Kansas State linebacker Desmond Purnell had a star performance against TCU, earning him the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. He ended the day with two interceptions, two pass deflections, one sack, and one defensive touchdown.

It's the type of performance that makes you wonder if this is the start of something more. Purnell is already having a career season, and that has the chance to expand if he has more games like last Saturday.

Kansas State coach Chris Klieman credited his predecessors for preparing him to be a standout on this defense.

"Credit to Daniel Green, Austin Moore, and [linebackers coach] Steve Stanard," Klieman said in his TCU postgame interview. "The preparation that those linebackers put in, and him learning from Deuce Green and Austin Moore. That kid's a student of the game, and he wants to leave that legacy to the next group of linebackers that was left to him. He’s one of our best leaders, and he practices just as hard as he plays, so you expect that. When you do that, good things are gonna happen, and the ball found him today."

Star defensive end Tobi Osunsanmi's absence opens the door for other playmakers to step up.

"Desmond is one of the best players in our conference, and I’ve said that for the last couple years," Klieman said. "He’s very underrated, very smart, and he’s always that guy who can make those splash plays. I think adding the couple of coverages we did really helped him, and he made some plays on the ball. He’s a really good dropper in coverage. He had a great rush on a sack; he just does everything really well. I was really pleased for him."

FORMER K-STATE DEFENSIVE STARS SQUARED OFF SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Kansas State fans just watched their defense have its best performance of the season against TCU on Saturday afternoon.

And on Sunday, they got to watch two of their former defensive stars face off against each other in a 30-19 contest with major early-season NFC implications. Marques Sigle and the San Francisco 49ers squared up against Jacob Parrish and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Tampa Bay took this one behind another MVP performance from quarterback Baker Mayfield, who went 17-of-23 for 256 yards and two touchdowns. Tampa Bay was without star receivers Chris Godwin, Mike Evans, and Emeka Egbuka (left early).