Kansas State has won its first two games by margins of 68 points against Nicholls and 27 points against Washington State.
But first-year head coach Collin Klein said he’s still not sure just how good the Wildcats can be as they prepare to meet Tulane (1-1) in a nonconference game Saturday in Manhattan, Kansas.
“We are truly a work in progress,” Klein said.
Kansas State’s defense has yet to allow a touchdown. The Wildcats’ only touchdown surrendered came on a 50-yard interception return against Avery Johnson on the final play of the first half against Washington State. Klein is not concerned about his senior signal caller, who’s in position to break virtually every major school career record for a quarterback by the end of this season.
“I’ve been really pleased with Avery,” Klein said. “No one’s going to be harder on him than me, and no one’s going to see how high his ceiling is than us in this building. But I think he is really, really growing and doing some really, really nice things.
“I think the exciting part is there are things out there for him, and he knows that. We know that.”
Green Wave first-year head coach Will Hall is less certain of what he has at quarterback. Zeon Chriss-Gremillion won a four-way competition to start the opener, but was ineffective before being replaced by Kadin Semonza in a 17-3 loss at Duke. Semonza started last week and was effective enough, completing 14 of 22 passes for 212 yards, one touchdown and no interceptions in a 28-24 victory against visiting South Alabama.
“We’ve got to improve,” Hall said, “but I do love our intent with how we’re going about working to improve.”
Semonza was helped by Jaylin Lucas rushing for 214 yards and a touchdown on just 11 carries.
“We were extremely explosive last week, but we’ve got to be more consistent offensively to make sure that we control the ball to help our defense out,” Hall said.