After a tumultuous season, the Kansas State Wildcats are headed to a bowl game. They will face the Bruins of UCLA in the Cactus Bowl the day after Christmas.
We’ve got one more game left in the Kansas State Wildcats 2017 football season. KSU will be taking on UCLA in the Cactus Bowl on December 26th this year. We’ll get another chance to see the Wildcats take the field as they look to continue a strong finish to an up and down season.
In all reality, the match-up of K-State and UCLA is pretty much perfect. Both of these teams fell far below their preseason expectations. The Wildcats began the season ranked 20th in the country, and was considered a contender for the Big 12. UCLA was coming in riding the highly-touted arm of Josh Rosen, and looking to make noise in the Pac 12.
Clearly neither team lived up to that hype.
Ultimately, the Cactus Bowl is a disappointment for both programs. However, it can also be a new beginning for both schools. UCLA has named Chip Kelly as their new head coach. Meanwhile, Kansas State is looking to make a coaching transition soon as well, though with much less certainty.
Wildcat Nation! We are headed to Phoenix, AZ to play @UCLAFootball in the @Cactus_Bowl.
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) December 3, 2017
🗓️Dec 26th
🕖7:00pm MST#EMAW #KStateFB pic.twitter.com/pOBEU8iAQK
Scouts, Scouts, And More Scouts!
The big story of the Cactus Bowl won’t be the match-up of the Kansas State Wildcats and UCLA Bruins though. No, this game is going to be all about Josh Rosen and his final performance before the 2018 NFL Draft. However, that is actually good news for the K-State players looking to play in the pros.
Every team in the NFL will be represented at this game in some way or another. While those scouts and team officials will be paying attention to Josh Rosen, they will also be taking notes on everyone else. Especially the defensive players trying to keep UCLA’s offense out of the endzone.
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That puts players like Will Geary and DJ Reed square in the limelight, which should help the draft stock of both players. Geary and Reed were both 1st Team All-Big 12 selections, and a solid bowl performance will be something they can carry with them into the offseason workouts.
Bill Snyder’s Final Game?
The biggest storyline for the Kansas State Wildcats right now is still the future of the program. Bill Snyder may or may not retire after this year. That’s unclear, but nowhere near as unclear as to who would replace him should he retire. With this hanging over the program, there will be plenty of questions asked as soon as the game is over.
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Apart from that though, the potential of this being Bill Snyder’s last game holds plenty of other implications. For one, there is no way that this group of players want to be the ones who lost the last game of a local legend’s career. So if they are thinking his retirement is possible, expect this Wildcats team to come out all cylinders firing.
This game could very well mark the end of an era in Kansas State football (again). It’s hard to even think of the K-State Wildcats without Bill Snyder at the helm. At age 78, we know the day is coming soon. Is it this season? Does he have one more in him? We’ll probably find out on December 26th.
The Kansas State Wildcats have rebounded a troubled season and managed to salvage a respectable showing on the year. Of course it is still far from what this team was expected to achieve in 2017. However, K-State still has plenty to build on, and plenty of reason to show up big in the Cactus Bowl.