Kansas State a Legitimate National Title Contender
Among all the 1-loss teams still fighting for a chance to get into the College Football Playoff, you might be surprised to know that Kansas State is one of the few that still controls its own destiny. Seriously.
With only a close loss to Auburn on the resume, if the Wildcats win out, they would be an 11-1 Big 12 champion. And after Saturday, who can say for certain that won’t happen?
This team has already beaten Oklahoma, should have beaten Auburn, and they shut out Texas 23-0. Yes, the Longhorns aren’t great, but they have slowly been improving under Charlie Strong.
Coming off of a 48-point performance against Iowa State, it was still impressive for Bill Snyder’s defense to hold the Longhorns to less than 200 yards of total offense and a shutout.
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Jake Waters didn’t have his best game. But the Wildcats showed why they belong in the elite discussion.
When one star underperforms, other stars step up. Tyler Lockett came away with 103 yards receiving. Everybody on defense showed up.
That’s the mark of a champion. It also means this team is not to be taken lightly.
Here’s another thing that helps this team and that goes unsung: special teams.
They blocked an extra point against Oklahoma and blocked a punt against UTEP. Then they came close to blocking another punt on Saturday.
Three times? It’s no longer luck. This team can clearly rush kickers, and that could play a huge role going forward.
The rest of the Kansas State schedule includes Oklahoma State, TCU, West Virginia, Kansas, and Baylor, which is the final game of the season.
The Bears are the only other team in the conference in control of their own destiny to win the Big 12 and make the College Football Playoff.
That means that the Baylor-Oklahoma showdown we were all looking forward to should change to a different game. It’s now Baylor-Kansas State, at least for right now.