He had something to prove in last week's season opener against UCLA. Boy, did he ever.Daniel Thomas was no doubt the best player on the Bill Snyder Family Stadium turf. He made enough statements he may be one of the best players in the country after his 234-yard outing on 28 totes in K-State's 31-22 win.
But after the game, he wasn't thinking Heisman Trophy speech or Big XII player of the year honor.
"I wanted to go out there and prove I'm the best athlete in the family," Thomas told The Topeka Capital-Journal as brother Jerrett was in attendance. "He played Division II football, and he still thinks he's got it."
Ha, any doubt who is the best now?
I stood there along with 51,056 other fans and marveled at his jukes and cuts. He was definitely a man among boys as the Wildcats avenged last year's 23-9 loss at The Rose Bowl.
"He's a very accomplished back," UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel said after the game. "They use him in a lot of different ways. He's very powerful from the waist down and he was too much for us today. We could not get him down."
Good thing for us purple faithful. Thanks to an anemic passing game that generated only 64 yards through the air, the Wildcats prevailed. No doubt, if it wasn't for DT, K-State probably loses this game. Although it would have been interesting, simply for the fact that another running back had a pretty good day in William Powell, who added 72 yards on six carries including a 28-yard TD scamper in the first half.
"We need to have more than what we got," K-State coach BIll Snyder said earlier this week, referring to his passing game.
Hopefully that will improve. Hopefully, we get a better look at the passing attack in today's 6:10 p.m. game against Missouri State. The Football Championship Subdivision and coached by former KU coach Terry Allen won't have the defense that UCLA had when it sacked Carson Coffman six times. The Bears surrendered 315 yards passing to Eastern Kentucky last week.
I've heard a couple people on sports talk radio this week compare DT to Darren Sproles, who ironically had the last 200-yard game in a Cat uniform.
The stats don't lie, either. Thomas got 181 yards in the second half, including a 35-yard jaunt that was the blow that knocked down the Bruins for good.
"I think we just learned from last year that you have to come out in the second half and continue to push and work hard," Thomas said. "Coach said that we needed to come out and finish the game and fortunately we did."
"Daniel was outstanding," Powell said. "Words cannon explain it. He is a great running back, and that is all I can say. Daniel gets the whole team excited. I see him making plays, and that just makes me want to play that much harder. When he comes out and I go in, I don't want there to be any discrepancy. I want to get in there and be able to produce just like he does."
"He's a great back," left guard Zach Kendall said. "I think he's the best in the nation. I hope for Daniel that the (Heisman) hype goes up, because he deserves it."
Oh, K-State make sure Daniel's family is at every game from now on. If his brother can motivate him like that, give him front row tickets, baby!
"My mom and dad, my brother and my cousin, this is the first time they've seen me play together since high school," Thomas said. "I thought about that last night. I just wanted to go out and play good in front of them."
My shout this week goes to Hodgeman County High senior Evan Kreger. All the Kansas 8-man football player did in his team's opener was score 10 TDs in his team's 74-8 win against Pawnee Heights. That is a Kansas 8-man record and ties a national 8-man record, according to the National High School Record Book. Oh, his TD's were via running, interception return and punt return. Nice!
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