K-State Wildcats vs. Oklahoma Sooners: Prediction, game preview, time, line and TV
THE DETAILS
Kickoff: 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: Memorial Stadium, Norman, Okla.
TV: FOX
Radio: KKGQ (92.3 FM) in Wichita, KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City
The line: Oklahoma by 27 1/2
PREDICTION
Before you completely dismiss Kansas State’s chances of pulling off a road upset against Oklahoma as a four-touchdown underdog, consider a few of the following facts.
- No team in the Big 12 has a better record against the Sooners over the past eight years than the Wildcats (3-5).
- K-State was a massive underdog when it defeated Oklahoma 48-41 last season in Manhattan
- The Wildcats have won two of their past four games in Norman.
- Chris Klieman is undefeated against the Sooners.
You can never say never when it comes to K-State’s chances in this matchup, even though Oklahoma has runaway from the Wildcats a few times over the past decade for blowout scores such as 55-0 and 51-14.
Still, this doesn’t seem like a good time to bet on purple. K-State is coming off a 35-31 home loss to Arkansas State in which it was missing nearly 40 players because of positive COVID tests, contact tracing and injuries. And the roster situation isn’t much better this week.
K-State is expected to be short-handed in the secondary, and defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said earlier this week that he plans to move players around to different positions to make active personnel complement each other.
A strong defense could rattle freshman Spencer Rattler in his second start, but the Wildcats will have their hands full with him and playmakers like Charleston Rambo in this one.
The Wildcats should be back at full strength at receiver, but Kleiman has expressed some concern about running back and the offensive line was a trainwreck in the opener.
If K-State can run the ball effectively in this game, it could control clock and frustrate Oklahoma. But the Wildcats only rushed for 91 yards against Arkansas State.
It’s reasonable to expect K-State to cover the spread, but Oklahoma is the better and more complete team at the moment. It should win.
Oklahoma 45, Kansas State 24
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 5:00 AM.