K-State Slate

Is college football crazy or what?

With no football game yesterday, we give the non-revenue sports a moment in the fall sun.

By wildcat00@roh_tweets Nov 1, 2015, 12:17pm CST

Joel Lanning is the real deal as Texas learned the hard way.

College football, man.

There are basically four types of fans in college football. On any given day, every fandom falls into one of these categories, depending on ability, execution and the sort of sheer WTF-ery that makes college football the most compelling sport ever. (Yes, I said ever. Fight me).

Category #1: Isn't college football grand?

Ask any Iowa State fan today just how it feels to win a game that nobody expected to win. Ask those fans how it feels to shut out Texas, a team that is considered superior in every sense of the term. Ask them what it feels like to finally have a quarterback who can execute, an offense that can score points when needed. You might not get an answer because those fans will be far too drunk with the euphoria of victory to fully process the question. Then again, these are Iowa State fans, so they're probably just too drunk, period.

Category #2: College football sucks.

Nebraska fans are hurting, and while dancing on Big Red's grave will never get old, there's something achingly sad about a fanbase that now thinks nine wins a season is the pinnacle of achievement. Then again, that's something they have in common with Texas now, and if the irony of that doesn't make you laugh out loud, you're obviously not a Big 12 fan.

Category #3: I'm just glad we didn't play today.

Ohio State's starting quarterback J.T. Barrett was cited for DUI on Friday night, and subsequently suspended for a game. I'm sure Buckeye fans are glad their team didn't even take the field yesterday and thereby avoided getting swept in yesterday's shenanigans. Then again, it's not like the backup quarterback wasn't a previous starter who won a national championship or anything.

Meanwhile, Kansas State fans are just relieved their team didn't somehow manage to lose to BYE.

Category #4: College football is the only thing that can duplicate the unfettered joy of taking flight and the abject terror of falling off a cliff, all the in space of two seconds.

Ok, so this isn't an actual category so much as a summary of every Minnesota fan's state of mind last night. And this morning. And every Sunday morning going back to at least 2003. Why does this keep happening? I don't know, but maybe we should ask some Washington State fans how they feel about it all this morning.

Technically, there's a fifth category of fans, those who have crossed over from grief to indifference because the number in the "W" column is still zero. We salute you, Kansas fans. You have discovered the bliss of not caring at all.

The Big 12 cross country championships concluded in Stillwater yesterday. Kansas State posted solid--if slightly underwhelming--results, with the men's team finishing in sixth and the women's team in seventh place. Both results were an improvement over expectation, and in fact, the men's finish was the best performance for the team since 1998. In the individual contest, Morgan Wedekind finished a respectable 10th with a 21:09.7 time. Colton Donahue finished 16th, the highest individual place for the men's team since 2004. Oklahoma State won the men's and women's team events, and Vegard Oelstad took first on the individual side for the Pokes, while the women's individual best was Iowa State's Perez Rotich.

Kansas State's riders stayed even for much of the contest and tied for 9-all, but ultimately lost to third-ranked Baylor in the head-to-head portion of the match. The Wildcats won in the Western portion, but lost in Hunt Seat, and are now 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in the Big 12. Next up, the team will ride against No. 7 TCU at Timbercreek Stables on Friday, November 13.

The VolleyCats needed four sets, but they ultimately staved off a stiff challenge and beat TCU (25-23, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22) last night in Ahearn Field House.

This is Kansas State's fifth win in six matches, and they did it on the strength of solid defense, holding TCU to just a .202 attack percentage despite being outblocked 14-9.

Kersten Kober had a team-high 25 digs and was matched in double digits by Bryna Vogel (17), Katie Brand (13), Brooke Sassin (11), and Devan Fairfield (10). Kansas State also had more kills than TCU, with Sassin leading the team with 15, while Alyssa Schultejans had 13.

The Wildcats are now tied for fourth in the conference with TCU, and will take on Texas Tech next Friday in Ahearn.