K-State Wildcats vs. WVU Mountaineers: Five things to know about Big 12 football game
It has been a streaky season for the Kansas State football team.
Here is a recap for those who don’t follow the Wildcats religiously:
They opened the year with three impressive victories over Stanford, Southern Illinois and Nevada. Everything was great. Then they lost three straight games to Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Iowa State. Everything was not great. As fate would have it, they then bounced back with three straight wins over Texas Tech, TCU and Kansas. Things are looking up again.
K-State (6-3, 3-3 Big 12) will try to keep its winning streak going at 11 a.m. on Saturday when it hosts West Virginia (4-5, 2-4) at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Here is everything you need to know to start preparing for the game.
The details
Kickoff: 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium, Manhattan
TV: FS1
Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City and KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita
Line: Kansas State by 6
Five things to know
1. West Virginia has owned K-State in recent years. No Big 12 football team has beaten the Wildcats more consistently than the Mountaineers. K-State hasn’t won a game in this series since 2015 when the teams were coached by Bill Snyder and Dana Holgorsen. Most of those games have been close, but West Virginia put an exclamation mark on the five-game winning streak with a 37-10 victory last season.
2. K-State can clinch a winning record with a win. Chris Klieman and the Wildcats locked up a bowl trip by defeating Kansas last week, but they are hoping for much more than that during the closing stretch of the season. Clinching a winning season and improving their bowl stock is the next priority. Klieman won eight games during his season with K-State in 2019. Pushing for more in Year 3 would be a nice sign of progress.
3. Scouting report on West Virginia. The Mountaineers have one of the best running backs in the Big 12, but even with Leddie Brown leading the way out of the backfield they are struggling to move the ball on the ground. They are averaging a Big 12 low 3.4 yards per rush. They have found more success throwing the ball for 7.7 yards per attempt behind quarterback Jarret Doege, who leads the conference with 2,180 passing yards. But he also leads the league with eight interceptions. On defense, West Virginia is typically strong against the run (3.6 yards per rush) and average against the pass (7.7 yards per attempt).
4. Skylar Thompson continues his impressive play. The K-State quarterback has been red hot since he returned from injury and threw for 320 yards and three touchdowns against Oklahoma last month. Thompson has averaged 261.6 yards over his past five games, while also throwing for eight touchdowns. He seems to be hitting his stride as a college passer.
5. What kind of crowd should we expect? The Wildcats haven’t been able to completely fill their home stadium for games this season. Nice crowds close to 50,000 were in attendance for their first four home games, but none of them were sellouts. Then attendance dropped noticeably against TCU, when only 44,339 showed up for the game. It will be interesting to see what K-State crowds look like in their final two games. A morning kick won’t help against West Virginia, but the team’s current winning streak could still boost attendance.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 12:26 PM with the headline "K-State Wildcats vs. WVU Mountaineers: Five things to know about Big 12 football game."