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Gopowercat.com's Tim Fitzgerald checks in.
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00:00follow it's another sports daily insider interview on kfh
00:07that's right welcome back brady bowman tj cleland in for jacob albrock on this thursday edition of
00:12sports daily and we have in on camera out of the car we got tim fitzgerald of powercat illustrated
00:22it's so great to have you on cam and uh he's called he's called it powercat illustrated
00:28the entire show and i haven't had the heart to correct him yet tim when was the last time it
00:32was powercat illustrated about more than 10 years ago oh my gosh yeah my apologies you remember i
00:41was i was there from the from the early days yeah you were you were yeah we uh i always
00:47joke that
00:48we started off as a magazine then we added a website uh and then we became a website with
00:54the magazine and now we're just a website we've i'm working my way to the hologram period of my
01:00career there you go well fitz we got a lot to talk about uh with k-state's uh game coming
01:06up and
01:07looking back at the uh nickels win 71-3 win in bill snyder family stadium and like i was telling
01:14jacob earlier this week you know if things would have went different if that was a win
01:19in dublin last year against iowa state we have a totally different viewpoint and perspective on that
01:26but i gotta say that was pretty fun saturday yeah it in many levels not just on the field
01:35i mean for k-state fans who've been going to games they kind of rejuvenated some of the tradition and
01:41flavor at you know the in-game experience um i thought they did a tremendous job with the light show
01:47was
01:47fun uh brought back a lot of traditions so uh it just felt like uh the way it should be
01:53and you know
01:54your to your point about how last year started and where we are now it's exactly why i tell people
01:59that
02:00sometimes the worst things that happen the bad things that happen end up being good um and you
02:06know you just gotta let time work it out for you and and that's where we're at and i'll just
02:12put it
02:12into a greater context i i tell people this all the time but cancer is both the worst and best
02:18thing
02:19to happen to me and and that sometimes um you know the really horrible things change you for the good
02:24and here we are with k-state football uh at least in a very promising start for colin klein uh
02:31i i put it
02:32this way fits after the game is that you know you take for granted the the giant wins over the
02:38fcs
02:38schools and things like that and and you know you uh it's an eye of the beholder of how well
02:43you want
02:44to think of that game you can you know talk yourself into or out of it because of the team
02:47that they're
02:47playing against but i said use your context of what we saw last year they almost lost the north dakota
02:54and they lost to army uh don't take for granted your 71 point wins or 71 points scored in a
03:00giant win
03:01uh that i think is the best that it could have looked against a team of that caliber uh and
03:07and again it's
03:07not running up the score you know we all watched the game and saw the backups do what they did
03:11and
03:11everything but i think you know there's not really any ill things to really say uh you know to do
03:17your
03:17coach speak things there's things we could clean up there wasn't much to clean up yeah yeah i agree and
03:23i
03:23think probably the stuff they cleaned up the most were things that you know we just don't notice
03:28wrong angles bad technique some of those things but yeah that team looked well organized
03:34well prepared um well cut out they really knew who they were so um it was a good start and
03:40you know
03:40i've been joking a lot about how much colin klein has reminded me of bill snyder it's really not a
03:46joke
03:46it's really actually going on uh but uh you know one of bill snyder's early criticisms from the
03:54outside world was the scheduling now we see it happening everywhere uh but it wasn't just about
04:00playing lesser opponents it was about what he called stair stepping into the season start off
04:04with a game like this and i think washington state's a sniffing second step from what i saw
04:10uh and and then you got to lane which has been a thorn in the side of k-state before
04:16you go to
04:16cincinnati which is you know supposed to be one of the lesser teams in the conference but had a big
04:21win
04:21so colin klein's kind of stair stepping his way into the more competitive parts of his schedule right now
04:28you know looking at that win saturday i and i mentioned this jacob earlier in the week that i
04:34i think what what i noticed most of all was that just the energy was really great the enthusiasm but
04:42there was that energy and enthusiasm with the team but whether it was avery uh running backs wide
04:47receivers coaches on the sideline there was just this calmness the whole time where it's like last
04:52year you just felt like everybody was a little bit more on edge and kind of pressing a lot i
04:58didn't
04:58get that feeling at all from avery or really the whole team or sideline at all saturday that's great
05:04point it was uh almost like a quiet confidence and you know been grown into this group uh and they
05:12knew what they were expected to do and went out and did it they also knew this and i think
05:18this was
05:18something also true of a lot of snyder teams they knew they'd paid the price they knew their off
05:24season work had been significant uh and they all talked about it and uh anyone familiar with the
05:30bill snyder way of conditioning and getting after the team in the off season said it was very similar
05:36with colin klein and uh he put these guys through a lot and when you go through a lot as
05:41a group
05:41you tend to bond uh and you're also in really good shape so that bodes well for the season
05:47uh one of the things that i brought up after the game one of the surprises i think that uh
05:52maybe
05:53not surprising to you but surprising to me was the running back room we knew it was going to be
05:56good
05:57i didn't know rodney fields was going to be the starting running back going into week two i thought
06:02that uh you know with joe jackson coming back and you know jay harris coming from oregon uh you know
06:08he kind of flew under the radar i knew he was kind of getting some buzz but i mean he
06:12looks like a
06:12legit big 12 starting running back yeah you know he was really good coming out of oklahoma state but
06:17then he had the injury and missed spring practice was setting back a little bit and i thought it'd be
06:22a fairly significant setback and we kind of went into the season not into fall camp into the season
06:30on saturday thinking he might be the second or third running back um thinking he probably is and
06:36joe jackson will be the starter that wasn't true rodney fields lined up as a starter showed why he
06:41deserves that you know a little bit later brandon wide at receiver showed uh you know as a return
06:47punt returner that he can make things happen so the era of the little guy is back at kansas state
06:53football and uh those two are dynamic playmakers and and uh that's exactly what colin was seeking
07:00tim fitzgerald joining us on this thursday edition of sports daily and you know we talked a lot about
07:07the offense and i think in games like that especially against the fcs opponent it's easy to look at the
07:12offensive numbers and say oh ah look at that it's harder i think to judge how well the defense did
07:18against a lesser fcs opponent but was there anything that caught your eye defensively for k-state
07:23in their season opener well i thought it was interesting um what nichols did in terms of
07:29throwing the ball they were so worried i imagine about window gregory seeing what he did on film from
07:35last year also at oklahoma state that they just didn't want the ball in the quarterback's hand and i think
07:40collin said he got rid of it in 2.2 seconds almost every play and when it was 2.3
07:45they got to him and
07:46pressured him um and so uh the defense had to play more um a little bit more on their heels
07:55so to speak
07:56they weren't in attack mode within the passing game but boy hold them to just a little bit over 100
08:01yards
08:01taking away their running game um and then making them throw the ball that just didn't have any time to
08:08operate we still haven't seen what this defense can do honestly at nichols surrendered in that game
08:15uh offense against defense and i think it was very clear on to the coaching staff that hey we're
08:20we're completely overmatched here today uh let's run some stuff and get out of here with a bunch
08:25without a bunch of injuries uh and we're not going to see that from washington state they're going to
08:29come at k state with uh some some offense that uh nichols didn't bother trying i don't know if
08:36it'll work uh but they they had uh limited success last week against washington so we'll see what they
08:42do uh so washington state i was going to pivot into that anyways uh k state's favored by 18 and
08:47a
08:48half points which feels like a lot washington state did not look that bad against the ranked
08:53washington team last week what do you know about the cougars yeah i watched a lot of that game their
08:59their defensive front held up for most of the game until they had just been left on the field too
09:03long
09:03and it they gave up some late points the offense really struggled um against the washington defense
09:10quarterback run game was about the only thing working consistently for them so that's something
09:15case they didn't see last week that they'll have to prepare for this week but their their run
09:19defense washington state's run defense was really good uh it was really stout so you know go back to
09:25where we started with rodney fields there's going to be far greater challenge for this offensive line
09:29in the run game and uh i again i think this is a great stair step challenge uh as a
09:35up the pressure
09:36a little bit on this team to see what they got it's looking at gopowercat.com and some of the
09:43uh
09:43trending headlines you have there uh one is uh former players shared their thoughts on kansas state's hot
09:48start to 2026 uh how has some of the former players coaches you know what are the vibes i mean
09:55it's an
09:56fcs opponent there's still a lot to figure out this season but what's kind of the the feeling and vibes
10:03that you're hearing from some of those former players i think the players are fired up um you
10:08know whether they're recent players uh or more old school players like my sidekick brian hanley who
10:13played in 97 and 98 they see the snyder-esque things going on here they see the the return of
10:21some of those elements that uh made kansas state football great special teams um being much more
10:28physical defense flying to the ball that honestly just kind of slipped away under coach klyman
10:33and uh you know he had his own style he had his own successes but it never felt fully satisfying
10:41outside of that big 12 championship to k-state fans and i think um what we saw saturday was a
10:46little bit more satisfying to those diehards including x players uh speaking of coach klyman
10:52he was in the bill on saturday got to open the doors which is really cool uh jacob and i
10:57uh you
10:58know joked around about this and we've talked about it fits is that uh and it's not a knock on
11:04k-state
11:04fans every fan base in the country does this and thinks the grass is always greener on the other side
11:09and everything and it very well might be under colin klein but i think that especially on saturday
11:13they they at least gave climb in his moment to say hey you want a big 12 championship here you
11:19were the
11:20perfect guy to do these things i feel like k-state fans are starting to be like uh you know
11:24take a step
11:25back from the angst and things like that and give him the flowers that he does deserve yeah um well
11:31what
11:31he did was uh incredible uh you know in terms of what's going on in college athletics and how much
11:39coaches are getting paid and how much money he left on the table to to retire you know a lot
11:45of it for
11:46his health but also he knew what he was doing just wasn't working he didn't have it in him to
11:53get it done
11:54most coaches would stick around and take the money and get fired and get all the money and he walked
11:59away and said nope we're gonna we're gonna fix this thing and he picked up the phone and called
12:03colin klein and um i'd be interested i need to ask him sometime if colin said no i i'm not
12:10interested
12:10would climbing have come back at that point or would he have told still told gene taylor well you got
12:17to
12:17go uh looking around and i think those who wish climbing's dismissal were taken off the hook in some
12:25ways by the you know so-called perfect tire but if it had happened a few days later and he
12:31was at
12:31south florida colin klein wasn't going to leave there that's not who he is he would have stayed
12:36there for now and who knows who'd be coaching k-state and who knows if they'd be any better off
12:41what if what if but yeah that was great to see that uh acknowledgement for uh climbing and again like
12:47you mentioned pitts if if this really turned works out with colin klein and it is uh bill
12:52snyder 2.0 with all the successes that come with it i think the fandom is going to look back
12:57at at
12:58chris climb and be like oh you're the reason for that or you're a big part of the reason for
13:03that
13:03and i think his legacy is going to be secured for sure going back to washington state and k-state
13:09coming up uh pitts let me ask you who's the player that is most likely to tear up washington
13:15state for k-state and who's the player most likely for washington state that k-state's going to
13:19have to look out for um that quarterback's a pain in the butt and his name's escaping me
13:25i have the memory of it kaden pinnick thank you kaden pinnick um he's a transfer i think from uc
13:32davis and um he was just k-state's appreciate that kind of quarterback uh willing to put his nose in
13:40there and go pick up the hard yards um and that determination i think reflects on the offense
13:46uh so you know you got to keep him bottled up i i think the tight ends could prove really
13:53effective
13:53for kansas state in this game uh in part because they were so good at stopping the run i think
13:59those
13:59tight ends are going to be able to slip out and do some damage and um they're just an incredibly
14:04athletic and talented bunch of guys that i think that's going to be a real problem for washington
14:09state fitz i'll give you your second to talk about it you brought up the the fan experience and the
14:14things that happened uh it it literally felt like it was what what's the year you want to throw out
14:20there 2013 2012 stuff like that all the things will he tackled a guy at midfield uh were you like
14:26in a in a in a time portal going back to those things were you surprised to see uh will
14:31he tackle
14:32a guy at midfield again uh my my conspiracy theory and i'm into those uh is that it took k
14:38-state i
14:38don't know how many years about 10 years for the lawyers to work out uh the the documents for the
14:45guy getting tackled to sign that takes him off the hook uh because you know that ended when a guy
14:50had
14:50a seizure after getting hit uh this is the best part of it they brought him back if you're not
14:56familiar
14:56willie used to come running onto the field and tackle a fake fan at midfield for the other team
15:01until the guy hit his head on the turf the all the guys that play willie went through tackling drills
15:08with the football program they trained for this moment and if you notice that willie had great
15:17technique it was yeah it was head up yeah everything yeah it's hard to get your head up but don't
15:22don't
15:22don't lead with the mask willie i was actually on the field uh you got tackled no but
15:31i mean i saw the the seizure happened when that happened like the scary it was scary i was on
15:37the
15:37field for that and when because usually they have somebody dressed as the other team's mascot and he
15:43was down like shaking and i thought oh this guy's really selling it and then after a while it's kind
15:47of like oh no this is this is super serious so i remember that moment on the field i wasn't
15:53surprised
15:53that they put a pause on it but it was cool to see that coming back and like you said
15:59pitts i'm sure
15:59all the i's were dotted and t's crossed uh from a legal standpoint on all that you know that was
16:06something that uh uh chris or excuse me colin klein talked about in postgame i think he was asked
16:12uh about those traditions and bringing them back and from what it sounds like pitts uh he had a lot
16:17of input in that he did and i thought it was really interesting excuse me guys he didn't just bring
16:23back bill snyder traditions ron prince is the one who had the flags the players carrying the flags out
16:30of the locker room i always thought that was kind of cool you know you got the united states flag
16:35and
16:35then the kansas carries the kansas flag i think that is really cool moment to say that this team's
16:41filled with kansas uh you had the climbing opening of the locker room door tradition uh that was new to
16:49him and then a lot of the snyder things including that great train video redone and and back in its
16:54former glory so yeah i think fans had a blast and the new lighting that was shown off between third
16:59and fourth quarter was pretty cool i'll be interested to see what they do with that on down the road
17:04but
17:04we're looking at a morning game um on saturday and i believe next week is too so unless it's really
17:10raining hard and dark you're not going to have much purpose for those lights fits it's going to be 80
17:15degrees though it's not going to be triple digits are you excited that bald head excited to not get
17:20sunburned dude i'm in the press box it's a long walk sometimes i uh yeah that's true but i gotta
17:28tell you um i really had a problem with the weather in the press box on saturday because when i
17:33eat my
17:33ice cream sandwich i got a little chilly so i'm telling you i don't know if brady if you remember
17:38this back in the day since i started covering them they crank that ac like nobody's business like you
17:43gotta bring a winter coat in that press box man um and usually they do that because they open up
17:50windows but it was so hot on saturday they didn't even do that uh but yeah i'm happy the fans
17:56and i
17:56i'm just amazed at the fans that were able to withstand that entire game particularly those in
18:01the sun uh you're a lot tougher than i am because i can't take the heat like that yeah for
18:08sure i mean
18:08it was just uh again like like i mentioned earlier in this segment just such a difference
18:14compared to the season opener last year uh real quick bits what should people look for at gopowercat.com
18:21well in about 30 minutes we've got the powercat uh pre-game podcast the k-state pre-game podcast
18:28dropping on youtube and your podcast networks shows up after the premiere at 11 a.m at go powercat
18:34go check that out cole carmody does a great job breaking down this game with me
18:38fits when does the next powercat illustrated come out that uh will be um yeah it's just right around
18:45the corner okay just a commemorative issue
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