Media Day Q&A with..K-State’s players on KU and 2007
For Kansas State, success came unexpectedly in most people’s eyes last season, but the Wildcats are wanting to make up now for the way 2006 ended. After a stunning home upset of Texas, the Wildcats were punished in Lawrence by KU and took another lopsided loss in the Texas Bowl against Rutgers. On the final day of Big 12 Media Day in San Antonio, Texas, KUSports.com editor Ryan Greene had a chance to speak with defensive linemen Rob Jackson and Ian Campbell along with quarterback Josh Freeman about 2007’s prospects.
Ryan Greene: Ian talked about going from the highest of the high against Texas to the lowest of the low against KU and how he thought that might have carried over to the Texas Bowl somewhat for you guys. Do you agree with that, that that sting carried over a little longer than it should have?
Rob Jackson: I would agree with that. I think it would have been a totally different game if we would have beat Texas and then beat KU and won all the games towards the end of the season. I think that played a big factor in it, to beat Texas and gain all that confidence and stuff and then go down to Lawrence and lose to KU. That made us take a step back and made us realize that we stumbled, so we came into the bowl game questioning what we were capable of doing. Were we going to be the Texas team or the KU team?
RG: What was the lesson you guys learned from that trip to Lawrence last year?
RJ: Show up to every game. That’s all. I mean, battered, bruised and banged up, you’ve got to show up and play.
Ryan Greene: With what happened last year in Lawrence, looking forward to that game this year, they haven’t beat you guys in God knows how long in Manhattan. Are you guys taking something a little extra into that game this season?
Ian Campbell: You know, I think I took too much into it last year, being from Kansas. I don’t necessarily know a lot of the guys on the team, through one way or another I know a few of them. I think I’m gonna try to not take so much into it and take it like I play the rest of the games, and I think if the rest of us on the team do that, and not take it so much as a personal game, I think that we’ll end up playing better.
RG: What do you make of being picked third in the North preseason? Do you think that’s fair?
IC: You know, I guess if you want to lay everything down and look at how last season went, I’m sure it’s fair. But I know how the North goes, and I think everybody else does, and I think you know, you could pretty much flip a coin for a lot of the cases as far as the Big 12 North games go. It’ll be hard fought, I know that, all the way from the bottom to the top.
RG: Who in the North really has your attention the most?
IC: Well obviously Missouri, they don’t seem like they lost very much. Nebraska’s lost a little bit, but they also return a lot of their offensive line. KU, I don’t think that they lost terribly too much, you know they lost some good senior offensive linemen, I think they lost (David) Ochoa. But (Anthony) Collins is back, and he was a good right tackle. Iowa State, they’ve got athletes. Nobody’s anything to scoff at in the Big 12 North, you know. It’s all pretty even up and down the line.
Ryan Greene: Ian talked about the lesson you guys learned about going from the highest of highs against Texas to the lowest of lows the next week. Is that something that looking over the next few years will pay off a few times just having that in the back of your mind?
Josh Freeman: Yeah, last year we were a really young offense. Winning that game, we were all just excited about it. And then coming into the next game, I was surprised how hard we prepared. And after the game was over, it was like Monday, new season, get ready for KU. Just from an offensive standpoint, I feel like nobody really talked about Texas after that Sunday, and the KU game was just one of those games that goes wrong. There’s no way of explaining it. We made some plays that we would have never made if we had done it over and over and over again. Just some throws came out wrong, just bizarre things happened. It’s really a humbling experience. Just some stuff you do on a regular basis over and over again without making a mistake, just stuff goes wrong and it ends up losing a game for you.
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