Oklahoma State Gameday

Football

Kansas State takes on Oklahoma State today at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater. Kickoff is set for 2:30PM and the game will be on ESPN2. Jon Morse has all the details in the HOW TO WATCH post.

This week has been strange, what with reports initially painting Bill Snyder as an aging monarch unwilling to relinquish power to the heir-apparent. Then later, as sanity prevailed, Snyder became the leader who stood on principle in the face of a palace coup of sorts. I suspect the truth is somewhere in the middle, i.e. Snyder does wield more power and influence than any one person at Kansas State should, but equally, as the architect of “the greatest turnaround in college football,” he deserves better than to be railroaded out.

What happens next? Kellis Robinett attempts to unravel the mess in his K-State Q&A.

But never mind all that! There’s a game to play, and some bad news for the Wildcats. Kansas State will take the field today without the services of Dalton Schoen. He broke his collar bone against West Virginia and is probably done for the season.

This season has drawn many comparisons to the 2015 season. That season, in a memory that most have probably suppressed, Kansas State deployed wide receiver Kody Cook at quarterback and nearly pulled off a miraculous win. Let’s hope we get a similar game today, but with a different outcome.

Oklahoma State’s high octane offense poses a serious challenge for Kansas State’s beleaguered defense. Big plays, in particular, have been a huge problem for the Wildcats. On the other hand, the defense has been outstanding in the red zone and is fourth-best in the Big 12 in scoring defense.

Although most of Kansas State’s contests against the Cowboys in Stillwater have come down to the wire, the Wildcats are huge underdogs in today’s game. The line is currently -20, and Snyder hopes his team takes that line personally, and plays hard to prove the oddsmakers wrong.

Basketball

If things look less than rosy for the Wildcats on the turf, at least Kansas State is doing well on the hardwood. The men’s team beat UC-Irvine 71-49 in a game where the defense dominated a squad that has won 20 games a year for five straight seasons.

The Wildcats jumped out to an early 18-4 lead and never really looked back. Kamau Stokes led the team with 14 points while teammate Xavier Sneed had 12.

The women scored an 81-57 win over Florida A&M. Leading by just seven in the fourth quarter, the Wildcats came on strong, running off 12 straight points to cement the lead while holding the Rattlers to just 1-of-12 shooting and only four points in the final quarter.

Freshman Rachel Ranke had 23 points, including 5-of-11 from beyond the arc. Teammates Peyton Williams and Kayla Goth both had double-doubles with Williams getting 12 points and 10 rebounds and Goth—in her first career double-double managed 11 points and 10 assists, along with six rebounds and two steals.

Our own Luke Sobba has more on both games HERE.

Volleyball

It’s the team’s final homestand of the season, and it begins with a match against Oklahoma tonight at Ahearn Field House. First serve is set for 7 PM.

The VolleyCats have already beaten the Sooners this season. In an early contest in Norman, Kansas State won a hard-fought five-set contest over Oklahoma. A win today would be the third straight sweep over the Sooners.