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First things first, news: kickoff time for Saturday’s matchup with Texas in Austin has been set for 2:30pm CT, and the game will air on flagship ESPN. That means a high-profile mid-afternoon spotlight on your Kansas State Wildcats, who achieved bowl eligibility earlier this year than in any season since 2014. The athletic department welcomes you to get your bowl ticket order in right away.
That was the year K-State entered November as a top-ten team after suffering only a loss to Auburn. Not coincidentally, perhaps, that was also the last year K-State beat Oklahoma. HMMM.
The Cats moved up in both polls yesterday. In the AP poll, K-State moved up to #20 from #22, and the coaches moved the Cats up to #22 from #25. And let’s give a shoutout to the American Athletic Conference, which — thanks to Navy sneaking in at #25 in both polls — now has more teams ranked than the ACC, Pac-12, and... umm.. the Big 12. Oops. Indeed, the AAC has as many ranked teams as the ACC and Pac-12 combined.
In the Big 12 power rankings, however, K-State did not move. JT VanGilder still has them second in our own rankings, while the Oklahoman’s Berry Tramel apparently did not see fit to move K-State over Oklahoma after the Cats beat Kansas while Oklahoma sat around and did nothing. Jeez, Berry, Oklahoma couldn’t even manage 400 yards of offense against Bye, and you’re not gonna penalize them?
To be fair, in his article Tramel also says he thinks that K-State will be ranked in the only rankings that ultimately matter: the playoff committee rankings which will be unveiled tomorrow night. If the committee looks favorably on K-State’s overall resume, pushing them even higher than #20, that would help the conference considerably.
In today’s Sports Extra, Corbin McGuire says the team is buying in on Chris Klieman’s Win the Dang Day message in a big way. In a free piece at GPC, D. Scott Fritchen also focuses on K-State’s “look forward, not behind” approach.
Golf
K-State’s women finished 15th out of 16 teams in the Battle at the Beach in San José del Cabo, Mexico. It was a bad day, with the Cats shooting an 18-over 306 to close out the final day. The tournament ends the fall schedule for K-State, which returns to action in late February.