Kansas State takes on Arizona tonight in Tucson in its final non-conference game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 8 PM CT, and the game will air on FOX. As usual, these details and more are available in the official How To Watch post, courtesy of Jon Morse.
Yes, this is a non-con game. Yes, it’s on Friday night. No, I don’t know why K-State specifically is being thwarted by the scheduling gods, nor why Vegas has anointed Kansas State the narrow favorite in this one.
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The Wildcats (us, not them) have rounded into their usual inconsistent midseason form early this year, dropping the Iowa State game in Ireland, almost losing to UND, and then getting road graded by Army. All questions fans have about the team and the coaching are a priori valid right now.
Head coach Chris Klieman believes the team will bounce back, and while that can be hard to see from a fan perspective, it’s also true that Kansas State barely lost those two games. What is perhaps more concerning is how those games were lost, and if the coaching staff cannot address some of the game-time decision making, it’s going to be a long season in Manhattan. For their part, the players are focused on team unity and swagger, playing to win rather than to not lose. Let’s hope that’s the remedy for what ails this team right now.
Mercifully, K-State gets a bye after this game and a chance to right the ship. Otherwise, it’s almost certain that the team is not going to make it to a bowl game or extend its streak of 9-win seasons.
Last season, a big win over Arizona helped put K-State into the playoff conversation briefly. But the Wildcats (them, not us) are notably better this year, with junior QB Noah Fifita already over 500 yards passing in just two games. Arizona is also running the ball better this year, so the offense is unlikely to stall out the way it did against the purple Wildcats last year.
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Point of interest: thanks to the vagaries of the transfer portal, each Wildcat team in this game has an ex-Wildcat on the roster. K-State DB Gunner Maldonado was with Arizona last season, and former K-State WR Tre Spivey is now with Arizona.
The game won’t be on for hours and hours, so feel free to turn the comments section into a classic BotC Friday free-for-all. As you will.
Go Cats!
