As a reminder, don't miss BracketCat's excellent position previews. Also, be sure to check out SB Nation's UCLA blog, Bruins Nation, for everything you need to know about UCLA heading into Saturday's game.
Football
As mentioned yesterday, Carson Coffman has won the starting QB job going into this season. The news seemed to be met with a collective "let's hope he's better this year" reaction from K-State fans. We all know the old cliche that the backup quarterback(s) is the most popular player on campus, so I guess at this point you have to assume that either a) Coffman has improved significantly, or b) nobody else has practiced as well as he has, or c) both.
It's been touched on many times, but with the losses at wide receiver from last year, the new guys need to step up. The biggest names among the new guys are undoubtedly Chris Harper and Brodrick Smith.
Kevin Haskin uses a line I've often used on here to defend K-State's scheduling practices under Bill Snyder: there's no incentive to schedule difficult teams. Maybe if there was, more teams would do so, but I see no tangible reward for a building program to schedule tough non-conference games. Now, maybe an established program should schedule one of those games every year, but when the goal is mere bowl eligibility, wins are the name of the game.
If I thought the tide was turning yesterday with regard to the preseason expectations for K-State, Sam Mellinger initiated a tidal wave of change today when he said 6-6 should be considered a letdown for K-State. I don't buy that, this team still has major questions along the defensive "front seven" (really front six in our scheme), and I have doubts regarding whether we can stop the run consistently and get pressure on the opposing quarterback. Those are significant concerns. Even with an improved offense, we're still going to need to shorten the game to protect our defense. When the defense returns, then I may start to come around to 8-4 type predictions, but not just yet.
Other
If you're big on Xs and Os, don't miss these two posts from Bruins Nation about UCLA's new "revolver" offense.
Mizzou tailback Derrick Washington was officially charged with sexual assault yesterday.
And just in case anyone forgot, Bo Pelini is still kind of a dick. (h/t Barking Carnival)