How to Watch: (17) Kansas State at (8) TCU

Ten times since TCU joined the Big 12, the Cats and Frogs have locked up. Each team has posted a couple of 20-point-plus wins, but more often this game has come right down to the wire; exactly half of the meetings have ended in a one-score win for the victor.

With the relative strengths and weaknesses of these teams, it figures to follow that latter path on Saturday. It’s TCU’s high-flying offense against K-State’s penurious defense... and TCU’s porous defense against K-State’s questionable offense.

In short... if this is going to be a blowout, it’s more likely to end badly for the Cats. But as we’ve seen before, literally anything can happen when these two tangle. And this time, the winner will improve to 4-0 in conference and will take sole possession of the driver’s seat for the Big 12 title.

The Game

The 17th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats (5-1, 3-0 Big 12) visit the 8th-ranked TCU Horned Frogs (6-0, 3-0).

K-State has the edge in the series, 8-7 and 6-4 in the Big 12 era. Once upon a time, TCU was one of the few major teams K-State had a winning record against; the Cats won their initial meeting in 1922 then won the first game in a four-year series in 1983. But the Frogs won every year from 1984-86 to take the lead. The Cats took the first two meetings once TCU joined the league in 2012, but then the Frogs won two, then the Cats won to tie things up, then the Frogs won twice. But K-State has won the last three meetings now.

That, of course, means Chris Klieman is 3-0 against TCU. His opponent, Sonny Dykes, is in his first year at the helm in Fort Worth; he’s never faced K-State as a head coach, although he was an assistant for Mike Leach at Texas Tech from 2000-2006 and we don’t like to talk about Mike Leach at Texas Tech. If you would like to enjoy a little fear heading into the game, Dykes’s last game as offensive coordinator for Tech was the night Minnesota took a 38-7 lead in the third quarter of the 2006 Insight Bowl, and if you don’t know how that turned out ask wildcat00.

Kickoff

Saturday, October 22, 7:00pm CT at Amon G. Carter Stadium (46,000) in Fort Worth, Texas.

Tickets

The game is sold out, but there are plenty of third-party tickets. They start as low as $19, and — except for some idiots who don’t know how to look at existing seat prices who are trying to charge $8K a pop — max out around $130. Median price is around $40.

Weather

We won’t go so far as to say it’s going to be “beautiful” football weather in Fort Worth tomorrow night, but it’s not expected to rain. Temperature at kickoff is projected to be around 85°, and it should slide into the high 70s by the final gun. Cloud cover is expected.

Odds

Per DraftKings, this game is just about even on a neutral field; TCU is favored by 3.5 points. The over is 54.5, which would add up to about a 29-26 win for the Frogs. Oddsshark’s projection, however, is a win for the Cats at 35-30. The money line is -165 for Iowa State, +140 for the Cats.

Television

Look, you can’t have everything. The game will air on FS1, with Tim Brawndo and Spencer Tillman.

Radio

As always, Wyatt Thompson, Stan Weber, and Matt Walters will be on hand on the K-State Sports Network as well as via satellite on SiriusXM 84/SXM App 84.

Internet Streaming

The broadcast feed will also stream on the FOX Sports app. Audio available via kstatesports.com. Live stats provided by Sidearm via K-State Sports... we think. That’s extremely odd considering the game isn’t in Manhattan, but TCU isn’t linking live stats on their own site so it may be accurate.

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