The reeling Jayhawks are coming to town for their annual disappointment.
For the last few years, K-State fans have been nervous about the annual Sunflower Showdown, as Kansas football has steadily improved to the point where the Jayhawks have made appearances in the top 25 and generally been competent.
We won’t say that era has ended, but after starting this season in the top 25 and blowing an FCS program that’s only been FCS for 15 minutes out of the water, Kansas promptly lost five games in a row and vanished from anyone’s consciousness.
The thing is, those losses weren’t horrible losses taken individually. Only one, TCU, was more than a one-possession game. None of those losses were against truly bad teams; we also won’t say their suffering equals that of West Virginia (whose four losses are to teams with a combined record of 26-1) but they’re feeling the same sort of angst.
So it’s important to bear in mind that Kansas is not a bad team. They’ve just been Not Good Enough, and assuming this will be an easy one is hubris.
The Game
The 16th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats (6-1, 3-1 Big 12) host the Kansas Jayhawks (2-5, 1-3 Big 12).
Yeah, yeah, Kansas leads the series 65-51-5. Let’s talk about a time-frame that matters: if you were born after November 13, 1948, K-State has a winning record in this game in your lifetime. K-State has won the last 15 meetings and 27 of the last 31. If you’re 50 years old, K-State has a 32-18 lead in your existence.
Numbers in books are great, but what you’ve actually lived through sits in your gut, and you know the real truth.
The Jayhawks ended their five-game skid last week with a demonstrative 42-14 win over Houston at Arrowhead in which quarterback Jalon Daniels was not horrible. That has been a large part of KU’s problem, and given K-State’s defensive tendencies and his experience against prior K-State defenses which were not this terrifying to quarterbacks, he may return to having Bad Days.
Devin Neal is still around and still effective, but he’s behind DJ Giddens in the yardage list. Luke Grimm, the leading Jayhawk receiver, only has 363 yards, so the secondary doesn’t have a pressing need to fear getting burnt for big plays. And the Jayhawk defense is okay, but nothing special.
All signs point to a 16th win in a row. But the fate of the Wildcat fan in the year of our lord 2024 is to worry — quietly, because it just does not do to admit it openly — about this year being the year KU gets to celebrate.
Of course, that would be true even if they were 0-7.
Kickoff
Saturday, October 26, 7:00pm CT at Bill Snyder Family Stadium (50,000) in Manhattan, Kansas.
Tickets
You will be unsurprised to learn that the game is a sellout. On the secondary market, you’re not getting in the door for under $92, and those tickets are in the far corners of the upper deck. The high end, and there are a bunch of tickets out there at this price, is in the upper $300s; the median is around $130.
Weather
If this were an 11am game, you’d have to bundle up for tailgating. Temperatures will sneak into the 60s by noon, however, and the afternoon hours will be a pleasant and sunny experience in the mid-to-high 60s. Just as the gates open and it starts getting dark, the temperature will drop back into the high 50s and fall into the high 40s by the end of thenight, though, so be sure to have something warm to cover up with when you head through the turnstiles.
Odds
The line opened at -7 for the Cats, and has grown since; DraftKings has K-State as a 9.5-point favorite with the over at 55.5 — the exact over for the third game in a row, strangely. Punching on the calculator reveals that Vegas is expecting a 33-23 win for the good guys. The money line is -340 for K-State, +270 for Kansas. Oddshark’s computer projects a slightly narrower result, a 34-29 win for the Wildcats just like they predicted last week, and we know how that turned out.
Television
For the first time this season, K-State is playing an FBS opponent on a rights-holder’s secondary network. The game will be on ESPN2 with Roy Philpott, Sam Acho, and Taylor Davis handling the duties.
Radio
As always, Wyatt Thompson, Stan Weber, and Matt Walters will be on hand on the K-State Sports Network as well as via satellite on SiriusXM 83.
Internet Streaming
The game will stream on the ESPN app (cable/satellite subscription required). Audio available via kstatesports.com. Live stats provided by StatBroadcast.
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