Slate: Refreshed Wildcats prepare for trip to Stillwater

Football

The bye week is over, and though sitting out left a void in our fall Saturday fan routine, at least we were riding the satisfaction of an important road win at Mississippi State. For the team, it’s back to business after the weekend off. Coach Klieman worked the squad Monday through Thursday of the bye week, then gave them the weekend to get away. So, what did the players do with their time off? Apparently at least two of them hit the road to watch football, albeit at opposite ends of the competitive spectrum.

The business at hand is No. 22 K-State’s first Big 12 game of the season, on the road at Oklahoma State. The athletic department previewed the action, which will kick off at 6 p.m. Saturday and “air” on ESPN+ (insert bitter editorial commentary about corporate greed and callous indifference to quality of game, snubbing of ranked teams based on mere geography, etc. as you will). Kellis Robinett notes that though the Cowboys opened as 7 1/2-point favorites, the line has since shrunk to 4. He also recalls quarterback Skylar Thompson’s first road start as a Wildcat, back when he was a redshirt freshman. Anyone remember that game?

In enemy territory, the Tulsa World, after making a tortured parallel between OSU’s 4-game winning streak prior to last Saturday’s loss to Texas and the 111-game winning streak of the Connecticut women’s basketball team, says that the Cowboys have moved on and are dialed in on preparation for the Wildcats.

The October 5 home conference opener against Baylor will kick off at 2:30. And good news: it will be aired on an actual television network, though we don’t know yet just which one.

The athletic department recounted the exploits of K-State alumni in the NFL, including Byron Pringle’s first professional reception and the various doings of Tyler Lockett, who appears to be pretty good at football.

Golf

The men’s golf team put things together Monday to improve by 11 strokes in Dallas. But the ‘Cats still finished 17th of 18 teams.

That was one spot better than the K-State women, who fell into last place at 39 strokes over par, 36 off the lead, after two rounds in Madison, Wisconsin. The squad will try to rebound against Grand Canyon, who shot 15 strokes better than K-State in the first two rounds, in a head-to-head match play competition for 7th place.

Tennis

Experience on the K-State Tennis team has led to high expectations for this season. With four juniors, six upper-classmen, second team all-Big 12 performers Margot Decker and Anna Turco, and International Tennis Association No. 106-ranked Maria Linares on the squad, K-State is dialed in on a second straight appearance in the NCAA tournament field.