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Yesterday was a slower news day than usual around here, but here's what you might have missed: BracketCat analyzed the depth chart for Week 9, and as always, Luke Thompson and Jon Morse brought you the Tuesday/Wednesday FEPO action, featuring only contests between ranked teams.
No. 9 Kansas State and No. 6 TCU are still in the playoff mix, and we may have identified the source of that unfortunate mixed metaphor "clicking on all cylinders." (Spoiler: it's Jake Waters). One reason for Kansas State's points explosion against Oklahoma State was Morgan Burns and his kickoff return score. Kelly McHugh talks to Burns in this SE feature about embracing a bigger role on the team.
The Dallas Morning News offers a primer of sorts: Five things TCU fans should know about Kansas State.
Jimmy Burch of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram takes note of the large number of walk-ons or former walk-ons on the Wildcats' roster, and Phil Bennett weighs in on how Bill Snyder can field winning teams without ever having a great recruiting class. This walk-on story is getting a lot of play this week.
TCU owes its lofty ranking this season to significant offensive improvement. The team is currently second in FBS in points scored per game, thanks to Trevone Boykin going from borderline to Heisman hopeful.
In case you didn't already know, Kansas State has the roughest road schedule of any Top 10 team this year. If they run that gauntlet, they're almost guaranteed to make the final four, as noted in this piece: 10 things that will decide who makes the playoffs.
The ESPN(blog) crew's Jake Trotter and Max Olson debate TCU and Kansas State in this primer, and if you read between the lines, it looks like they may be leaning purple. (Ha!)
Turnovers and penalties may be the major factor in this game, when one of the country's most potent offenses lines up against a team that does not make a lot of mistakes.
I am linking this College Football Mailbag solely for Stewart Mandel's snarky smackdown of a Michigan State fan who is hurt that Kansas State jumped Sparty in the latest playoff rankings.
Bill Connelly re-projects the playoffs, and his odds don't favor Kansas State at all, especially given the upcoming road schedule. But as we all know by now, the real reason is that Bill C hates us.
Ian Boyd posits that Oklahoma has cracked the Baylor code, and wonders if the Bears can adapt.
In non-Big 12 news, former South Carolina player Marcus Lattimore has announced his retirement from football. He has not played since a horrific knee injury in 2012. His current plan is to return to school to finish his degree while probably collecting on a tax-free $1.7M insurance policy.
The football team's Farmageddon successes in Ames have not trickled down to the volleyball team. The No. 22 Wildcats were swept by Iowa State on Wednesday, their first road loss this season. Kansas State has not won in Ames since 2007, and on a day when the Wildcats made several attack errors and service errors, it was not to be. Up next, the team travels to Austin for a match against No. 5 Texas.