Kansas State could substantially upgrade their bowl game with a win against the #17 ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys. This is, of course, assuming that the Wildcats win at least one game at either Colorado or North Texas. The Cats are coming off a hard-fought loss at Baylor, a game many expected them to lose anyway. The Cowboys are coming off a loss at home to Nebraska. Both teams head into this weekend’s match-up with something to prove.
The Wildcat defense will be tasked with keeping the Cats in the game against another high-powered offense. The Cowboys are ranked third in the nation in passing offense. However, the biggest story coming into this game is that the Cowboys will be missing a key component of their offense, wide receiver Justin Blackmon due to a misdemeanor DUI arrest. Blackmon leads the nation in receiving yards and touchdowns and has accounted for 14 of quarterback Brandon Weeden’s 21 touchdown passes this year. The burden to fill shoes of Blackmon in the passing game will fall on receivers Josh Cooper and Joseph Randle.
The inability to stop the run has been the story of the year for the K-State defense. The Wildcats are giving up an average of 230 rushing yards per game–second-worst in the nation. The struggling defense will face an uphill battle with Kendall Hunter, the nation’s third-leading rusher, coming to town. With Blackmon out for the game, the Cowboys will likely give additional carries to Hunter, testing once again the ability of the Wildcats rush defense to stop big plays in the running game. The task will be a little easier for the Wildcats in that they do not face a mobile quarterback with Weeden. Mobile quarterbacks have spelled doom for K-State all year. For what it’s worth, the Wildcats are 3-0 against teams with less-mobile quarterbacks. On the other hand, the Wildcats are 2-2 against teams with mobile quarterbacks with the two wins being nailbiters against Iowa State and UCF.
A positive thing to take from the Baylor loss was the Wildcat’s ability to hang with Baylor and put points on the board. Daniel Thomas threw a long touchdown pass out of a pitch from Carson Coffman and could add another dimension to the Wildcats offense moving forward. Coffman will have to get everyone involved the passing game like he did against Baylor, hitting six different receivers. Tramaine Thompson will be out for this game after an injury sustained in the Baylor game. Details have not been released. The Wildcats are already thin at wide receiver with the loss of Brodrick Smith, so Chris Harper and Adrian Hilburn will see action for most of the game. The weakest link on the Cowboys team is pass defense, ranked 115th nationally, so look for the Wildcats to test them through the air.
There is an opportunity in this game for Kansas State to exploit Oklahoma State on special teams. The Wildcats lead the nation in kickoff return average, while the Cowboys are second-to-last in kickoff return defense. William Powell broke a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown last week against Baylor, finally ending the scoreless drought on kickoff returns, even though the Wildcats seemed so close to breaking one so many times.
The Wildcats will have to keep this game in the 30s or lower if they expect to have a chance to win. Even though their star receiver is out for the game, the Cowboys will still break some big plays and should be very productive on offense. The Wildcat offense will have to limit the three-and-outs and keep the Cowboys offense off the field by sustaining long drives to keep the score down. The Wildcat offense will probably not be able to match the Cowboys touchdown for touchdown, so if the special teams or defense can come through with a score, the Wildcats may have a chance to pull off the upset.
