The Wildcats host the Sun Devils for the first time in series history.
Welcome back Wildcat fans. It’s strange to have two bye weeks in one season, but with the new structure of the Big 12 Conference it worked out for Kansas State to have two this season.
Tonight, the Cats get back to action against new conference foe Arizona State. The series between the Wildcats and Sun Devils goes back to 1964, but this will be the first time that the two have squared off in Manhattan, KS.
The last time these two teams played, K-State ended a five-game losing streak with a big win in the 2002 Holiday Bowl, which would become a springboard for the Cats into the 2003 season and K-State’s first Big 12 championship season. A win today for K-State would do something similar, at the very least keeping the Cats in the conversation for the Big 12 Championship game later this season.
But it won’t be easy, as Arizona State is actually good this year, and, like K-State, led by a great running back. Certainly playing at home helps, and hopefully the Cats got healthy over the bye week, but the cracks displayed during the loss at Houston are something to be concerned about. Expect Arizona State to try and exploit the same deficiencies that the Cougars did.
K-State needs to win this game to stay in the Big 12 hunt (and a possible CFP berth). A loss isn’t catastrophic, but would pretty much relegate the Cats to just a mid-tier bowl game.
We’ve got an 6:00pm CT kickoff for tonight’s game from Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and you can catch the action on ESPN (or online via WatchESPN.com) with Dave Flemming (Play-by-Play), Brock Osweiler (Analyst), and Stormy Buonantony (Sidelines) on the call.
If you don’t have ESPN or can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across the 28-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst), and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game will also be on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 106 or 199, and available online at K-Statesports.com. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and social media updates (@KStateFB) will also be a part of the coverage.
Go Cats!