Baylor Gameday

Football

Kansas State takes on Baylor today. On the line is bowl eligibility, Bill Snyder’s 199th win, and a chance to finally get this particular monkey off our collective backs.

Kickoff is scheduled for 11 AM, and the game will air on ESPN2. For more details, please consult the all-important HOW TO WATCH post, courtesy of AMS.

For all your other viewing needs this Saturday, here’s Jon Morse with the Week 12 College Football TV/Streaming Schedule.

What can we expect from the game today? In Kicking the Tires, TB suggests that Baylor is down but still dangerous. He predicts a narrow Kansas State victory, but anything could happen.

In this week’s K-State Q&A, Kellis Robinett thinks Kansas State could put an early stamp on the game by doing a thing the Wildcats rarely do when winning the toss: elect to receive and score early to put Baylor on the defensive.

Baylor will be without the services of quarterback Seth Russell, but this is no real advantage for Kansas State. Fans might recall that the Wildcats faced first-time starter Jarrett Stidham last year in Manhattan, and he went on to pass for 419 yards and three touchdowns. While true freshman Zach Smith may not be quite at the same level, with Shock Linwood back on the field, Baylor is still very dangerous (Ken Corbitt, Topeka Capital-Journal).

It is Senior Day in Waco today, and this Baylor senior class, off-field issues notwithstanding, is probably the most successful in history. With this group, the Bears have gone 38-10 overall and won two Big 12 titles. Baylor fans are struggling to make sense of a number of things right now, but saying a respectful goodbye to some great student-athletes should be an easy ask (John Morris, Bears Extra).

Kansas State may not be winning the league on the field, but in the classroom, the Wildcats are once again leading the Big 12. For the third straight year, Kansas State has more players on the Academic All-Big 12 roster than any other team in the conference. This year, a total of 29 players, including 18 on the first-team, will be honored by the Big 12. Kansas State also had two players posting perfect GPAs: Zach Reuter (biochemistry) and Matt Seiwert (agribusiness).

Miscellany

The NCAA’s legal woes have mostly stayed under the radar this year, but that could change in a hurry. Northwestern point guard Johnnie Vassar is suing the NCAA in federal court in Illinois alleging that the NCAA bylaws which require players to sit out a year following a transfer are anti-competitive and violate federal antitrust laws. He also alleges severe harassment by Northwestern coaching staff. Dan Werly of The White Bronco has more at Off Tackle Empire.

In other news, Nebraska always ruins everything. Maybe motivated by a desire to distance Big Red from Bo Pelini, Nebraska has disavowed The Broken Chair Trophy, an Internet meme that turned into an actual trophy Nebraska actually exchanged with Minnesota. For its part, Minnesota is also pretending the trophy never existed. In other words, both schools are trying to take the fun out of college football, and that should never happen. So naturally, there’s a petition to save it and you should sign if you love college football and fun, and also just really want to stick it to Nebraska: Save the $5 Bits of Broken Chair Trophy. (The petition was started yesterday afternoon and already has over 600 signatures).

Finally, and most importantly, many congratulations to KSUEMAW! and PurpleBrunette on the newest addition to the Wildcat family. Welcome to the world, Baby PurpleEMAW!