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College football is a weird and wonderful thing. My words aren't always equal to the task of describing what we witness and feel over the course of several hours on a Saturday. This one time, I'm going to let Grantland Rice's words do the heavy lifting instead. He said this about baseball, but I find it perfectly appropriate to college football.
"Play ball!" means something more than runs
Or pitches thudding into gloves!
Remember through the summer suns,
This is the game your country loves.
On the other hand, if you prefer your prose a little less purple and a little bit more on point, I direct you to Rice's journalistic heir, Derek Smith:
@SBNationCFB all of it. like nero with a violin, i thrive in chaos. also, i had a chicken sandwich which was good.
— Derek Smith (@dereksmith) September 20, 2015
What did you, BotC reader, like best about this wacky day of college football?
So. That happened. Kansas State managed to barely escape an ambush from Louisiana Tech and scraped by in triple overtime, 39-33. Jon Morse recaps the game, makes a few keen observations, and draws up a resuscitation plan.
Here's a selection of the other recaps of this near-debacle:
K-State outlasts LA Tech, 39-33 (K-State SID)
K-State prevails in three overtimes (Timothy Everson, K-State Collegian)
Kansas State beats Louisiana in triple overtime (Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle; link includes video)
K-State scores 3-overtime win over Louisiana Tech (Ken Corbitt, Topeka Capital-Journal)
Kansas State tops Louisiana Tech 39-33 in 3OT (Associated Press, via ESPN)
Kansas State tops Louisiana Tech (Patrick T. Walsh, SportsNOLA.com)
La. Tech runs out of magic (Sean Isabella, Shreveport Times)
For most of the game, Kansas State see-sawed between good and bad, and coaching this team to the postseason may well be Bill Snyder's toughest and best coaching job (Bob Lutz, Eagle).
The offense sputtered for much of regulation, especially in the red zone, where the Wildcats were unable to punch it in and settled for field goals. Yet over three overtimes, the offense also demonstrated it could put together a score when desperate. These will be the things that trouble Snyder as he breaks the game down and Kansas State tries to find consistency on offense (Kevin Haskin, Capital-Journal).
Although the defense gave up over 400 yards on the day, the unit stood tall when the game was on the line, with Elijah Lee and Jordan Willis combining for 17 tackles and 5.5 sacks in the game. Lee, in particular, was everywhere and ended the day with career highs in both tackles (12) and sacks (2) (Emilio Rivera, Capital-Journal).
What did the rest of the world make of Kansas State's narrow escape? Well, not much. Brandon Chatmon of ESPN conceded this was an important win for bowl eligibility but was underwhelmed by the offense. He's probably not wrong that, at an inconsistent clip, five yards per play won't make much of a dent in the Big 12.
Hopefully, this is the final word on Bandgate 2015 ever. At halftime of yesterday's game, the Pride of Wildcat Land was awarded the Sudler Trophy, and Dr. Tracz took the opportunity to share the honor with the "literally thousands of students, staff, directors and administrators" (Joe Rodgers, Sporting News)
The volleyball team took another tough loss yesterday, falling in five hard-fought sets to Arkansas at the Creighton Classic in Omaha. This is the first back-to-back non-conference losses for K-State since 2011. The Wildcats struggled throughout and never managed better than .200 hitting percentage. The team also had 30 attack errors and was outhit by Arkansas in every set but the first. The lone bright spot was Brooke Sassin, who had a career-high 22 kills in the match and also had a season-high 68 swings. Her 16 digs scored Sassin her fifth consecutive double-double, and she now leads the team with eight.