Kansas State football looks to maintain 2019 momentum vs. Arkansas State

Kansas State football might have finally found their successor to Bill Snyder, but with several new faces on offense against Arkansas State.

Kansas State football enters its second year under head coach Chris Klieman following a promising eight-win season in 2019 featuring a marquee win over Oklahoma. Klieman has quickly earned the respect of the fanbase in Manhattan and seems to be the right fit for the program.

The former North Dakota State coach’s no-nonsense, hard-nosed style and demeanor is the right cultural fit for a side that dares other teams to underestimate them.

Leading the offense once again this season will be the efficient senior quarterback Skylar Thompson. Thompson’s numbers do not figure to jump off the page anytime soon having only thrown for 12 touchdowns and five interceptions last season. However, key to his production will be his decision making and ability to make plays with his feet.

The real question after that is who will step up besides their quarterback? The Wildcats have a lot of inexperience and underused players almost everywhere else.

Perhaps most worrying is that K-State will feature an entirely new offensive line that will be put to the test early.

On the defensive side, they bring back most of their starters including preseason All-Big 12 defensive end Wyatt Hubert. Something to keep an eye on is who will provide him some support on the defensive line as defense will likely need to be the strength of the team this year.

Into the picture comes Arkansas State, who already has played a game in a 37-24 loss to Memphis last week. The Red Wolves were not originally supposed to play Kansas State, but they will be the Wildcats only non-conference opponent on their 10-game schedule. Also announced this week is that the game will now be played at 11 a.m. local time following the postponement of Louisiana Tech versus Baylor on FOX.

Here is what you need to know about Saturday’s game between the Kansas State Wildcats and Arkansas State Red Wolves:

Date: Saturday, Sept. 12
Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
Location: Manhattan, Kan.
Venue: Bill Snyder Family Stadium
TV: FOX
Live Stream: FOX Sports Go

Keys to Victory

Kansas State faces a lot of questions on offense, but they should ultimately have the size advantage up front. The Wildcats need to try to establish the ground game early on and do what they do best: move the chains, control the time of possession, and take care of the football.

The matchup to watch for Kansas State will be wide receiver Josh Youngblood vs the A-State secondary. Youngblood is used as a kickoff returner, so he has the speed to possibly take advantage of cornerbacks who got burned in the red zone against Memphis last week.

As for Arkansas State, hopefully, either Logan Bonner or Layne Hatcher has the hot hand this week at quarterback. Neither was very impressive last week, so whoever gets the start better be ready to go.

That said, the Red Wolves were able to hang with Memphis in the first half by running the ball, and it appears that running back Marcel Murray is set to return this Saturday after missing last week due to injury. Murray is the team’s leading returning rusher from 2019.

Betting Odds

Odds courtesy of The Action Network

Point Spread: Kansas State -10
Over/under: 54.5

Prediction

The line looks to be a little closer than expected; however, maybe it’s not too surprising upon closer look. Unlike Memphis, Kansas State probably will not cause Arkansas State the same matchup problems at receiver. Instead, they will likely lean on the run. However, the issue remains the inexperienced offensive line, so even that remains a question. I’m tempted to take the under on this one.

Final Score: Kansas State 30, Arkansas State 21