The Cats revisit a familiar site and face a familiar bowl opponent.
A disappointing season for K-State comes to a close on Boxing Day as the Cats head back to the Phoenix area for the seventh time in 31 years to play a team they’ve met in the postseason before.
The Game
The Kansas State Wildcats (8-4, 5-4 Big 12) meet the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (7-5, 4-5 Big Ten).
This is the second meeting all-time between the two schools. The first was in the 2006 Texas Bowl, won 34-10 by Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights were then coached by current head coach Greg Schiano, although he spent eight of the intervening eighteen years not being the head coach at Rutgers. The Wildcats were coached at the time by Ron Prince, which explains a great deal.
Rutgers is one of eight Big Ten teams against whom the Cats have zero victories. Three of those — Rutgers, Ohio State, and Oregon — have only played K-State once each, all in bowl games. The Wildcats are 1-3 all time in bowl games against Big Ten teams at the time of the game, and 2-6 against current Big Ten teams, with additional losses to Wisconsin, Purdue, and UCLA; their lone bowl wins were over Michigan in the 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl and UCLA in the 2017 Cactus Bowl.
The good news? Both of those wins were in this bowl game, in which K-State is making its fifth appearance — under five different names. The Cats are 3-1 in this bowl, beating Wyoming in the Copper Bowl in 1993 (in Tucson, not the Phoenix metro) and losing to Syracuse in the Insight Bowl in 2001. K-State is 4-3 overall in Phoenix bowls, beating Syracuse in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl but losing in 2003 and 2012 to Ohio State and Oregon.
Schiano is in his second stint overseeing the program from Piscataway. In his first term, Schiano revived a long-moribund Scarlet Knight program, accumulating a 68-67 record from 2001-2011. That’s even more impressive when one considers Rutgers was 12-34 in his first four years as he rebuilt the program. The 2006 season, culminating with their Texas Bowl win, was the peak of Schiano’s time at Rutgers, as they finished 11-2 and in second place in the Big East. After making the error of taking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coaching gig — a two-year tenure which resulted in an 11-21 record — Schiano kicked around a bit before Rutgers hired him again in 2020. He’s only 26-33 in his second tenure.
There is only one major player opting out of the bowl for Rutgers, but it’s a big one — starting running back Kyle Monangai, who racked up 1,279 yards on the season, won’t be suiting up. That, of course, is balanced out by K-State running back DJ Giddens declaring for the draft and opting out as well, removing over 1,300 yards from K-State’s rushing attack.
Athan Kaliakmanis is the starting quarterback for the Scarlet Knights; he threw for 2,459 yards with a 54.8% completion rate, 17 touchdowns and six interceptions. He’s not much of a running threat, with only 233 yards on the year. The leading rusher who’ll still be there is Antwan Raymond with 344 yards on 82 carries. The leading receivers for Rutgers are Dymere Miller (57 for 731, 4 TDs) and Ian Strong (38 for 571, 5 TDs).
Seven of the top nine tacklers for the Scarlet Knights are defensive backs, which should be a good sign for the Wildcat running attack, in which Joe Johnson should take over the Giddens role. Rutgers still only gave up 147 yards a game on the ground, but they gave up over 230 in the air.
Rutgers got to 5-7 despite playing none of the Big Ten’s playoff-bound teams and only one of the top six teams in the Big Ten standings (Illinois, to whom they lost). Their strongest wins of the season were one-score home wins over Washington and Minnesota. The Wildcats should not have much issue prevailing in this game.
One note: the traditional pep rally K-State normally holds the day before a bowl game will not take place this year, due to the day before the game being Christmas.
Kickoff
Thursday, December 26, 4:30pm CT at Chase Field (39,056) in Phoenix, Arizona.
Tickets
You can get tickets for as low as $19 on the secondary market, but be warned this is a bowl game being played in a baseball stadium and those seats are the upper deck seats on the Rutgers sideline (the third-base line). Seats on the K-State side are bleacher-type seats set up in right field and bottom out at $37. There are also a bunch of end-zone seats in the $29-$55 range. The $100+ tickets are all in the “all-you-can-eat” club level.
Weather
Morning tailgate conditions will be a bit chilly, but not terrible; at 9am local time it will only be 50°, but by 10 it’ll be in the mid-50s and by kickoff the thermometer should hit 65°. It will be partly cloudy all day, and at the final gun it should still be in the high 50s.
Odds
K-State opened as -9.5 point favorites, but the line has narrowed. Our friends at DraftKings now have the Cats at -7 with the over at 50, which calculates out to a 28-21 win for K-State. The money line is -258 for K-State, +210 for Rutgers. Oddshark’s computer is much more optimistic, projecting the Wildcats to win 37-20.
Television
ESPN, with Wes Durham, Tom Luginbill, and Dana Boyle on the call.
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 84. ESPN Radio will also carry the game with their own team of Jorge Sedano and Taylor McHargue on SiriusXM 80.
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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