K-State Q&A: Game by game football predictions and a year-in-review for the Wildcats
Now is as good a time as any to fully evaluate how Kansas State’s athletic department performed over the past year.
Spring sports are coming to an end and just about everyone associated with the Wildcats is already focusing on 2022-23 more than 2021-22. Like most schools, K-State has experienced plenty of highs and lows since its football team opened the season against Stanford last September. How does the big picture look after you add them all up?
Here’s a quick rundown on how the majority of K-State’s teams finished (forgive me for not including track and field, which isn’t quite over yet):
- Baseball: 29-29 (7th Big 12)
- Football: 8-5 (5th Big 12)*
- Men’s basketball: 14-17 (9th Big 12)
- Men’s cross country: (4th Big 12)
- Men’s golf: (9th Big 12)*
- Rowing: (6th Big 12)
- Soccer: 6-10-2 (10th Big 12)
- Tennis: 10-13 (9th Big 12)
- Women’s basketball: 20-13 (6th Big 12)*
- Women’s cross country: (5th Big 12)
- Women’s golf: (9th Big 12)
- Volleyball: 15-13 (7th Big 12)*
*Team reached the postseason
The best conference finish goes to men’s cross country for finishing fourth at its Big 12 championship. The worst league finish goes to soccer, which finished last. Three teams finished in the top half of the Big 12 standings. Four teams qualified for the postseason.
Not great, by any means. But not horrible, either.
Ayoka Lee scoring 61 points in a game and K-State’s romp over LSU at the Texas Bowl will provide nice memories. Grant Robbins guiding the men’s golf team to a NCAA regional was a pleasant surprise. So was volleyball sneaking into the NCAA Tournament. But there was nothing close to a championship season from anybody.
Most fans only care about the two major sports -- football and men’s basketball. For example, Texas won four national championships (rowing, men’s indoor track, men’s golf, women’s tennis) this year and is still competing for more. But the football team didn’t make a bowl, so some of their fans aren’t happy.
In that regard, it was still a below average year for the Wildcats. Chris Klieman guiding the K-State football team to eight victories was solid, if not spectacular. But the men’s basketball team had another disappointing season and parted ways with Bruce Weber.
If I had to give the Wildcats an across-the-board grade, it would probably be a C-.
Let’s end this exercise by saying the Wildcats will be hoping for better in most sports as they look toward their next athletic year.
Now, let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
We’ve spent enough time driving the Delorean around in the past. Now it’s time to fire up the flux capacitor and fly across futuristic super highways in the sky.
South Dakota: Win. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000 times. Chris Klieman doesn’t lose to FCS opponents.
Missouri: Win. This will be a swing game for a pair of teams that were both in bowls last season. It’s not a gimme by any means, but I think K-State will have an edge playing at home.
Tulane: Win. I can’t wait to see this team’s logo in person. The angry green wave is awesome.
At Oklahoma: Loss. It’s certainly plausible that the Sooners will take a step back next season. And K-State does tend to play well against the Sooners. But you know Brent Venables is going to be fired up to coach against his alma mater.
Texas Tech: Win. Patrick Mahomes never won in Manhattan. I’m not expecting the Red Raiders to beat K-State on the road with a lesser quarterback next season.
At Iowa State: Win. This is probably the biggest coin flip game on K-State’s schedule. The Cyclones have been the better team recently, but they won’t have Breece Hall or Brock Purdy next season. Seems like a good opportunity for the Wildcats to win Farmageddon on the road.
At TCU: Win. The Horned Frogs are one of the two Big 12 teams that Chris Klieman remains undefeated against. I like that trend to continue.
Oklahoma State: Loss. Mike Gundy owns Klieman. The Cowboys are the exact opposite of TCU.
Texas: Loss. Shame on me for thinking the Longhorns are going to be good next season. I know their recent history. But they have so much talent. I can’t help myself. If Quinn Ewers is any good, Texas is going to be hard to beat.
At Baylor: Loss. This is admittedly a difficult game for me to predict without knowing just how much the Bears will be hurt by their roster losses. But Baylor has won every game in this series since 2017.
At West Virginia: Win. The Wildcats will bounce back in this game.
Kansas: Win. The seniors will go out in style with an easy win over their rivals.
Final Record: 8-4 (5-4 Big 12). That would be an improvement over last season and trigger an automatic one-year extension for Klieman, per his contract. It would also beat K-State’s over/under win total of 6.5 for the upcoming season.
But it wouldn’t be good enough for the Wildcats to earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
For that to happen, K-State will need to avoid the losing streak I predicted near the end of the season. Oklahoma State, Texas and Baylor are all swing games. It’s not as if the Wildcats can’t win them. But they will need to win at least two of them to contend for a conference title.
Pulling off an upset at Oklahoma could also be a springboard to bigger things. If the Wildcats win that game, there’s little stopping them from a 7-0 start. On the flip side, if the Wildcats lose to Missouri and Oklahoma, fan excitement could really drop after a 2-2 start.
Next football season could go a lot of different ways. Buckle up.
Don’t forget that road game against TCU!
If you’re looking for the best game to watch, I would spend my money on the road trip to Oklahoma. It’s impossible to know what the Sooners will look like under their new coach, but Chris Klieman owns a winning record against OU. You will want to celebrate a win over Venables live, if it happens.
If you’re just looking for a fun road trip with a football game sprinkled in, I would recommend TCU. The DFW Metroplex is filled with fun stuff to do and great food to eat.
Personally, I am itching to go to Morgantown for that West Virginia game. I haven’t visited those country roads since before the pandemic began. It’s been too long since I’ve tasted Primanti Bros and viewed the majestic hills around WVU.
Larry Brown did something extremely significant after he moved on from Kansas State that no other player in program history can match.
He was named NFL MVP in 1972, played in a Super Bowl and was selected for the Pro Bowl four times.
Now, you may be asking what in the world that has to do with K-State’s Ring of Honor. After all, that honor is supposed to be based on what football players accomplished while they were making plays for the Wildcats, not in the NFL.
But Brown’s pro accomplishments are so impressive that it gave him an edge.
To be fair, Brown was also primarily a blocking back who played in a different era. So it’s not completely fair to compare his stats to Daniel Thomas and John Hubert.
You could make an argument for both Hubert and Thomas, though. Hubert was the most consistent running back you’ll ever see and ranks second all-time behind Darren Sproles in career rushing yardage.
Thomas was essentially a one-man team for two years and still managed to put up 2,850 yards over that time. I think he deserves strong consideration the next time K-State announces a Ring of Honor class.
Chris Klieman is likely finished looking for extra players in the 2022 cycle, but if a hidden gem presents itself on the transfer market or a returning player unexpectedly leaves the team it wouldn’t shock me for the Wildcats to end up adding one more incoming transfer.
Reggie Stubblefield was a very late addition last summer. Something like that could always happen again, though I don’t see any glaring holes on K-State’s roster that need to be addressed like back then.
The Wildcats hit the transfer portal hard in the spring and have already replenished their depth at most positions.
The Tang Gang could use another big min or two AND another guard or two.
Here’s how the roster looks at the moment.
Guards: Markquis Nowell, Cam Carter, Dorian Finister.
Forwards: Ismael Massoud, Taj Manning, Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Jerrell Colbert, David N’Guessan.
It actually seems like guard should be the next recruiting priority. Tomlin, N’Guessan and Massoud can all step outside and play the role of a wing or a stretch four. But the Wildcats need more true backcourt players.
It also doesn’t seem like Tang has found a rim protector yet like he had at Baylor with Flo Thamba. Maybe Colbert is that guy. Or maybe that isn’t a big priority for Tang. The Bears rarely had a traditional, lumbering big man down low. But having at least one big who plays more like a center than a stretch four would be nice.
Bottom line: K-State needs more players of all shapes and sizes.
The Wildcats currently have eight scholarship players on their roster, and that’s simply not enough. They can add five more before the season begins. Realistically, they will probably bring in two or three more.
I expect K-State to take the court at Bramlage Coliseum with 10 or 11 scholarship players next season instead of 13.
How good will the group be?
Whatever they end up looking like, K-State’s incoming players will all have something to prove next season.
Perhaps that is the best way to summarize Tang’s first batch of recruits with the Wildcats. Maybe we could call them the Who? Tang Clan. You know, because it’s going to be a while before casual fans stop asking who all these new players are.
Or not. Whatever. All I’m really trying to say is this is no Dream Team or Fab Five. They all have long-term potential, but it’s probably asking too much of them to make immediate impacts next season. The Big 12 is the best conference in the country. A group of transfers who barely played in other leagues last season and three players who have never played at the Division I level could struggle in the short term.
This story was originally published June 3, 2022 at 10:41 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Game by game football predictions and a year-in-review for the Wildcats."