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2013 Fiesta Bowl: Kansas State finds Oregon's speed a challenge to prepare for

Kansas St. head coach Bill Snyder talks about preparing for the Fiesta Bowl match-up against Oregon and the speed of the Ducks.

By John.Wilkinson
US PRESSWIRE

The Kansas St. Wildcats are preparing for their second BCS bowl game, arriving in the valley ahead of the Jan. 3, 2013 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. The Wildcats will face the Oregon Ducks in a match-up of teams that finished the regular season 11-1.

Kansas St. head coach Bill Snyder spoke recently about the speed of Oregon and the Ducks' always-dangerous offense. When asked about preparing for Oregon and whether they could replicate the speed in practice, Snyder said,"I don't know that anybody really can. Not in the way that you're thinking. There's certainly some things that you do that would attempt to replicate the kind of speed and the tempo of the game that you see."

Oregon was second in the nation in scoring, averaging a fraction more than 50 points per game. The Ducks were third in the country in rushing yards, averaging 323.3 per game.

"They are going to snap the ball every 16 or 17 seconds, sometimes faster than that. Just to be able to get lined back up on defense is not an easy task," Snyder said. "You have your routine in practice and you'll run two offenses at your defense. You can replicate that time to a certain degree, but not with the same people."

Snyder was asked whether the Wildcats' one loss, to a high-scoring Baylor team, taught them anything that could be useful against Oregon. "You can't stand around against a team that moves awful fast. We did that. That was a ball game that we learned a lot," Snyder said.

The coach was also asked about whether it helped playing all season against some of the explosive offenses in the Big-12.

"Well it does help to a certain degree," Snyder said. "However, it's not all about the X's and O's on the chalkboard, it's who happens to represent those X's and O's on the field. You're probably looking at a greater amount of collective speed in addition to the fast tempo that (Oregon) uses. Not that the other team's we've played didn't have quickness and speed, but it seems to permeate the Oregon program."

Kickoff between the Wildcats and Ducks at the University of Phoenix Stadium is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. MT on Thursday.