It’s been awhile but I’m finally back again. College football saw it’s first playoff last year and, although the Big 12 wasn’t represented, we were entertained. That’s all we can ask. I hear virtually no one ask on the interwebs where I’ve been, so I’ll answer that shortly. But first, here’s my dart board predictions for 2015. Continue reading Dart Board Predictions For 2015: Scarcity Brings Quality Shots
Hey it’s another year of football for Kansas State and it’s a weird time to be a fan. Usually Kansas State comes in underpicked, underestimated, and just generally dumped on. Welp this year is different. The Wildcats ended the year strong with an even stronger win over Michigan in the bowl game. Now all of the sudden the pundits and spineless sports media are picking Kansas State to finish well.
It’s a weird feeling. If any fan, and team, watches and plays better with a chip on their shoulder, it’s Kansas State. So now it’s time to act like we’ve been there. Yes, we have, but that added extra juice of being the underdog is gone. What’s a K-Stater to do? I guess the best thing is to do what got you to this point.
For us fans, that means cheering loud and staying proud. Pretty easy. For the football team, that means Jake Waters tossing bombs to Tyler Lockett. That’s pretty easy, too, actually. It helps that there’s this sexy stats the pundits refer to that each returning Wildcat quarterback leads the team to 11 wins (minus the early Snyder teams). So Jake Waters has that going for him.
You know what else he has going for him? Collin Klein. No no, he’s not playing for the team again, he’s COACHING them. While you can’t teach those kind of running instincts, Collin Klein can at least give direction. And that’s exactly what he’s doing with Jake Waters. Dark horse Heisman right there. I expect Jake Waters to do great, great things this year. More so than Tyler Lockett, although he’s right up there.
The offense sort of has questions elsewhere. There’s a decent group of wide receivers coming back, even though Daniel Sams took off after losing the quarterback job. The running back situation will be a committee until someone shows up. I hope its fast. There’s a polarized set of experience on the offense line and I hope they gel fast too.
I’m not sure what’s up on defense. Ryan Mueller is the man on the defense line (and former St. Thomas Aquinas alum, like me). That’s about all I know. There’s a couple of JUCO transfers that will help out immediately and we’ll have to see what the team looks like when they take the field today. Chances are, they will be fundamentally sound but not the biggest and fasted. Just like the last couple of years.
So speaking of games, how do I see the Wildcats this year? After last year’s fist game turd, I expect them to punch the ball in quicker and grow a bigger lead in the first half against Stephen F. Austin and then let up on the peddle a bit. They won’t be vanilla the whole game. Not with what’s coming up next.
Right after that, it’s a brutal stretch. Farmageddon is next, then Auburn. Iowa State will be better on the offensive side of the ball now that they got Mark Mangino as the offensive coordinator. And it’s on the road. Even though it wasn’t close last year, it will be this year. Kansas State will win.
Auburn is the big tomato. At least it’s in Manhattan. I get the feel from Tigers fans that they are scared about this one. They should be. But for some reason, all of the hype surrounding Kansas State this year has at least alerted them to the danger that is the Wildcats. Which means the team will be ready. Will Kansas State be ready? Yes. Will they lose? Unfortunately, yes.
So what does the rest of the schedule look like? Let’s run it down. They come back down to Earth and beat up UTEP. Texas Tech is in Manhattan so that’s a Wildcat victory. That Oklahoma game is a toss up because they are getting overrated too. I’m going with a loss there. They will beat Texas and Oklahoma State in Manhattan. They will beat TCU and West Virginia on the road. They will roll Kansas.
So that leaves Baylor. On the road. Hey guess what? I’m going to the game! New stadium. Last game of the year. Will it be for the Big 12 title? I sure hope so. My guess is that it will have huge implications on the Big 12 title. That’s good enough for me. Because I just don’t think Kansas State can keep up with Baylor.
Which means I’m pretty much going chalk this year. Weak, isn’t it? That’s what happens when the hype matches where I actually think the team will be, which is about 3rd in the conference with 3 losses. Now what bowl game that will be, I don’t know. I hope it’s close to Austin so I can finally see the Wildcats in a bowl. But until then, I’ll keep cheering loud and staying proud. Go Wildcats!
So it’s getting amazingly close to the first whistle of the year and it’s time now that I take a moment and peer into the crystal punch bowl to predict Kansas State’s football season. I’ve learned alot down here in Austin after living here for a little more than 3 years. One of the things happens to be pride. So I’m taking my pride in Kansas State and leaning on that hard coming into this year. Everyone else says they will fall back down below the middle of the pack. Is that the case?
Okay so yeah, they lose Heisman runner Collin Klein and a bunch of starters from last year, mostly on defense. That makes it easy for the naysayers of last year to come back even louder this year and say that the Wildcats will be down. Why are we even listening to this naysayers, er, sports media types? Welp, they have the bullhorn by the horn and won’t let go. They say that no one knows anything about the kids coming in to replace the starters. Is it that bad?
Well typically when you lose starters, you lose a ton of experience which does count way more college football than in the pros. So the argument might be pretty tight. But this is a Bill Snyder coached football team. He will find a way to get the best out of his youngsters at whatever position he plunks them down at. How come we’ve never heard of Collin Klein, Darren Sproles, or Michael Bishop before they played Kansas State? Because they get their name wearing the purple. The naysayers never predict that.
Yet I couldn’t predict what is happening at the quarterback position. Going into this year, I thought it was all Daniel Sams. But then all of the sudden, this Jake Waters kid comes into the picture. He had a career in the JUCO area not unlike a one Michael Bishop and his name was being talked about amongst the naysayers. Ruh roh. Do I smell trouble with this? Maybe a little. Coach Snyder announced him as the starter coming into this weekend. That could mean it’s his all the way or it’s Sams to catch up and take. I’ll be there at DKR to see who won.
Looking at the schedule, that big conference opening game will tell us alot. It will tell us just how good the fresh new defense is. It will tell us who the solid quarterback is. It will tell us if Kansas State has a shot to repeat. Thank goodness it’s against Texas. That bottle is almost empty and the magic is about to run out. I’m hoping for one more huge squeeze to give a go in my new-ish hometown of Austin. Before I run down the rest of the schedule, let me talk a bit about the defense.
Yes, they lost a ton of kids. But they also have some experience coming back, most notably Ty Zimmerman. I’m not entirely dumb enough to think that the defense will actually be weaker this year, but for some reason I’m thinking it will be enough. The two quarterback race tells me almost instantly that Kansas State may actually produce as much or even more than last year. Especially if Waters can really throw. So, yeah, they can be down on defense but the offense is already in motion to catch up.
No need to talk about the special teams. It’s the best in the Big 12 period. Thanks Tyler Lockett.
Now on to the schedule: The first two games are actually tough. They get North Dakota State and UL-Lafayette, both fairly tough tiny schools. If they can come out of that alive, they can take out Umass. I’m smelling a very heart attack inducing 3-0 start. Next up is Texas. They will beat Texas. I will say that until it stops. Oklahoma State will be tough and so will Baylor. Kansas State gets Baylor at home. Revenge for that one but I think they lose to the Pokes, it’s just too much. West Virginia will want revenge but I think we take them. Iowa State will be close as usual and seeing as its at home, I gotta give it to the Wildcats. Texas Tech has a new coach so I don’t know what to expect. I will go with Kansas State. TCU and Oklahoma will beat Kansas State. There’s too much defense and talent. Finally, Kansas State beats up on Kansas again.
Final Prediction: 9-3 with a bowl spot again and win to be 10-3
The ones I’m not entirely sure of are Texas and Iowa State. Those could go either way. I’m sure I’ll eat crow on one of those. But for the time being, it looks like the champ will fall back. Just not as far back as others are claiming. It’s time for another football season so let’s strap it up, EMAW Nation!
Another year of Kansas State football is upon us and there’s some weird mixed feelings going on. Maybe not in Manhattan, but certainly down here in Austin and in this Purple Yeti’s abode. You see, part of me wants to believe that Kansas State will improve upon its amazing record from last year, but another wants to believe in the negative hype the so called sports media jams down my throat. Is everyone writing off Kansas State too easily, or will reality hit hard for the little Wildcats from the Little Apple? Continue reading Kansas State Football Preview 2012: Always The Underdog
The Bronx Salute. Everyone remembers it, or at lease they should. If you don’t, just think back to last year’s inaugural Pinstripe Bowl and Adrian Hilburn’s ‘salute’ to the fans after scoring a touchdown and moving the score to 36-24 and a 2 point conversion. He was penalized and the Wildcats had to go for 2 from the 18 yard line. They didn’t get it and lost the game. You could blame some poor play before, but I will point out that the NCAA changed rules in the off season due to this. So now it’s the 2011 season. I’m not asking if they will recover from that loss of the Pinstripe Bowl, but I will be asking about the loss of Daniel Thomas. And what I will see is Brown.
Continue reading Kansas State Wildcats Football Preview 2011: Silver and Purple Seeing Brown
The Kansas State Wildcats enjoyed somewhat of resurgence last year. They even almost went to the Big 12 Championship Game. Yet, they failed to make a bowl. The offseason was the most quiet I’ve ever heard and now we find ourselves looking straight down the barrel of a new football season. The weirdness of last year’s season should continue for this year. It’s all good for Bill Snyder 2.0, as they will be getting better. Day by day. Little by little.
Continue reading Kansas State Wildcats Football 2010 Preview: Getting Better Everyday
Seeing as I graduated from K-State, I figured I would cover them just a little more than the rest of the area teams in Kansas City. If any other fans/alumni of schools around the area want to write for this site, please drop us a line. That said, everyone predicted that K-State would drop as well this year. What was expected to be a major blow off year turned into a massive surprise. K-State fans should be more than happy with what turned out this year in Wildcat football. It wasn’t perfect, but it was damn close.
The Manhattan Miracle was once thought to be just a one time thing. Fast forward to 2009 and we now know it never left. Are we talking about football? Partly. We’re also talking about the little city of Manhattan and the miracle that it can play with the big dogs when it comes to having a great time. We revisited some old school places and discovered some new ones. Then we went to the Sunflower Showdown and witnessed the rise of the miracle on the field. All in all it was a top notch time and we were happy to see the good ole days just one more time.
We make our return to the beautiful city of Manhattan, Kansas to watch Kansas head to Kansas State for 107th meeting of the Sunflower Showdown. The KCCGD crew was down there a couple of years ago for the Missouri game and it’s been awhile since we made our way back. We’ll head to Bill Snyder Family Stadium and watch the action on Wagner Field. We already scoped out some tailgating spots and we’ll be sure to nab some cheesecake on a stick. We also hope this game won’t be a stinker because it’s a must win for Kansas and a driver’s seat spot for Kansas State. This will be big and we will be there.
Continue reading Stadiumspotting: Sunflower Showdown in the Little Apple
We did our best to avoid the blast impact of Farmegeddon 2009 and with your help we landed in the bunker that is Scoreboards Bar vs Grille. Scoreboards tucked us away very quietly while we watched the action exploding on the screens. In times of catastrophe, one can’t be concerned of amenities. They must be concerned for survival. Well, we survived Scoreboards. From patching together tvs, to working with outdated accommodations, we walked out of disaster with no scratches and sore backs. Hey at least the food exceeded our expectations of canned beans and cracker jacks.
Hey guess what? The Crib Sheet is BACK for the regular season. We enjoyed digging up some tasty news nuggest during the offseason so much that we are going to roll it into the regular season rotation. That’s great news alone. So for those of you not familiar with the format, let us explain what the Crib Sheet is all about: We scour the interwebs for stories not hears too well and stories that are local to the Kansas City area, adding our unique twist on it. So rejoice in its return and enjoy this week’s Crib Sheet:
Most folks outside of the midwest believe that the Big 12 Conference is 2nd nationally amongst conferences in terms of football strength. Much of the talk points toward the Big 12 South. As we roll into the 2009 season, we find some teams reloaded, some teams are out of ammo, and the rest either misfired or are shooting blanks. We’re gonna see where they all stack up and how they will finish in 2009, according the Purple Yeti’s crystal ball. There are some shifts in power, but the top stack will stay the same and most of the close calls will still be close. Hopefully the crystal ball pulls through.
The year of Kansas State wasn’t so much of a year as it was an eternity. There were mediocre hopes going into the season, despair running through the season, mania during the end of the season and into the offseason, then back to a numbed out mediocre hope of building a solid team. There are still burn marks on my belly from the selt belt holding me in from the ride the Wildcats took me on in the last year. Right now, they are known as the Mildcats. They brought back an old legend to patch up the nuclear meltdown and now are looking to rebuild. Let’s take a look and see how they will stack up coming into the 2009 season.
Continue reading Kansas State Wildcats Football 2009 Preview: More Like Mildcats
Here we go people! We’re strapping on the helmet and hunkering down for another season of college football. To get us ready, we have a cavalcade of previews and a new redesign coming down the pipe. Until then we’ll produce another news heavy Crib Sheet for all of you to digest. Depending on the schedule, we may be dropping the Crib Sheet here and there during the season. There’s always news to munch on. So grab a bib and some silverware and chow down on this week’s Crib Sheet:
Here at KCCGD headquarters, we are drawing up game plans and doing walkthroughs for the upcoming football season. We have some goodies coming up in the next couple of weeks, including analysis, predictions, and some new looks. We’re busting a major sweat and pouring it out into everything we do here to make KCCGD the best place to go for you Kansas City college football needs. Be on the lookout. Until then, here’s this week’s Crib Sheet: