How The Kansas State Wildcats Are Approaching First Road Test Of Season
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The Kansas State Wildcats have proven they can win at home.
Now, they can do so on the road?
After breezing through the non-conference portion of the schedule with three victories, they open Big 12 conference play at the Cincinnati Bearcats Saturday at Nippert Stadium. This is also the first road game for first-year coach Collin Klein, so how the Wildcats adjust should be interesting.
Klein addressed the issue during his game week press conference on Monday.
"There's a little logistic kind of acclimatization that takes place when you get into a new stadium," Klein said. "It sounds simple, but it's like, 'Hey, where are the play clocks? Where's our side?' Like, some of those things you can't really take for granted because in crunch time, it matters, and those are seconds and those things help you make decisions. So, I think there's a little bit of that, but at the end of the day, it's what happens in between the white lines, and that's the same everywhere."
The Wildcats cruised at the start of the season at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. They opened with a 71-3 win against the Nicholls Cowboys. That was followed by an impressive performance in a 34-7 victory over the Washington State Cougars. Last week, the Wildcats knocked off the Tulane Green Wave 31-20.
The hope is they can continue the dominance against the Bearcats. Cincinnati has started the season similar to the Wildcats. They enter Saturday with a 3-0 record, which includes a few impressive wins. They opened the season with a 34-15 win against the Boston College Eagles. That was followed by a 62-10 win over the Western Carolina Catamounts. Last week the Bearcats survived a tough 35-31 against Miami of Ohio.
The Wildcats are trying to become the first K-State team to start 4-0 since 2012. That team was led by Klein, who was the starting quarterback. They finished 11-2 and won the Big 12 title game before losing to the Oregon Ducks in the Fiesta Bowl.
A Wildcats win would probably give them some consideration of an appearance in the Top 25 poll. They began the season unranked for the first time since 2022.
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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