K-State Q&A: Texas Bowl, super seniors, Bruce Weber’s NCAA Tournament odds and more
It’s time for another K-State Q&A.
I hope you all opened a brand new 70-inch TV on Christmas morning like I did last week. Thanks Dad! If you’re traveling to Houston for the Texas Bowl, I hope you make time to eat some good barbecue (Pinkerton’s is my favorite) and drink some good beer (Saint Arnold, Karbach and Buffalo Bayou are all great).
I also hope you enjoy our last mailbag of the year.
Let’s dive into your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
This is an impossible question to answer.
It’s also probably a little naive to only ask about LSU pulling out of the Texas Bowl when COVID issues could knock any team out of any bowl game ... even K-State.
Sure, LSU seems more susceptible to a COVID cancellation than some teams because its roster has been hit hard by transfers, injuries and opt outs. But it can still happen to anyone.
But I digress. Here’s my best guess at a number: 18%.
I came to that conclusion because that is the percentage of bowl games that had been canceled by COVID as of Thursday morning. We have seen 23 games played as originally scheduled. And we have seen five postseason games (Arizona, Fenway, Hawaii, Holiday, Military) get called off.
At the time of this writing, it looks like we are going to see four more bowl games today. So maybe the number is actually closer to 12%. Knock on wood!
It may feel like every bowl game is getting canceled, but the majority of them are still getting played.
The K-State football team is scheduled to fly to Houston for the Texas Bowl on Thursday and spend the rest of the week in the Lone Star State preparing for LSU. K-State athletic director Gene Taylor says both teams are doing everything they can to play the game. For now, those plans and the game, are still on.
Unfortunately, as we have seen elsewhere, there is no guarantee both teams will make it to kickoff. UCLA backed out of the Holiday Bowl less than five hours before it was scheduled to start.
The Texas Bowl will be on until it isn’t.
If the game gets canceled, fans will receive ticket refunds. But there will be no compensation for travel costs. NCAA rules allow for bowl games to be ruled a forfeit, but any canceled game will mostly likely go down as a no contest.
The Holiday Bowl decided to award its trophy to North Carolina State. The Wolfpack are claiming it as a victory. But everyone left the game a loser.
Cross your fingers for the Texas Bowl until 8 p.m. on Jan. 4.
Taylor told me that K-State will test all of its non vaccinated players and all of its symptomatic players before the Wildcats leave for Houston on Thursday.
Anyone who tests positive out of that group will go into quarantine. Everyone else will continue on. I don’t think any other tests will be done leading up to the game unless players begin showing symptoms.
No one will be testing the entire team daily like we saw at the NCAA Tournament last season.
The K-State football team is 87% vaccinated, so that should help the Wildcats make it to kickoff.
Most of the fan activities surrounding the game are still on. The Texas Bowl is holding a free country music concert on Monday. K-State’s pep rally also remains on as scheduled.
It seems like LSU is considering three options at quarterback for the Texas Bowl following Max Johnson’s transfer to Texas A&M.
Freshman Garrett Nussmeier is the team’s lone healthy scholarship quarterback. He is who the Tigers want to play at quarterback. But his status is up in the air because the Tigers want to preserve his redshirt.
Nussmeier has already played in four games this season, which means he would only have three years of college eligibility remaining if he plays against K-State. LSU has submitted a waiver to the NCAA asking for permission to play Nussmeier to retain his redshirt status and play in the Texas Bowl, but it’s unclear if that will be granted. Here’s guessing it won’t be.
If Nussmeier doesn’t suit up against K-State, LSU could reportedly turn to wide receiver Jontre Kirklin, a former three-star recruit and quarterback at the high school level. Or the Tigers could play a walk-on quarterback without much game experience.
Backup Myles Brennan could also be available after he withdrew his name from the NCAA transfer portal following the hiring of Brian Kelly, but he is not expected to play in the Texas Bowl while he recovers from an injury.
Sounds a lot like the QB options K-State had at the 2016 Liberty Bowl when converted receiver Kody Cook got the start over Joe Hubener.
This is a good year to forgo making any bowl memorabilia with two teams involved.
For a game like the Texas Bowl, it might be a good year to forgo selling much memorabilia at all.
I can’t imagine K-State or LSU fans are lining up to buy shirts with the Texas Bowl logo on them. Maybe they will be interested in the championship shirt. Or just a shirt that says Texas Bowl. I don’t know. I walked by an assortment of K-State shirts celebrating its trip to the Texas Bowl at the grocery store the other day and it didn’t look like they were hot sellers.
By my count, 17 different K-State football players are eligible to return as “super seniors” next season.
Eli Huggins has already announced that he will be back at defensive tackle. That’s a good development for the Wildcats. We will probably have to wait on other decisions until after the bowl game.
Ten seniors are out of college eligibility and definitely won’t return. They are: Cody Fletcher, Noah Johnson, Bronson Massie, Jahron McPherson, Skylar Thompson, Timmy Horne, Daniel Imatorbhebhe, Eric Munoz, Reggie Stubblefield and Russ Yeast.
Sadly, it’s been a few years since I stayed up until midnight to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve.
My four kids don’t care that the following day is a holiday. They’re still going to wake up at 6:30 a.m. and demand that I get out of bed bright and early. I’m better off celebrating the new year on Atlantic Standard Time.
I don’t really have a resolution for the new year. But I could always stand to eat less junk food. So I will go with that. Our Halloween candy is finally gone, so I’m hoping that can happen.
There are too many to choose from.
While I disagree with the assertion that John Madden was the best NFL color analyst of all time, I do agree that he was the most entertaining commentator in the business. That’s why he was not only great during games, but also on TV shows like “The Simpsons” and in movies like “Little Giants” and “The Replacements.”
I also seem to remember Madden claiming in one of the ‘90s editions of his video game that he planned to cover the Pro Bowl in Honolulu by driving his bus onto a raft in the Pacific Ocean and floating all the way to the islands.
Always thought that was funny.
Bruce Weber’s fighting basketball boys enter the Big 12 portion of their schedule at 8-3 with solid road victories over Nebraska and Wichita State, plus a bunch of lopsided home wins against total pushovers.
That puts the Wildcats in the conversation for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.
Sporting News writer Michael DeCourcy currently has them in his first four teams out of the field.
Will they play their way into March Madness?
Maybe.
For now, that’s sadly the most definitive answer I can provide on that subject. Ken Pomeroy projects the Wildcats to go 6-10 in conference play. That won’t be enough to earn a spot on the bracket, unless K-State’s six victories are all somehow against Baylor, Kansas and Texas.
Sweeping those teams would almost certainly be enough to get in.
Otherwise, 8-10 seems like the magical record. Any Big 12 team that wins eight conference games will have a strong argument for a place in the field.
I think that is within reach for the Wildcats. Yes, the Big 12 is stronger than ever this season with all 10 of its teams ranked in the top 70 of KenPom. But that could lead to parity in the league standings.
Iowa State is ranked in the top 10 of the national polls with an undefeated record, but it is only 45th in KenPom. TCU is 10-1 but its lone loss came by 19 against Santa Clara. West Virginia and Texas both have gaudy records, but still have plenty to prove.
Texas hasn’t beaten anyone ranked better than 89th in Ken Pomeroy’s ratings.
After Baylor and Kansas, every team seems fairly similar.
Best-case scenario: I can see K-State finishing 11-7.
Worst-case scenario: I can see K-State going 4-14.
That’s a wide range of outcomes, so it’s hard to confidently predict anything right now. That being said, I’m willing to guess the Wildcats win six or seven conference games and play in the NIT.
Compared to last season, that would be a huge step forward. But it probably wouldn’t be enough to satisfy most fans, who are thinking NCAA Tournament or bust.
This story was originally published December 30, 2021 at 10:00 AM.