guys. Then, obviously, I'm really excited for a bunch of seniors to get one more opportunity to play together down in Houston. So, with that, we'll open it up for questions.”
On the story of the team this year...
“Yeah, it's got one more chapter, that's for sure, and an exciting chapter. We knew it's a long story and you're going to have some bumps in the road, and we had our leadership meeting today. Last time we had a leadership council meeting, we were 3-3 and 0-3 in the league, and I challenged those guys to have an impact and challenge each other to be accountable. Lo and behold, we got it to seven wins. Although we're disappointed that we lost the last two games, I'm a firm believer that you're not judged by a moment but judged by an entire body of work. So, we have one more opportunity with the seniors to truly finish the, story and I know our guys are excited about that. We're going to get after it with our prep and hopefully play a really good game.”
On making the decision to make a change at offensive coordinator...
“It’s something that I thought long and hard about and took a week myself after the game. I didn't want to make any quick decisions. I thought about it long and hard. I was on the road all last week, which probably helped me get away and clear my mind and decide on what's the best thing for Kansas State University. Came back and had a conversation with Gene (Taylor), and it was my decision that I thought we needed to make a change. That was very, very difficult as you can imagine as close as Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham) and I are. But I came here three years ago to get a program ready to go compete for a Big 12 Championship. This is not about Chris Klieman. It's not about Courtney Messingham. It's about Kansas State football, and I felt we needed to make a change, and so we did.”
On Collin Klein putting together the plan for the bowl game...
“Well, I'm excited for Collin and the offensive staff, but I know we're not going to reinvent the wheel in three weeks. I don't want him to think I'm judging solely on what happens here in this three week prep and one game. So, for me, it's more the leadership, the organization, how he interacts with the coaches and players. I'm going to kind of be a fly on the wall a lot with those offensive coaches to see the plan that they come up with, and I know that we had a meeting this morning with the offensive staff. They're excited about the challenge. We didn't know the opponent in the way we were playing. We'll be on the road this week again, and then we'll start that preparation next weekend.”
On the quarterback update...
“We're practicing young guys this weekend. I don't think Skylar (Thompson) would be able to practice if we practiced today. So, we'll have everybody ready. I don't know if that’s going to be Will (Howard) and Jaren (Lewis) and Jake (Rubley), who are practicing this weekend or by next weekend if Skylar (Thompson). I'll have to give you an update another time, but everybody, all hands on deck, this week with the quarterback position for this game.”
On facing LSU...
“Yeah, not far removed from the National Championship and so much prestige and history behind LSU football, and it excites me. I know it's going to excite our staff and our team to be able to play a high-caliber SEC team that everybody's talked about and heard about. It'll be a lot of fun. It will be a big challenge because they have tremendous players. I know they have a coaching change going on, but they got a bunch of kids that have a lot of pride and want to finish out with a win just like we do.”
On the team’s core values...
“Yeah, it really is. Discipline, commitment, toughness and to be selfless, and our guys have been really disciplined throughout the year. We haven't had troubles off the field and guys have challenged each other on the field, and discipline to come to work every day, committed to your teammate, to be committed to your brother, to be committed to K-State football, I think is important. Toughness – you play seven games in a row after our bye week like we did, and that's a grind. We have a lot of guys that fought through a lot of injuries. We got some guys playing that were really banged up just like everybody else in the country, but I just know how tough those guys have been. Then to be selfless and 18-to 22-year olds. That's tough to ask, but a lot of selfless acts of guys changing positions and moving around to different spots so that we could put the best outfit out there we could every Saturday. We've got a tremendous locker room, a really close-knit group of guys, and I know they're excited to be together for another month.”
On the preparation for this bowl game...
“Yeah, I'm going to go back and look at my notes on it. Obviously, we didn't have success and win the game (2019 Liberty Bowl). It was a tight, tight battle with Navy. There was also the triple option, which made it even more difficult to go back and look at my notes. I know how unique and special bowl games are and postseason football, especially for seniors getting their last opportunity to play, at least for K-State. It's our job as coaches to make sure that we come up with terrific game plans so that those guys can just cut it loose and play. So, I'm excited about spending a month with these guys. Yeah, we'll probably tweak some things from what we did, just because it's my second opportunity at a bowl game. I've played in plenty of games in January, but we've probably played four games through December where this year we haven't played any.”