After finishing up the nonconference schedule, K-State football is 3-0 going into a bye week.
“I think it’s a great time for a bye week,” junior quarterback Joe Hubener said. “Heading into Big 12 play competition is only going to get tougher. We have a lot of things to learn from the first three games and hopefully during this week we can get some of this corrected.”
Head coach Bill Snyder said in Tuesday’s press conference that the two week period will be focused on overcoming injuries, eliminating issues, getting enough rest and preparing for future opponents.
“Coach handed us a goal sheet that we need to work on for the bye week,” redshirt junior wide receiver Kody Cook said. “He added that there were about 15 to 20 goals on the sheet focusing on internal issues that need improvement. The first part of this week will be dedicated to improving the team itself before K-State will focus on other opponents. We’ve got to take care of ourselves before we can do anything else.”
Hubener said he is focusing on improving every week and that the Louisiana Tech game provided an opportunity for the offense to gain valuable experience.
“You really have to dig deep and keep fighting,” Hubener said of the triple overtime game. “I think that is a testament to the type of young guys we have here. I know if we get in that kind of situation again they are going to keep fighting.”
Hubener said he is encouraged by K-State’s 3-0 start.
“We just need to keep building upon that,” Hubener said. “We can’t be happy with 3-0, we want to be 13-0. We’ve just got to keep building.”
Snyder said the offense is far from its full potential.
“I know we have to be better,” Snyder said. “We have young guys making mistakes that are capable of not making those mistakes.”
On the defensive end, junior linebacker Will Davis said that despite injuries to key leaders such as defensive back Dante Barnett, leadership roles have not been left empty. Davis said he is looking at the bye week as an opportunity to build on the leadership roles.
“I think that helps us as individuals that weren’t in that role before,” Davis said. “It gives us the opportunity to get ourselves better from a leadership perspective. I think that helps the team out as a whole.”
Along with building on leadership roles, Davis said the defense needs to fix missed tackles and focus on not making the same mistakes from previous games.
“You can make the mistake once, but you can’t make it twice,” Davis said.
