K-State Football: Wildcats ranked 19th in preseason poll
By Jake Barbee
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The preseason rankings for the college football season are out and K-State football made the top 25, coming in at number 19. The Wildcats are one of five Big 12 schools to make the top 25 rankings.
After a 9-4 record in 2016, K-State football gets a nod at number 19 in the preseason top 25, which well deserved. The ranking does seem a little underwhelming though to be honest. Maybe I’m over hyping the Wildcats or maybe I just wanted to see the team start off ranked a little higher.
Schools like Miami, Stanford, and Auburn are most certainly destined to disappoint. While others like Kansas State, Louisville, and Georgia in my mind have all the tools to rise.
Fans can, however, take this as a positive sign for sure. It feels good to have the Wildcats recognized for a solid outing last season, and with the players returning, why wouldn’t the coaches poll expect big things this year? Jesse Ertz has one more year under his belt, while the running back core is solid top to bottom.
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Taking a step back, however, look at it through the national media’s perspective. They likely see a high potential, but lacking defense, an offense that simply isn’t all that exciting to watch, plus a schedule that gets semi resistant in November. When looking at all of those “problems”, the voters probably made a good choice with putting K-State football just barely in the top 20.
Bovada had pegged the Wildcats’ over/under total at eight wins, which is a very high compliment for the Cats. They should easily be able to reach the over on that, considering they face schools like Central Arkansas, Charlotte, Iowa State, and Kansas to name a few of the easier opponents.
The bottom line for the Kansas State Wildcats is that 19th out of 120 schools is pretty dang good. K-State fans should be excited about what the 2017 season has in store. A warm up non-conference schedule that includes Vanderbilt should put the Wildcats at 3-0 early on the year.
KSU’s first real challenge will come on September 30th against Baylor. Luckily that match-up will be occurring in good ol’ Manhattan, Kansas because we all know just how well K-State football plays there.
As for the rest of the Big 12 schools to make an appearance, Oklahoma is ranked eighth, Oklahoma State comes in at 11th, West Virginia is a spot behind the Cats at 20, and Texas (who lost to KU last year) was ranked 23rd in the nation.
Cheers to being put in the top 25, now here’s hoping the Cats can stay in the rankings and move up. EMAW!