Kansas State at West Virginia: Open Game Thread

It’s rather incredible really, that Kansas State is in this position.

Sure, we all had dreams of making the Big 12 Championship and more, but to actually be in position to claim a spot after some of the twists and turns this season is really awesome. We were riding high after smashing Missouri, then fell hard after losing to Tulane. Then the win over OU, the loss to TCU, the shutout of Oklahoma State, and then the Texas game. It’s been a wild ride, but the Cats have managed to keep their heads above water to be in a good position heading into the final weeks of the season.

But the Cats need to keep winning to keep their spot in the conference championship game. And today’s contest will be no cake-walk, despite West Virginia’s struggles this season.

The Mountaineers sit at 4-6 overall, and 2-5 in Big 12 play. They beat Baylor and OU in Morgantown, and played close in losses to KU and TCU at home. With two games remaining, and two wins needed to reach bowl eligibility, WVU should be extra motivated to try and pull off the upset today.

But things are a mess right now in Morgantown. The AD was just fired, and head coach Neal Brown’s seat is an inferno right now. Plus they might have a QB controversy, with sophomore Garrett Greene coming in to replace the struggling JT Daniels against OU, and ended up leading the team to victory.

But regardless of what’s happening with the team in Morgantown, the Wildcats just need to play their game. Thanks to an injury to Adrian Martinez suffered early against Baylor, Will Howard is the confirmed starter at QB this week in his fourth game of action this season. Howard has allowed the offense to open up during his action, and is K-State is 1-0 in his starts, and 2-1 when he plays a preponderance of the snaps (the lone loss coming at TCU, when he also got hurt and was out for a series). His passing skills and ability to read the defense has improved greatly over his first two season, and now that passing attack has allowed K-State’s other playmakers at running back and receiver to flourish.

In addition to looking to retain firm grasp of second place in the Big 12, the Wildcats are also looking for their fourth conference road win of the season. K-State has won four Big 12 road games just two other times...1998 and 2012. So yeah, this season has been pretty special.

We’ve got a 1:00pm CT kickoff from Milan Puskar Stadium in Morgantown, WV being streamed on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with Mark Neely (Play-by-Play), Barrett Brooks (Analyst), and Tori Petry (Sidelines) on the call. Be sure and check out this week’s How To Watch post for complete details.

If you don’t have ESPN+, the game can be heard across the 38-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst), and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game will also be on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 121 or 200, and available online at K-Statesports.com. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and Twitter updates (@KStateFB) will also be a part of the coverage.

Go Cats!

Hey, are you on Discord? We are now, too! Feel free to join us! (Make sure you click the reaction button on the rules notice though, or you won’t see anything.) We’ll have a game thread there as well!