K-State Slate: 9.14.14 - Big 12 wins big

If it was not obvious before, it should be now. The Big 12 can play with anybody.

First, in the day's early slate of games, the conference went 3-0 against the Big Ten. West Virginia beat Maryland in a game that was not as close as the 40-37 scoreline suggests. Clink Trickett had a banner day, passing for over 500 yards and four touchdowns.

Iowa State finally won a game, and what a game it was! They beat hated in-state rival Iowa with a 42-yard field goal from Cole Netten at the end of the game. That field goal came after a Cyclones miss, but that one did not count, because of the world's clumsiest attempt to ice the kicker ever. The answer to the age-old question, Who Hates Iowa? Iowa hates Iowa. (The comments section at BHGP is gold, absolute 24K stuff).

TCU served notice that the Horned Frogs are back to their pre-2013 form with a sound thrashing of Minnesota. The game was solidly in the win column by the end of the first quarter, thanks to a couple of nifty catches Josh Doctson and TCU's typically fast defense, but the hapless Gophers helped TCU to a big win with five turnovers and almost no offensive production.

In the evening games, Oklahoma's defense showed SEC speed in putting Tennessee away, including holding the Vols to -11 yards rushing in the first half. I'm reluctant to read too much into the win, because Tennessee was young and not spectactular, but Oklahoma did nothing to lose its place at the top of the conference power rankings.

Texas fought hard and played better than against BYU, but could not hold off UCLA at the end, especially after new Bruins quarterback Jerry Neuheisel (yes, that Neuheisel) sparked the offense to a game-sealing touchdown.

Oklahoma State took care of business against UTSA, rolling to victory behind a stout defensive performance, holding the Roadrunners to just 206 total yards. Meep, meep.

Texas Tech might be in trouble. In a blowout loss to Arkansas, the Red Raiders allowed 438 rushing yards and were held to a season-low 252 yards through the air.

The other sour note of the day was struck by Kansas. In a match-up that makes more sense for March, Duke won in a romp, on a day when the KU offense looked exactly like the tire fire we all expected.

Now that the bar has been set fairly high, all eyes will be on K-State for the Must-See game against Auburn. Expectations and implications are running high for this unique event, but in a total lack of DISRESPECT, even Dennis Dodd thinks the Wildcats have a shot.

AthlonSports wonders if the seven-year gap between the two Auburn-K-State games is a bad thing, especially since Auburn had absolutely no reason to expect a good K-State team in 2014.

A bye week for K-State football seemed like the best time for K-State basketball to make a bit of noise. Dante Williams, a center from Arlington, Texas, has committed to K-State and is the fourth player in the 2015 class. Rivals rates him a three-star player.

Also, official game times have been released, including for the non-conference games.

With the seventh consecutive win of the season, the volleyball team won the Saluki Invitational, with Kylee Zumach and Brooke Sassin leading the team in kills. The team returns to Ahearn Fieldhouse to take on South Dakota State.