K-State Q&A: Why (and why not) a Big 12 championship could be in store for Wildcats
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
We have loads of great topics on deck this week, so let’s dive right into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
Give us two reasons why K-State football will win the Big 12. Give us two reasons why K-State football will not win the Big 12. -@bfullingt1 via X.
If the Wildcats win another conference championship this season it will be because ...
1. Avery Johnson is as good as advertised. When we saw him play last season he was a touchdown machine against Texas Tech and a bowl MVP against North Carolina State. He also didn’t throw a single interception as a freshman. If success continues to come easily for him, there’s no reason why the Wildcats can’t hoist another trophy in Arlington.
2. K-State beats its primary rivals. Now that Oklahoma and Texas are in the SEC there aren’t a bunch of daunting games on the schedule. The hardest ones could be Oklahoma State, Kansas and at Iowa State. Go figure that the Big 12 expanded to 16 members and the best teams all used to call the Big Eight home. The Cowboys and Cyclones beat the Wildcats last season. The Jayhawks were a dropped pick six away from doing the same. If K-State handles those opponents better this season, there is nothing stopping Chris Klieman’s team from finishing atop of the league standings.
If the Wildcats fail to win another conference championship this season it will be because ...
1. Chris Klieman keeps losing as a favorite. The Wildcats have lost at least one game as a favorite in every season since Klieman took over as the team’s head coach. It happened three times last season (Missouri, Oklahoma State, Iowa State) and then once in every other year —Tulane (2022), Baylor (2021), Arkansas State (2020) and West Virginia (2019). That’s not a great omen for K-State, considering it might be a favorite in all of its games this season.
2. The offense experiences growing pains. The best teams in college football usually feature continuity at head coach, offensive coordinator and starting quarterback. That won’t be the case this year with Conor Riley taking over as OC and Johnson moving into the role of QB1. If this group requires time to jell then a few losses could be in store.
Another obvious thing that could slow down the Wildcats: Injuries. If the wrong players go down then a Big 12 championship will be much harder to get.
Which freshman will make a name for himself this year? What non-freshman player that didn’t play much last year will make a name for himself? -@ChadFullington via X.
The name Donovan McIntosh began flashing on my radar last week when teammate Jordan Riley let it be known that the freshman cornerback is averaging two interceptions per practice during training camp. Me thinks there is some hyperbole in his stat keeping. Nevertheless, that got my attention.
McIntosh is a 6-foot-3 playmaker from St. Louis who looks a lot like Julius Brents in terms of his frame. Tall, long, athletic cornerbacks are hard to throw against, and that is exactly what McIntosh is. I’m eager to see if he can grab picks when the real games begin.
I also have my eye on Chiddi Obiazor, Wesley Fair and Jack Fabris.
As for breakout candidates who aren’t freshmen, I really like Damian Ilalio at defensive tackle. He should split time with Uso Seumalo in the middle of K-State’s line and make some great plays as a run-stopper. On offense, I like Sterling Lockett to make plays as both a returner and a wide receiver.
What is the wildest plausible storyline for K-State football this year? -@garretts_myth via X.
Would it really surprise anyone if a scout for a talent agency sees Avery Johnson driving around town in his lavender corvette and convinces the talented quarterback to give up his football career and become an actor/model?
He is ready to star alongside Patrick Mahomes and Troy Polamalu right now in a Head & Shoulders commercial. With a little training he could star in a sitcom and then move up to the big screen.
There’s no reason why he can’t become the next Ashton Kutcher, Josh Duhamel or Brad Pitt.
If this happens before the season begins later this month that will put considerable strain on backup quarterbacks Ta’Quan Roberson and Jacob Knuth to win games.
OK, fine, that happening within the next few weeks probably isn’t all that plausible.
But I could see Johnson flirt with the school’s single-season record for passing touchdowns. It also wouldn’t surprise me if Marques Sigle challenges the school’s single-season record for interceptions.
I’m also holding out hope that something zany happens when Sean Snyder is on the Oklahoma State sideline for a game at his father’s stadium.
If K-State gets a home playoff game, will K-State only get 50% of the ticket allotment? -@ksucats32 via X.
First off, I just want to commend you for the confidence you have in the Wildcats this season.
We haven’t seen a single game of college football yet, and you want to know how tickets will work for a home playoff game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Kudos!
Sadly, I don’t know how many tickets will be reserved for visiting fans at any stadium. But I feel confident in saying that there won’t be an even split like you see at bowl games. The home game is supposed to be a reward for the best seeds, so I assume the vast majority of tickets will go to the home team and its fans.
Maybe the visiting team will get more than usual. But nothing near 25,000. At K-State, perhaps that means the visiting section will expand a bit beyond the usual space behind the south goalpost. But not by much. The guess here is that visiting teams would only get something like 3,000 tickets for a playoff game.
In other words, if K-State does host a playoff game this season, expect a lot of purple in the stands.
I would love to see GameDay come to Manhattan in the very near future. Is week 9 (K-State vs. little brother) our best opportunity? Alabama/Missouri, OU/Ole Miss is the same weekend. - Chase T. via e-mail.
It’s too bad that K-State hosts Arizona on a weekday this season. There isn’t a ton of competition for top 25 games in Week 3 and if both of these Wildcats start undefeated it could be a good enough matchup to consider GameDay attention. But it’s not a Saturday game, so it can be thrown out.
K-State vs. Oklahoma State is the best home game on the schedule, but Alabama and Georgia play on that same day. So I’m guessing GameDay will go to the SEC instead.
The Sunflower Showdown could also be a candidate, but only if both teams are really good. And history tells us these rivals very rarely meet when they are both ranked in the top 25.
Will Howard was named the starting quarterback at Ohio State yesterday. Thoughts? - Jeff M. via e-mail.
I’m happy for him.
Howard found himself in an awkward situation at the end of last season. He was good enough to return to K-State and to continue starting for the Wildcats, but that isn’t what any of the fans wanted.
This is Avery Johnson’s time to shine. Like it or not, Howard needed to get out of the way. Credit him for being wise enough to move on. I’m glad things seem to be working out at his new school.
I’m sure some fans would have preferred he made the jump to the NFL so they wouldn’t have to see him play in college football anymore or now listen to him tell the world how much more talented he thinks the roster is at Ohio State.
But what is he supposed to say?
It’s great being the quarterback for Ohio State and all, but let me tell you, this place has got nothing on K-State.
Somehow, I don’t think Buckeyes fans would love that.
Quarterbacks switching teams is becoming the new norm. It’s very similar to when Adrian Martinez left Nebraska for K-State.
The only difference is Howard had a lot more success with the Wildcats than Martinez did with the Huskers. Howard won a Big 12 championship in Manhattan and he led the Wildcats to some memorable victories. For those reasons, I think K-State fans will watch him from afar with a curious eye.
I enjoyed getting to know Howard over the past four seasons and wish him the best moving forward.
That being said, I do wonder how he will handle a bigger spotlight at Ohio State. He seemed overly sensitive to criticism when things weren’t going great at K-State. The noise is going to be much louder if he has a bad game this year.
This story was originally published August 16, 2024 at 10:06 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Why (and why not) a Big 12 championship could be in store for Wildcats."