Kansas State Football: Wildcats will challenge Sooners for Big 12 title

Kansas State football returns a majority of their roster in 2018. That experience and the coaching prowess of Bill Snyder will give teams fits.

The grandfather of college football returns yet again to lead the Kansas State Football team in 2018. Bill Snyder has an experienced team, coming off of another winning season despite using three different quarterbacks in 2017.

The Big 12 has been dominated by the Oklahoma Sooners for a very long time. Even when Bob Stoops retired abruptly last June, they didn’t miss a beat with new hotshot coach Lincoln Riley. If Kansas State Football wants to make another run at a Big 12 title, this might be the year.

If the Wildcats are going to make waves again for Bill Snyder, they better do it quick. Eventually, one would think Bill would hang up the headset, but football is his life, and without football, I personally would hate to think about what could happen.

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Either way, the Wildcats will be climbing uphill throughout the season. There are some outlets that have Kansas State ranked in or near the Top 25, but as the season gets closer they have slipped down just a bit.

One big thing the Wildcats need to figure out is who the starting quarterback will be, as our very own Leigh Oleszczak wrote very recently.

Depth Chart

Skylar Thompson and Alex Delton are in a quarterback battle for the ages, which isn’t necessarily a good thing for the Wildcats. Both guys have shown some good things on the field, there isn’t any doubt about it, but two-quarterback teams rarely make huge splashes. Thompson appears to be somewhat injury prone, and Delton’s arm might not be as accurate as Thompson’s.

Alex Barnes has an opportunity to be the man during his junior year. The combo of either running quarterback with Barnes will be a dangerous matchup for the defense-lacking opponents in the Big12.

The receiving core is a bit thin, but Isiah Zuber and Isiah Harris both have talent, as well as Dalton Schoen.

The offensive line is the meat and potatoes of the Wildcats this season. Led by Dalton Risner, this is the most experienced line in the Big 12.

The defense will again be one of the best in the conference. Household names for Wildcats fans are back for another year. Reggie Walker, Kyle Ball, Drew Wiley, and Trey Dishon on the line, Da’Quan Patton, Justin Hughes, and Elijah Sullivan may be one of the more underrated linebacker groups in the conference as well. Depth is a concern, however.

The secondary is stacked as well. Duke Shelley, Denzel Goolsby, Elijah Walker, and Walter Neil Jr lead the backs and safeties for coach Snyder.

This defense, if they are able to stay healthy, should be able to keep the Wildcats in every game, or within reach.

Special Teams could be an area of concern for Snyder, with Nicholas McLellan at placekicker and David Tullis punting. In the Big 12, relying on kicks won’t win many games anyhow.

Schedule

The Wildcats play all three of their non-conference games at home. Starting with South Dakota on September 1st. The Wildcats then welcome the SEC into the Little Apple when they host Miss. St. on September 8th, a game televised by ESPN. They finish their non-conference schedule with UTSA on September 15th.

Kansas State returns all five starters on the offensive line, and is expected to be one of the best in the Big XII. Mississippi State moves back to a 4-3 and is expected to have one of the best defensive lines in the country. Should be a great matchup in the trenches Week 2.
— State Football (@mwnfootball) July 9, 2018

The first Big 12 game the Wildcats play will be in Morgantown to face West Virginia on September 22nd. This would be a big win for the Wildcats going forward if they could pull it off. At this point, I have Kansas State at 4-0.

Snyder comes back home to face the Longhorns on September 29th, which should also be a win. A trip to Waco to face Baylor on October 6th will put the Wildcats at 6-0 heading into the hardest stretch of the regular season.

On October 13th the Wildcats return home to take on the Cowboys, which at the moment look to be rebuilding, although the talent is probably already there to have a pretty successful year. I’m going to stretch my prediction a bit and say the Wildcats win to stay undefeated.

The winning streak comes to an abrupt halt when they head to Norman, Oklahoma to battle the mighty Sooners. Oklahoma is too big, too fast, and too good for the Wildcats to hang. An extra week to prepare becomes more of a liability than good.

TCU is up next on November 3rd. This will be a tough one as well. It should be close, but I have TCU winning at home in this one.

November 10th will be a day of healing for the Wildcats. Coming off two straight losses, they lick their wounds while beating up on the lowly Jayhawks at home. The perfect remedy for what will be ailing the Wildcats.

Texas Tech comes to town on November 17th, as it likely is coach Kingsbury’s last visit to Manhattan, Kansas as the Red Raiders head coach.

The final game of the regular season comes on November 24th against the Cyclones in Ames, Iowa. The scrappy Cyclones take Kansas State to the wire but the Wildcats hold on after a shoddy performance, something the Cyclones are famous in forcing other teams into.

Two conference losses are enough to get a spot opposite the Sooners in the newly renewed Big 12 Championship. There will not be any predictions on this game at the moment, but unless Darren Sproles is suiting up, this game will be hard to pick anyone but Oklahoma.

Next: Top quarterbacks of all-time at KSU

Needless to say, if the Wildcats can live up to my somewhat biased expectations for the 2018 season, it will be a fun season for Wildcats fans. It’s a safe bet that Snyder will have his team bowling again in one of the ridiculous amounts of bowl games to choose from now.

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