K-State Slate: 9.18.14 - Barn Burner

With the game just hours away, it's hardly a surprise that BotC was just awash with new content yesterday.

Jon Morse's Knowing Your Enemy series concluded with Auburn and an exchange with Walt Austin, the head honcho at College and Magnolia. Jon also answered Walt's questions in this K-State Q&A.

More Auburn-specific content dropped yesterday, with Ian Boyd's must-see analysis of how K-State can upset Auburn, and the mothership's Dan Rubenstein's video preview of the game.

Luke Thompson also previewed the Auburn game with a last-minute guest appearance by new co-host BracketCat in the latest installment of Bring on the Podcast.

Meanwhile, BracketCat's crowdsourced Top 25 Poll still has Oregon at the top and a surprise appearance by North Dakota State too, and Luke and Jon bring you all the Wednesday FEPO action.

Here's your How to Watch post for the Auburn game, with all the information you could possibly need.

If you're not going to Manhattan, you should catch the game at the Granfalloon Watch Party. If you're planning to be at the watch party, please leave a comment to let us know!

USA Today's preview of the game suggests the pitch-catch combo of Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett is as good as advertised. That might be a cause for concern for Auburn, especially with senior safety Jermaine Whitehead not traveling to Manhattan, as reported here by FOXSports.

The eyes of Texas and the world are upon us, according to Chuck Carlton of the Dallas Morning News. A K-State win could be a signature event for the Big 12 this season. The conference has had a few nice wins, but nothing particularly eye-popping.

Big games like this put K-State in the spotlight, and not just for football. This game is also a chance for a group of Wichita-area bluechip players to shine, especially against SEC royalty.

Big12Sports' Wendell Barnhouse previews the game and highlights Snyder's wisdom with this quote: "Thursday night is not a season."

AL.com runs down the key matchups and players to watch for Auburn.

Gus Malzahn apparently learned a few tricks from Bill Snyder way back in the day, and his offensive innovation may owe something to the wizard after all. That may explain the similarity in offense for the two teams. Malzahn hopes this game will be a good measuring stick for Auburn.

Meanwhile, the great old wizard is definitely not ready to ride off into the sunset.

As most of us know (and perhaps lament), Auburn quarterback Nick Marshall nearly came to K-State. He was concerned he'd end up as a defensive back in Manhattan, which makes me wonder if he confused Bill Snyder with Mack Brown. Mostly though, he was concerned about sharing the spotlight with Waters, which will transpire during this game anyway.

Kellis Robinett provides a view from the other sideline for Ryan Black of the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer.

Jake Waters will be the X-factor in this game, thought K-State is expected to only keep it close rather than win.

Other similar predictions include a 31-27 Auburn win from Sportsgeek, a prediction that the game will be all over the place, and probably closer than the line suggests. We're not even going to bother with Matt Millen's 35-7 Auburn win prediction, though we're fond of that scoreline around here.

Aggieville is all set for the Auburn game, with even the Varney's marquee getting in on the action, and in news that surprises nobody, K-State football has a huge impact on local business, especially this weekend, which is also the 'Ville's 125th birthday.

Meanwhile, the K-State Collegian has a whole lot of content on the game. Adam Suderman finds out what they're saying at Auburn, and Tate Steinlage writes a great profile of Snyder: A Seized Opportunity. Steinlage also talks to running back Charles Jones about his patient love of the game, and Austin Earl breaks down the game By the Numbers.

Finally, the ESPN(blog) brings you your Big 12 Morning Links, including the news that Texas quarterback David Ash has decided to hang up his cleats for good.