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Friday begins, and there sure seem to be a lot of stories this week from places south of the Red River which contain the words "We Own Texas". It's almost as though folks in the Lone Star State are getting mighty tired of losing to those pesky purple pumas from the Little Apple.
And now that we're all locked into the psychological state necessary for tomorrow, let's get on with the links.
There was action yesterday. The newly-wedded BotC Minister of Publicity, the esteemed Curtis Kitchen, returned to our fair pixellated shores with a look at what's changed during Bill Snyder's second run and asks how much longer it can last before more change is needed.
In war news: your benevolent despot personally interrogated a captured enemy propagandist with a Barking Carnival passport, attempting to determine what foul plans the hated Longhorns may have for our valiant Wildcats. Meanwhile, Luke also questioned a Barking Carnival spy, and recordings of that session have become public.
Finally, feel free to make use of your Thursday/Friday TV schedule, although if we're honest we all know what you're watching tonight.
(Go Royals.)
The Star's Blair Kerkhoff drops a quick preview of the weekend's biggest games, and picks the Wildcats to win. Kellis Robinett also has a very brief preview (picking Texas to win by a field goal), and he also profiles the newest Wildcat star, freshman cornerback Duke Shelley.
Over at the Capital-Journal, Ken Corbitt writes that K-State is looking to do a 180 this week, and also writes that Bill Snyder is blaming execution rather than play-calling for Saturday's fiasco. It seems odd to blame the players for failing to execute a game plan when you actually prepare them for a different one, but okay.
Meanwhile, the C-J's Kevin Haskin writes about K-State beating Oklahoma -- the 19-14 win in Norman engineered by Lynn Dickey back on October 24, 1970.
K-State Sports offers a video profile of linebacker Will Davis.
At the Collegian, our pal Andrew Hammond says the Longhorns are looking for revenge.
Pete Fiutak of Campus Insiders previews the game, and predicts a 26-20 Longhorn win.
The UT Daily Texan has, of course, been busy. Nick Castillo leads his preview with the "We Own Texas" drill, and calls K-State kryptonite. Jori Epstein insists Texas has to maintain their focus to get through Saturday. And Ezra Siegel says that Texas needs to exorcise some demons, and included quotes make it clear: there's a lot of respect for the Wildcat program down in Austin.
Cedric Golden at the Austin American-Statesman warns Texas fans that they've got more in common with us than they think, and they'd better not be overlooking the Wildcats. (We're pretty sure no Texas fan overlooks the Wildcats, and this is really just another example of how the mainstream media sometimes doesn't seem to comprehend what's going on around them.)
Then again, all of this may be irrelevant. Phil Prazan of Austin NBC affiliate KXAN writes that there's actually a possibility the game will be postponed, as Hurricane Patricia steams into Puerto Vallarta today pushing massive rain fronts ahead of her. Inches upon inches of rain are expected Saturday, and flash flood watch has already been issued for the Austin area, extending through Sunday. If you are going to the game, be advised: umbrellas are not allowed in DKR, so be sure to take a rain poncho or something similar.
Scott Phillips of NBC Sports previews the Big 12. He's picking the Wildcats to finish ninth, but acknowledges that the massive turnover in the offseason may not be a bad thing.
Today through Sunday a the Roger Knapp Tennis Center in some place called "Des Moines", wherever that is, Millie Stretton, Maria Panaite, and Livia Cirnu will represent the Wildcats at the Drake Jamboree. Each player will compete in four singles matches over the three days. Draws have not yet been released. Illinois State, Iowa, and Iowa State will join the Wildcats and the host Drake Bulldogs.
The men wrap up their fall schedule with an early-week trip to Greensboro, N.C., for the Bridgestone Golf Collegiate at Grandover Resort's East course. They'll play 36 Monday and 18 Tuesday. Jeremy Gandon, Kyle Weldon, Oscar Spalander, and Matt Green will be joined by Dodge City CC transfer Jack Rickabaugh, making his first tournament appearance as a Wildcat. The event, hosted by UNC-Greensboro, will also feature golfers from Davidson, Georgia State, Iowa State, Mercer, Northwestern, North Carolina, Purdue, South Alabama, UT-Chattanooga, Virginia Commonwealth, and Virginia Tech.
It doesn't directly impact us (although it should, ahem), but it is a Big 12 matter so we'll report it. The Big 12, which has since realignment simply named the conference's regular season champions as the conference champions in softball, will reinstate the conference tournament beginning in 2017. The tournament was dropped because the conference only has seven softball schools, but they've decided to go ahead and have a six-team tournament anyway. The tournament is noteworthy in Big 12 history; despite the Big 8 and Southwest Conferences still existing during the 1996 season, the conference inaugurated itself by holding a post-season tournament that year.