Let’s play some football!

Thank goodness it’s finally Saturday again.

To be fair, Friday night wasn’t too shabby either. First, much like against Baylor, SMU went toe-to-toe with TCU for the first half, but was ultimately overwhelmed to the score of 33-3. The bigger story was a protest by SMU band members and fans who kneeled during the national anthem, on a day when SMU also honored retiring Dallas Police Chief David Brown (Lisa Salinas, SMU Daily Campus).

Then, in the sort of weirdness we’ve come to expect from #Pac12AfterDark, USC dominated for much of the game, but Utah scored with just 0:14 left to win 31-27. Utes quarterback Troy Williams was playing with a bit of a chip on his shoulder. He grew up minutes from USC’s campus but wasn’t recruited by the Trojans. He had 270 yards and two touchdowns through the air and another on the ground to ice his revenge.

Let’s hope the Wildcats will not need a second-half rally or last minute heroics to put away the Missouri State Bears later today. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:10 PM at Bill Snyder Family Stadium and the game will be streamed live on K-StateHD.tv. You can also listen to live coverage on the radio (WHB; AM 810 or WIBW; AM 580). All this info and more is in AMS’ all-important HOW TO WATCH post.

Wildcat fans, GET HYPE!

Football

The number of the day is....3!

Oh 3! You magical number, you. You are the number of tricycles, blind mice, and little kittens! What a pleasure it is to to count to you. Such a comfort passing through 1, and 2, and getting to you.

It is Game 3 of the 2016 season, and TB kicks off the Missouri State preview content with Kicking the Tires. Kansas State leads the series 3-0 and TB predicts a romp for the Wildcats.

At KC Kingdom, Leigh Oleszczak picks out three things to watch for when Kansas State takes on Missouri State.

From Kellis Robinett, here’s the official three-minute preview of the game, including a wish that Kansas State’s starters will be watching the game from the sidelines in the second half (Kansas City Star).

In the weekly Cat Tracks feature, Ken Corbitt provides a Game 3 primer on Missouri State, noting that the Bears’ Missouri Valley Conference already has three victories over FBS teams this year. Indeed, Bears quarterback Breck Ruddick as quoted as saying “[w]e’re going into this game expecting to win.” (Topeka Capital-Journal)

Speaking of Ruddick, if the Bears do the near-impossible and win this game, it won’t be because of him. Ruddick has been suspended by Missouri State for “conduct detrimental to the team” (including unconfirmed reports that he viciously beat a friend’s dog). He will not return to the team until the situation is resolved. Senior Brodie Lambert will get the start instead (Jim Connell, Springfield News-Leader).

Yesterday, we read of the massive impact of Kansas State athletics on the local economy. But Kansas State football also provides great value, with the lowest cost-per-win average of any team in the Big 12, based on 2014 data. That’s also good enough for fourth-best in the country. Kansas State scored well because of low spending and high revenue relative to a large number of wins (9) that season. In contrast, our cousins on the Kaw has the second highest cost-per-win in the league (Jason Tidd, K-State Collegian).

A separate post for the Missouri State game will be up later. This is your official early game open comment post.

Today’s slate of college football games kicks off at 11 AM CDT. The full schedule of Week 4 games is available HERE.