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Still stinging from a humiliating defeat last week at the hands of your almost-Big 12 champion Iowa State Cyclones (who technically just need West Virginia to lose either of its two remaining games to clinch first place thanks to a heavy tiebreaker advantage), Kansas State will try to regroup and use an old nemesis to snap a three-game losing streak. A win would secure at least a .500 season and put K-State in position to at least claim fourth place in the conference next week. A loss, and what was once a promising season continues to experience the Coriolis Effect.
The Game
K-State (4-4, 4-3 Big 12) visits the Baylor Bears (1-5, 1-5).
Baylor has, of course, been a thorn in K-State’s side ever since the Big 12 converted to round-robin play. The Bears have won seven of ten games since the 2010 season, and famously destroyed K-State’s best shot at a national championship in 2012. The Wildcats do still lead the all-time series 9-8 even with Baylor’s 2010s success, but the series is tied 8-8 since the Big 12 commenced operations.
Of course, on paper K-State should have the upper hand tonight. Baylor is not a good football team this year, although they’re better than their record would indicate. Three of their five losses have been one-score affairs, including a touchdown loss to Iowa State and a one-point heartbreaker two weeks ago at Texas Tech. They also stayed within two scores of Texas and TCU, so they’re not Kansas.
Depending on how healthy and motivated K-State is tonight, this could be a bounce-back win... or yet another painful three-plus hours.
Odds
Vegas really expects the latter. K-State opened as a 4.5-point underdog, and the line’s widened to +5.5 over the week. With the total at 45, Vegas expects the Bears to prevail within a point of 26-20. Odds Shark is even slightly more pessimistic, projecting a push on the over and a Baylor cover at 26-19.
Kickoff
Saturday, November 28 at 6:00 CT, McLane Stadium (45,140) in Waco, Texas.
Tickets
Reduced capacity and social distancing remain in place. If you’d like to hang out with human beings, there are a handful of seats available on the secondary market, ranging from $34-$144 and averaging $57. They’re scattered all over McLane except for the area behind Baylor’s bench.
Television
ESPN2 will carry the contest with Jason Benetti, Andre Ware, and Ian Fitzsimmons on the call.
Radio
K-State Sports Network, with Wyatt Thompson, Stan Weber, and Matt Walters; also available on Sirius 121/XM 385/Internet 975.
Online
Official video stream through WatchESPN. The radio broadcast can also be heard via the TuneIn app. There is no information regarding live stats, which are Baylor’s responsibility as the home team. If you’ve cut the cord and are looking for a full streaming option, fuboTV is now carrying every major cable network which has football in keeping with their sports-centric business model.
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