Strangely for the Friday preceding a season opener, there’s not a ton of football news to share with you this fine morning. However, one wild thing did happen last night that we’ll address before getting to what news there is.
At midnight last night, our friends over at GoPowercat.com suddenly switched teams, in a business sense. Tim Fitzgerald, D. Scott Fritchen, Riley Gates, and the rest of the gang all packed up and moved from Rivals to the CBS-owned 247 network. Obviously, there was a good business reason for their decision, in addition to other factors, and we wish Tim and his crew all the best as they move into a new house.
We usually abstain from comment on our business rivals, and we know from experience that many of our readers have axes to grind with our competitor sites, but we’re going to diverge from that policy a moment... both for personal reasons and in order to serve our readers. In service to that latter cause, we want to alert everyone to some important details.
First, the GoPowercat.com domain still appears, at least for some folks including your benevolent despot, to point to the Rivals site -- now known as KStateOnline and being managed by Jeffrey Martin, the guy who preceded Kellis Robinett as the Wildcat beat writer for the Star and Eagle (who we also wish the best as he embarks on a new journey). This should surely be sorted out soon, but for now it’s an element of confusion that we’re hoping to help address.
Second, those of you who are GPC subscribers need to be aware that your subscriptions are still Yahoo!/Rivals subscriptions, and therefore subscriptions to KStateOnline. If you intend to follow the GPC crew to their new digs, you’ll have to subscribe at 247.
As to the personal reasons, we’d like to make it abundantly clear that in reality these are not so much “rivals” as alternate outlets. This is the internet, and there’s really nothing stopping you, the K-State fan, from reading everything we post, everything they post, everything anyone posts. We’re not telling you to read their site; we’re also not remotely in the business of suggesting you shouldn’t. As a free site, we’re certainly not competing with them for your dollar; as pay sites, we have always done our best to respect their paid content. TB and Tim are friends; I have a good relationship with Tim. There’s never been any intentional conflict between our ventures.
Having said all that: man, that’s some weird timing, yeah? The night before opening day? We’re still trying to wrap our heads around that one, because it’s going to confuse a lot of folks. Between this and K-State’s own web redesign — which also hit today -- coming just a day before football season kicks off, things are in chaos in the Wildcat Webosphere. We hope this helps alleviate some of it.
And now, onto #content.
Previously
Yesterday, BracketCat very nearly completed the arduous annual task of completing the roster countdown. He caught up on the other missed number seven from last week, wide receiver Isaiah Zuber, and checked in with the other number two, all-conference defensive back D.J. Reed. Since there are no number ones on the roster, Bracket would have been finished... but today, look for the sixes: defensive back Johnathan Durham and wideout D.J. Render.
We also provided you with a couple of position previews. JT covered the fullbacks while KSUEMAW parsed through the very unconfusing situation at quarterback.
And finally, a very special edition of Bring on the Podcats features former Wildcat great Nick Leckey and Ringer writer Robert Mays. As you might expect, there’s a lot of discussion about this year’s offensive line, as well as a discussion about how and why Cody Whitehair and B.J. Finney have found success playing out of position in the NFL. It’s good stuff. Go listen.
Later today, expect TB to kick the tires on Central Arkansas at the 10:00 hour, JT to discuss the changes to the Wildcat coaching staff later on, and AMS will hopefully have some commentary on his experiences at this week’s soccer game with Omaha and last night’s volleyball match with Arkansas.
Football
Ken Corbitt at the Capital-Journal profiles TB’s favorite Wildcat and new starting center Adam Holtorf.
At the Star and Eagle, Kellis Robinett reports on the offense’s expectations of being among the nation’s most potent. He also provides his quick-and-dirty game preview and keys to victory.
Basketball
The 2017-18 Big 12 conference schedules have been released for both men’s basketball and women’s basketball. The former features Big Monday against the Jayhawks on January 29, as well as K-State’s first-ever game on New Year’s Day as they host West Virginia. That will be the second conference game of the season, as once again K-State will begin Big 12 play earlier than ever before with a December 29 trip to Iowa State.
The women will start conference play even earlier, with a huge task: a home game against Baylor on December 28.
Volleyball
The Volleycats put forth a great effort last night at Ahearn, but Pilar Victoria was too much to handle as the Wildcats (2-2) fell in five sets to Arkansas, 25-21, 14-25, 23-25, 25-15, 9-15. Victoria, who missed last year due to injury and led the NCAA in kills per match already coming into last night, posted an absurd 34 kills — one shy of her career high -- to go along with 14 digs to lead the Hogs (4-0) to victory.
For the Cats, Bryna Vogel had 11 kills and 14 digs for her first double-double of the season and 23rd of her career, while Arizona transfer Sarah Dixon dug out 10 balls and had 31 assists. Kylee Zumach led the Wildcats with 12 kills, and Alyssa Schultejans added 10.
The K-State Invitational continues today as Syracuse takes on Wisconsin at 10:00 am, followed by Arkansas and Wisconsin at 5:30. The Wildcats close out the evening with a match against Syracuse at 7:30. Saturday, Syracuse and Arkansas meet at 11:00, with K-State facing Wisconsin at 1:30. All matches will air on ESPN3. We understand you might be otherwise distracted on Saturday, but do try to tune in tonight. Remember, volleyball is fun!
Cross Country
The season begins for the Cat Harriers on Saturday as they compete in Wichita State’s JK Gold Invite.