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FOOTBALL Position-by-position edge: Louisiana Tech at K-State

J. Ford

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Nov 19, 2009
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Taking a position-by-position look at Louisiana Tech vs. Kansas State, here’s what to watch for in Saturday’s showdown between the Bulldogs and the Wildcats:

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QUARTERBACK — Tech: K-State lost its starting quarterback, Jesse Ertz, on the first play from scrimmage in game one for the season. Joe Hubener took over for Ertz and last week started at UTSA. Hubener is a physical runner and has a big arm but struggles in the short passing game. Florida transfer Jeff Driskel is a season veteran and has the tools to run and throw. Tech has not asked him to run a whole lot thus far but he has had success when he been asked to. Driskel is getting more and more comfortable in the offense every week and that's obvious. Does he take another step forward Saturday and give the Bulldogs a cool customer in the huddle?


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RUNNING BACKS — Tech: Kenneth Dixon is the active career yardage leader among running backs in the FBS, need I say more? If I do, Dixon's ability to catch the ball out of the backfield and his balance as a runner make him a force for Tech. K-State has struggled finding someone to contribute so far at running back and is very young there with sophomores or freshman leading the way. The one concern for Tech though is Jarred Craft and Blake Martin likely missing this week with broken bones in their hands. Boston Scott and Jaqwis Dancy will be Dixon's backups.


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WIDE RECEIVERS, TIGHT END — Tech: It's nearly impossible to make tight ends a strength for Tech but their receivers are. They have very few -- if any -- true tight ends on the roster. K-State struggles with tight ends because of Hubener's struggles in the short to intermediate passing game. If he figures it out this week TE is a place K-State could get Tech for chunks of yardage. Tech's wide receivers are one of their biggest strengths. Paul Turner is having a good year along with Trent Taylor to lead the group. Kam McKnight is a RS Freshman who is seeing more playing time because of an injury to Conner Smith and the same goes for Marlon Watts because of Carlos Henderson's injury. The backups are have ability as well. Wide receiver is another place K-State is young but they are in a rebuilding year.


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OFFENSIVE LINE — Push: With Kirby Wixson at center Tech makes a real case for a better OL than K-State but he's doubtful for Saturday's game. Both Tech and K-State have similar sized offensive lines. Tech's OL has played well but so has K-State's. If Joseph Brunson is available and plays center this week and David Mahaffey moves back to LG I like Tech's OL more but even so I think these groups are even. Kansas native Jens Danielson will get his first start of the season at RT and has been rotating with Shane Carpenter in the first two games. O'Shea Dugas started a LG when Mahaffey moved last week and played well.


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DEFENSIVE LINE — K-State: Much like the OL, Tech could have the nod but this group has not been as dominate as many expected them to be. Maybe Aaron Brown was the missing link, he missed the first two games, and his experience takes some pressure off of Vernon Butler inside. Vontarrius Dora and Deldric Canty are Tech's starting DE and are very capable. K-State's starters are similarly sized to Tech once again with the DE being a little undersized and the DT weighing in right at 300 pounds. Both groups have inexperience behind their starters so if either offense can get them rotating they may find some success. K-State's stingy defense so far is impressive. Good defense all start up front so as good as Tech's DL can be and should be K-State gets the nod here.


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LINEBACKERS — Tech: K-State has very little experience at LB as freshmen and sophomores are their 2-deep. Tech has veterans at every position at LB highlighted by Beau Fitte and Nick Thomason at WILL and MIKE, respectively. The depth behind those two is young and undersized. CJ Cleveland and Lloyd Grogan are the two SAM that will play. If Tech can keep from having to go to its undersized backups too much this group could highlight Tech's afternoon in Manhattan. Grogan and Cleveland are converted safeties and big enough to be a factor in the run game.


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SECONDARY — Push: The Bulldogs should have the advantage here with what they have coming back in the secondary but last week they did not play real well. Skip Holtz mentioned they did not roll many backups in during the first half against WKU and wishes they had. K-State's corners are good and play a lot of man coverage. Safety Dante Barnett has 7 interceptions on his career and is someone to look out for. The youth at corner for Tech is the biggest concern on defense for the Bulldogs and is most of the reason for Tech not rotating them against WKU.


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SPECIAL TEAMS — K-State: The Wildcats have to be licking their chops on special teams with Tech coming into Manhattan Saturday. Tech has given up two kickoff returns for touchdowns in two weeks and Morgan Burns is a very talented return man. K-State's specialists are RS freshmen but the return coverage woes for Tech make this an easy pick. Tech's kicking game is much improved from a year ago and if the coverage teams can improve they'll be just fine but we haven't seen that yet.
 
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