K-State Slate: 7.24.15 - The Friday Wrap

Redshirt defensive tackle Trey Dishon is explosive and multi-talented, having earned first-team league honors as a defensive lineman, tight end, and kicker for Horton High School. He earned all-league honors in basketball, ran track and was the Class 3A championship in powerlifting. He's also #44 on BracketCat's 2015 football roster countdown, despite not actually wearing the #44.

First, Kelly McHugh's Football Friday feature takes a look at key team leaders for the 2015 season.

Second, I alluded to this over the weekend, but the SEC is now the league of excuses (Stewart Mandel, FOXSports). I'm vaguely amused by this league's total inability to handle being in the shade even in the very short term.

Third, some questions about football to ponder as we head into the weekend:

How old is too old to be a head football coach?

In Bill Snyder's case, any concern about his advanced years has always been couched in the most polite terms, usually with questions about when he intends to retire. But ageism in college football is alive and well, at least according to Steve Spurrier. The Head Ball Coach is now 70 and the winningest coach in South Carolina football history. They may even name the field after him in a few years. This is all entirely familiar to Kansas State fans, and yet, concerns over Spurrier's ability to coach at his age are more strident and more frequent than in Snyder's case (Columbia Daily Tribune). Maybe that's because Spurrier feels the need to call a press conference to refute rumors of his imminent retirement and to call out his "enemies" (Peter Berkes, SB Nation). Why does a coach of Spurrier's legendary status even care? One word: recruiting (Bud Elliott, SB Nation).

What did we learn from Big 12 Media Days?

The resounding message still echoing after Big 12 Media Days is this: the conference needs a championship game, despite Bob Bowlsby treading water with the status quo (Jake Trotter, ESPN). Snyder came right out and said as much. Dana Holgorsen did too, noting the conference may not have marquee teams in action on the final Saturday of the season. Bob Stoops thinks 2015 is a critical year for the conference, and if the Big 12 is snubbed a second time, a championship game will happen.

Meanwhile, ESPN's Brandon Chatmon, a sudden favorite among the Wildcat faithful, wraps up Media Days with a bulleted list of big stories: no current plans to expand, TCU and Baylor are both favored to win the conference, and the conference has a bunch of wide-open quarterback battles ahead.

What would Bill Snyder do?

This is really the question new Kansas head coach David Beaty should be asking himself. He's been careful to stay extremely positive, to the extent that he's earned himself a new sobriquet: the human pep talk. But there is no glossing over the size of the mountain Beaty and his program have to climb (Brett Marshall, Garden City Telegram). Just eight seasons removed from an 11-win season and an Orange Bowl win, Kansas is in a historically bad place, easily the worst of the 64 teams in the Power 5. He's not looking to Kansas State for the blueprint, but maybe he should. If anyone knows what Beaty is going through, it's Bill Snyder, circa 1989. If you are too young for those humble beginnings to matter, if you can remember only one thing, remember this: Kansas State was ten times worse than Kansas is now.

How ugly are these alternate uniforms?

By now, you've all seen Nebraska's new alternate uniforms and had a hearty and entirely deserved laugh over them, although the funny thing may be how much Nebraska fans really love these new uniforms. The "N" now stands for Nonsense, clearly.

In the Huskers defense, however, they may just be victims of Adidas' masterplan to ugly up the college sports landscape, one unsuspecting team at a time (Rodger Sherman, SB Nation).

All six golfers on the men's team have advanced to the match play round of the 105th Kansas Amateur at the Wichita Country Club. Matt Green, a rising junior, tied for second after a 7-under-par 135 over two rounds of stroke play. Teammate Hank Simpson is tied for 15th at 1-under par. Match play runs through Sunday.

This went well last week, so we might as well try it again. You can make like Reddit types and #AskMeAnything. Last week's caveat is still in place: I will turn all unanswerable questions over to our Benevolent Despot. You've been warned.