Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, and a very happy holiday to our entire BotC family! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful celebration with their near and dear!

This is a slow time of the year from a news standpoint for Kansas State, especially with the Wildcats playing in a bowl game that is 10 days away.

Also, and it’s frustrating to even make note of this, but yes, we are still dealing with the COVID19 pandemic in one way or another. The fallout for certain college football teams has been acute. The latest casualty is the only bowl game scheduled for today, the Easy Post Hawaii Bowl. Although the Memphis team is already on the island, Hawaii is withdrawing from the game. This is unfortunate, but hey, there are worse fates than being stranded in Hawaii of all places.

So what are the Wildcats up to?

— The football team is relishing the bowl opportunity. The seniors in particular are looking at it as once last opportunity to don the purple and do big things on the field, especially against a big name program like LSU. Thanks to the January date of the game, the players have had almost an entire month of post-season practice and bonding. The players have gone home for the holidays but will reconvene on December 30, and will have several practices before the Texas Bowl.

— There have been no opt-outs for the bowl game for Kansas State. Chris Klieman notes that only the oldest players even remember a bowl win.

— At LSU on the other hand, they may not even have a full compliment of scholarship players for the bowl game, and that’s a separate problem from the QB situation in Baton Rouge,

— ICYMI, here’s the latest episode of the Bring on the PodCats, where Luke Thompson and JT VanGilder chat with Brody Miller, LSU beat writer from The Athletic.

— Bill Snyder spoke to Spencer Hall, a huge Snyder fan, on Dan LeBatard’s Big Suey podcast, and honestly, Bill’s genuine modesty is still so refreshing.

— The basketball team is prepping for a game against North Florida on December 29. This is a replacement game for the Morgan State date that was cancelled due to Covid. If you have tickets to the Morgan State game, they will still work. Also, it’s LEGO Night at Bramlage.

— Some sad news from the Athletic Department. Joan Friedrich, a retired football staffer, has passed away. She retired in 2017 after 45 years of service, and was much loved by players, staff, and pretty much everyone she crossed paths with.

— Here’s a holiday treat: two former Kansas State players write first-person accounts of their favorite bowl game experiences. First, Darnell McDonald shares his experiences in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl. Then, Jonathan Beasley, still the only Wildcat QB to win two straight bowl games, talks about the 1999 Holiday Bowl.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a great weekend!