K-State Q&A: Big 12 predictions, Oklahoma St. analysis, hard seltzers and mascot wars

It’s time for another K-State Q&A.

We have tons of great questions to get to this week, so let’s dive right in. Thanks, as always, for your participation.

Skylar Thompson may struggle a time or two against Big 12 competition, but I don’t think that happens this week.

The junior K-State quarterback has found success against Oklahoma State before and led the Wildcats to a 45-40 victory in Stillwater as a freshman. He will enter this game with even more confidence than usual, especially after watching the Cowboys on defense.

Oklahoma State is allowing 239.2 passing yards per game this season, and Thompson is more than capable of exploiting this secondary.

K-State has asked Thompson to simply manage games at times this year, which is one of the main reasons why he only has 486 yards and four touchdowns through the air. But he hasn’t turned the ball over, and he has completed 67.9 percent of his throws. The folks over at Pro Football Focus still love him.

He could take a statistical jump this week and maybe even break his personal record of 213 yards in a game.

As good as K-State has looked through three games, it will surprise me if the Wildcats can surpass Oklahoma or Texas and reach the Big 12 championship game.

But third place seems up for grabs.

The next three games will be important. If the Wildcats win at Oklahoma State, they will have a realistic path to 6-0. And if they start 6-0 with conference wins over Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU it’s going to be hard for those three teams to catch them. Iowa State is probably the only other threat.

But if K-State stumbles in its next three games then it is probably looking at more of a middle-of-the-pack finish.

One thing is for sure: this team won’t finish ninth like the Big 12 preseason poll suggested.

There honestly isn’t a whole lot to nitpick thus far.

K-State is off to a 3-0 start and firing on all cylinders in most areas.

The Wildcats rank 112th nationally in passing yardage. I would normally flag that as a concern, but that statistic is a bit skewed by this team’s love for running the ball. They also rank 119th nationally in red-zone defense, but opposing teams have reached the red zone so infrequently I’m not sure that’s a big negative.

Passing defense is probably the area that should concern K-State the most right now. Mississippi State had receivers running wide open against a variety of different coverage schemes, but the Bulldogs didn’t have a quarterback capable of getting them the ball.

And when Mississippi State’s quarterbacks hit their receivers in the numbers, well, this happened:

Here’s guessing Spencer Sanders and Tylan Wallace can do a little bit better than that on Saturday.

K-State hasn’t faced a high-powered spread offense like Oklahoma State. It will need to be better against the pass to slow down the Cowboys.

When Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy got done calling a reporter a “jackass” earlier this week, he said he thought K-State didn’t look any different on offense under Chris Klieman than it used to under Bill Snyder.

So maybe he hasn’t bothered asking Charlie Dickey for any pointers about K-State’s offensive line, because he already knows everything about them.

In all seriousness, it might be a teeny, tiny advantage. Dickey surely has some unique ideas about how to attack the Wildcats up front on both sides of the ball.

But Conor Riley has brought quite a few changes to K-State’s offensive line, and the Wildcats are playing quite a bit different this year. I doubt Oklahoma State gains much from having Snyder’s old offensive line coach on the sideline.

Spencer Sanders will definitely be a challenge. Mississippi State looked way better when it traded pocket passer Tommy Stevens for scrambler Garrett Shrader, even though K-State sent him flying like a helicopter with the game on the line.

James Gilbert (277 yards, three touchdowns) and Jordon Brown (154 yards, three touchdowns) have been team-savers at running back.

You can’t say enough about the job Klieman and his coaching staff pulled off at that position, losing Alex Barnes and three other running backs from last year’s team and still putting together a backfield that is averaging 5.6 yards per rush.

Both are graduate transfers, so the Wildcats could definitely look for more next season. But I’m sure they would rather build up the roster with traditional recruits. One-year players are only good for one year. Four-year players are ... well, you see where I’m going with this.

Two positions that might need grad transfers: offensive line and running back.

K-State is starting five seniors up front right now, so the right senior transfer could help next season.

Tyler Burns and Harry Trotter are the only scholarship running backs set to return next season that aren’t freshmen. Maybe Klieman looks for another transfer there, too.

The Texas State Champs shirts might sell like hot cakes, but sweeping the Cowboys and the Sooners would be a more impressive accomplishment this season.

The main reason why: It means K-State beats Big 12 kingpin Oklahoma.

Texas is also a great win for any team this season, but the Longhorns are still trying to catch up to Oklahoma.

K-State will have to win four games (Baylor, TCU, Texas and Texas Tech) to pull off the Lone Star Sweep. That’s not an easy task. But beating Oklahoma would mean more.

Well, he’s never worked as a college recruiter or been a part of a college coaching staff before. Those seem like two valid reasons.

It takes a special type of person to be a successful recruiting coordinator. The pay isn’t great and you aren’t allowed to travel. You have to make an impression with recruits on the phone or through social media.

All that being said, if the best quarterback in school history genuinely wants to work for the K-State football team as an assistant to the recruiting coordinator, the Wildcats should definitely make that happen.

K-State could use some extra help for Taylor Braet, and Bishop would bring some valuable skills.

It’s probably time to pump the brakes on the Joshua Youngblood hype train. He has one catch for 12 yards in three games.

He will play in most games this season and probably develop into more of a receiving threat as he matures, but I will be surprised if he becomes a difference-maker this year.

Dalton Schoen and Malik Knowles are pretty clearly the go-to receivers on this team. Chabastin Taylor, Phillip Brooks, Landry Weber and Wykeen Gill are next in line.

Youngblood has a higher ceiling than most of them, but he’s only been in college a few months. It will take time for him to reach it.

The good news is just about any K-State receiver could have a Byron Pringle type game against Oklahoma State if the Cowboys use the same defensive strategy they did two years ago. Pringle went uncovered on all three of his touchdown grabs.

This topic has been covered several times over the years in this mailbag, but it’s been a little while and there’s no such thing as over discussing a Big 12 mascot brawl.

So let’s do it again!

There are two big questions before we get started.

1. Is Iowa State’s mascot a cyclone or a bird? There’s no beating the wind of a cyclone, but the bird is a complete push over.

2. Do the human mascots get to use guns? If the answer is yes, we might as well just have a shootout between Pistol Pete, the mountaineer and the masked rider. If the answer is no, advantage animals.

There’s also quite a bit of gray area with KU and K-State. What powers does a mythical bird possess? Is Willie a regular old cat or the human/cat hybrid we see on the sideline at games?

The only thing I can say with supreme confidence is that TCU and its Horned Frog would be the first mascot out of the match.

I tend to lean toward Baylor and Texas in mascot brawls. Bears and Longhorns both beat humans in a street fight.

Then again, Texas Tech gets the benefit of human and animal. And Oklahoma would bring close to a dozen people, a couple horses and a covered wagon to the fight. That seems advantageous.

The more I type, the more I think Oklahoma is the winner because the Sooners bring a whole pack of people and animals to the fight.

Dress up like an over-the-top Nebraska fan, but make sure you have two layers of clothes on.

When the camera pans to you, get rid of all the red and reveal purple.

Or you could dress up like Prince in a purple jacket. Either plan will probably work.

I have never had the best luck with restaurants in Stillwater.

Some people like Eskimo Joe’s, but I don’t think there’s anything special about it. You can eat the same food they serve there at Buffalo Wild Wings, with less of a crowd. They do have popular T-shirts, though.

Some other possibilities: Da Vinci’s, The Garage, Louis, El Vaquero and Hideaway Pizza.

They also have a Whataburger.

I’m not expecting anything new in the uniform department this week. I bet the Wildcats are saving them for the Big 12 home opener against Baylor on Oct. 5.

The winning team gets to celebrate with a few cases of Catalina Lime Mixer and Aloha Beaches.

The losing team gets plain old Natural Light.

Apparently zero, because you made the cut without sending me a single one.

But I would sure take a 12-pack of both flavors if you’re getting them for free from Bob Bowlsby.

The Big 12 is quickly becoming a trendsetter in the world of college athletics. It was the first major conference to partner with ESPN+ for a streaming network AND the first major conference to partner with a hard seltzer.

I can’t wait to see the official flying car of the Big 12.