Joe on K-State Sports

K-State lost their fourth straight game last night to the Baylor Bears 32-31 on a last-second field goal.  The Cats were up 11 points in the first half and had a nine point lead with nine minutes left in the game.  There is plenty to dissect in this one.  I watched the replay this morning and, unfortunately, the outcome was the same as last night, resulting in a very bad upset stomach. Let's take a look at what happened... "It's kinda surprising Baylor is still in this game considering 65 total yards and 47 penalty yards." ...Jason Benetti, ESPN play-by-play announcer JM:  Benetti made this observation when K-State was leading 17-6 with 3:51 left in the first half.  He was right.  K-State should have been up by a lot more than 11 points. "Odd drive for Kansas State." ...Jason Benetti, ESPN JM:  When Benetti made this comment, it was after K-State had the ball 1st and ten at their own 45 yard line with two minutes left in the first half leading Baylor 17-6. 

A month ago today Kansas State was 4-0 and sitting at first place in the Big 12 conference coming off a 55-14 victory against Kansas. Wildcat fans were feeling good about their chances to win the Big 12, having already beaten conference favorite Oklahoma. A month and three straight losses later the Wildcats are reeling and wondering what went wrong.  The 37-10 loss to West Virginia on Halloween was the worst loss of head coach Chris Klieman's coaching career.  That was until Saturday's 45-0 shellacking at the hands of Iowa State.  Sandwiched in between those games was a hard-fought two-point loss at home to Oklahoma State. What's up next for the Wildcats?  A trip to Baylor this Saturday followed by a home game against Texas on December 5th.  If they can get a win or two they will most likely get a bowl invitation.  Current projections have K-State playing in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl in Phoenix on December 26th.  It seems like the Guaranteed Rate Bowl has had more name chang

  The 2020 version of Farmageddon for K-State fans was just like the rest of 2020.  Something we'd all like to forget.  What seemed like a promising football season a few weeks ago has taken a big turn for the worse.  Do we blame Covid or is Iowa State 45 points better than the Wildcats?  I think it's a little bit of both.  Let's take a look.... “Give Matt and Iowa State credit. They did a great job. They outplayed us in all three phases.” ...Chris Klieman, post game. JM:  This is what a head coach should say after losing a game 45-0.  These Zoom post-game press conferences are a bit weird.  Klieman looks like he is sitting two inches from the computer screen and his head looks huge.  It also appears that none of the reporters traveled to the game.  They are asking questions from their homes.  Just a weird vibe all around. "We got hammered with Covid the last two weeks.... It sucks, but there's nothing they can do about it.  They just gotta play with whoever we hav

  A bye week for the football team doesn't mean there is a lack of K-State news.  Let's dig right in and see what's going on in the world of K-State sports... "Back on top! K-State won the national championship in livestock judging Tuesday, the university's 15th title all-time, but the first since 1998. Chris Mullinix was named National Coach of the Year." ...K-State Research and Extension Twitter Feed JM:  15 national championships in livestock judging seems like a lot even for a land grant university. It is their first championship since 1998. Congratulations to the livestock judging team! " The Wildcats lost another player Wednesday when Will Jones, a redshirt freshman defensive back from Mansfield, Texas, announced plans to transfer." ...Kellis Robinett, Wichita Eagle, November 18 JM:  This news came a couple of weeks after the news of the transfer of defensive back Jonathan Alexander and five days after the transfer announcement of defensive b

There are quite a few well-known rivalry games in the Big 12.  From "Bedlam," (Oklahoma versus Oklahoma State), to "The Red River Rivalry," (Oklahoma versus Texas), to "The Sunflower Showdown," (Kansas versus Kansas State), and "The Revivalry," (TCU versus Baylor).  Sometime around 2009, Kansas State and Iowa State coined their rivalry game "Farmageddon" because of the agriculture background of the two land grant universities. Where did the "Farmageddon" moniker come from?  From what I can tell, it happened around the time that the programs scheduled two neutral-site games at Arrowhead Stadium in 2009 and 2010.  I remember seeing the first reference to "Farmageddon" on a message board before the teams played in 2009.  I was never really a fan of the name, but it stuck with a group of fans.  The media caught on and soon the yearly match-up between Iowa State and Kansas State became known as "Farmageddon.&quo

  I'm finally getting around to writing my column about the game last Saturday against Oklahoma State. It only took me five days!  Let's just say it's been a busy week.  Anyway... Normally I re-watch each game on Sunday morning to help refresh my memory and to takeaway the key moments from the game prior to sitting down and writing.  The key moments in this one were easy to remember and this one hurt more than most because victory and first place were well within grasp for the Wildcats.  I was able to sit down and watch the replay today so let's take a look at what happened... "K-State turned in a dominating first-half defensive performance, and after settling for field goals on their first two trips to the red zone, the Wildcats finally broke through with a touchdown 37 seconds before intermission.  On third down and goal from the Oklahoma State 4-yard line, Howard found Phillip Brooks in the back of the end zone to make it 12-0. But a two-point conversion pa

There was plenty of excitement in the Big 12 on Saturday.  My blood pressure spiked at times watching the games, but that's all part of the college football experience, is it not?. Three games in particular helped provide some clarity to the league race.   1) Baylor at Iowa State. Iowa State was down 14 points to Baylor in the second quarter before coming back and winning 38-31 to remain in first place in the league.   2) Oklahoma State at Kansas State.  Oklahoma State came back from a 12 point first-half deficit to beat Kansas State 20-18 and remain a half-game behind Iowa State.   3) West Virginia at Texas.  In a clash of second-place teams, Texas and West Virginia had quite a defensive battle that the Longhorns won 17-13. Is there a clear favorite in the Big 12?  Not quite yet.  There are still five teams within a game of first place with three or four games remaining.  (Baylor and Oklahoma State have four games left) Who has the best shot to get to the Big 12 Championship

Two weeks ago some crazy dude dubbed the Kansas State Wildcats a contender for the Big 12 championship.  That crazy dude was me.  A blowout win over archrival Kansas had K-State nation guzzling the purple kool-aid.  Then... West Virginia 37 Kansas State 10. The blowout loss on Saturday to the West Virginia Mountaineers has me seriously reconsidering my opinion of the Wildcats.  Las Vegas oddsmakers opened the betting line with the Mountaineers as a slight favorite over the Wildcats, so I expected the game to be close even though the line ended up with the Mountaineers at minus five points.  I was wrong right along with Vegas in thinking this was going to be a tight game.  Despite the ugly loss, K-State remains tied with Iowa State for first place in the Big 12 and is a half game ahead of Oklahoma State, who happens to be the K-State's opponent this weekend.  That doesn't change the fact that the Wildcats were exposed in this game against the Mountaineers.  What went wrong for

  The Kansas State Wildcats traveled to Morgantown for a game yesterday against the West Virginia Mountaineers.  Calling this a "game" might not be fair.  A "shellacking" might be a better descriptor.  Let's take a look at what happened....  "Quite frankly, Will Howard has looked shaky thus far.  Two out of those three passes weren't very good decisions at all.  Three defenders surrounding Brooks, the intended receiver." ...Kelly Stouffer, ESPN JM:  Will Howard set the tone on the first series of the game when he threw an interception less than a minute into the game.  This was a rough one for the true freshman quarterback as he ended the day 19/37 for 184 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions. "And the one thing that I'm not worried about is Will's confidence. This kid's got that 'it' factor." ...Chris Klieman, post game. JM: I commented during the game that Will Howard looked nervous and shaken most of the g