Slate: K-State unveils alternate jerseys

Yesterday was the Big 12 coaches’ teleconference, but most of the talk around K-State seems to be about the laundry. For the first time in the Klieman era (and, really, the first serious time since He-Who-is-not-Mentioned trotted out the Barney the Dinosaur all-purple look) K-State will wear alternate jerseys in Saturday’s home conference opener against Baylor.

The look chosen for the new alternate jerseys is more subdued than the “bold and daring” head-to-toe purple, substituting white for the traditional silver on both the helmets and pants, with striping and mini Powercats incorporated into the design and a script “Cats” emblazoned on the front of the helmet. Though the team on rare occasion wore subtly altered gear during the Snyder regime, such as the camo helmets they sported on Ft. Riley Day in 2016, consistency and the classic look was the rule.

This is a much more wholesale change, and the players seem to love it, as you can see in video posted by the Mercury. Now, let’s hope the excitement about the alternate jerseys spawns an alternate performance on the field.

With the fashion review complete, there is a game to discuss. Baylor comes to Manhattan fresh off its late-game field goal win over Iowa State. This will be the first of three straight home games for the Cats, a rarity during conference play that perhaps offsets the annoying regularity with which K-State has started league play on the road. Though it’s October, this week will mark the first time Baylor has traveled beyond the borders of Texas this season. Kellis Robinett previews the game with his weekly “5 things” article, one of which is finding a way to move the ball with a depleted receiving corps.

To finish the postmortem on the Oklahoma State loss, the Eagle’s film study this week focuses on the poor performance of the offense.

In other sports news, Bruce Weber and the men’s basketball team again discussed the importance of “championship DNA” as they build new expectations without the services of four-year stalwarts Dean Wade, Kamau Stokes and Barry Brown Jr. The phrase that has become a buzzword for the program actually originated from the coach of last year’s co-champion, Texas Tech’s Chris Beard. The team has also adopted “culture of effort” as a mantra, and outworking the competition will be important as the ‘Cats compete in the Big 12.

Finally, the athletic department brings us the story of 2015 cross-country and track alumnus Laura Galvan, who believed her running career was behind her, but has since returned to the track to win a trio of gold medals in the 5,000-meter run, including a win at the Pan American Games in Lima, Peru. Galvan hopes to represent her home country of Mexico in the 2020 Olympics.