K-State Q&A: Dylan Edwards, KU football distractions, Big 12 basketball and more
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State faces long odds to win out; college statistician Kelley Ford lists 1%.
- Dylan Edwards remains day-to-day; team may redshirt him to save eligibility.
- ‘Knifegate’ distracts KU staff and coach Leipold; K-State could profit.
The Kansas State football team is off this week, and so are my creative writing skills.
So let’s skip an elaborate introduction and dive right into your questions about the Wildcats. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
For Kansas State to win out, who will step up on offense and defense? And who is another player who will step up and provide the needed help to win out? -@bfullingt via X.
Win out?
Hey, I admire the confidence. Kudos to you for aiming higher than the Liberty Bowl. But the odds of K-State closing out the year with six straight victories are extremely low. College football statistician Kelley Ford gives the Wildcats just a 1% shot to finish with an 8-4 record.
Cue the meme: So you’re telling me there’s a chance!
Lloyd Christmas might love those odds. But I don’t.
At Oklahoma State is a gimmie. And K-State will probably be favored at home against Colorado. At Kansas seems like a toss up. If the Wildcats win those three games, then their bowl streak will continue.
Ford gives K-State a 48% chance of winning three more games. That feels very realistic.
It’s the other two games on the schedule that concern me. Texas Tech is playing like a juggernaut. Utah has looked great in every game that wasn’t played against Texas Tech. And K-State has to go to Salt Lake City for that one. Winning both of those games will not be easy.
The Wildcats may need Deuce Vaughn, Cooper Beebe, Ben Sinnott, Jacob Parrish and a few other K-State alums to leave their NFL teams and return to college in order to win out.
But let’s say K-State is able to beat the odds and finish the regular season on a heater. It will be because these players step up in big ways:
Dylan Edwards on offense. It’s hard to envision the Wildcats reaching their ceiling without their starting lineup healthy and making big plays in the backfield.
VJ Payne on defense. He has more than enough talent to be a difference-maker. But he’s been mostly quiet this season. K-State will benefit if that changes.
Bryce Noernberg or Sterling Lockett as wildcards. K-State will need big plays on special teams to finish out the year on a long winning streak.
Will Dylan Edwards play against KU? -@wabash31 via X.
I wish I had a yes or no answer for you. But his status remains up in the air.
A K-State insider told me last week that Edwards underwent a myriad of medical tests after he limped off the field with an injury to his right ankle/foot against Baylor. After the tests were complete, the Wildcats decided to give him two weeks off to try and let him get healthy.
The hope is that he will be able to play against the Jayhawks. But he watched the TCU game from the sideline with a walking boot wrapped around his right foot. He may not be ready to play next weekend.
Because he has only appeared in four games, there is also a chance that he decides to redshirt this season and save an extra year of college eligibility for later. To be fair, no one has told me he intends to go that route. But it will remain an option until he plays in another game.
We may not gain clarity on his status until the Big 12 starts releasing availability reports next week.
Bring us up to date and give us your thoughts on “knifegate” -@BusMedicMike via X.
Here’s our story on the Big 12 fining both Kansas and Texas Tech after their game in Lubbock last week.
And here’s a column from Sam McDowell on the entire ordeal.
If you have been living under a rock for the past week, those two links should get you caught up to speed on the messy situation that occurred in the aftermath of Texas Tech’s blowout victory over Kansas.
But if you still need a quick summation: KU coach Lance Leipold asserted that Texas Tech fans threw a pocket knife at his team, and that it struck a KU staffer. Then he blasted the Big 12 for not properly enforcing its crowd safety rules. Next, the Big 12 fined him for making an “inaccurate statement” about the pocket knife. Then he issued a public apology.
This happened last Saturday, and fans across the conference are still talking about it.
From a K-State perspective, it could end up being a good development.
Instead of spending the entirety of his bye week preparing for a huge rivalry game against the Wildcats, KU coach Lance Leipold has been distracted by a pocket knife and several days worth of unwanted attention.
Leipold is typically very good after a bye week. Klieman tends to struggle after them. Maybe this will even things out a bit.
This has been a major distraction that could end up helping K-State extend its Sunflower Showdown winning streak to 17.
The preseason Big 12 poll seems pretty accurate for K-State men’s basketball. If we meet expectations at 9 and do well in non-conference play, that should get us in tourney ... right? -@SaturdaysinMHK via X.
Not necessarily.
West Virginia finished in a tie for seventh in the Big 12 standings last season at 10-10. The Mountaineers also went 9-3 in non-conference play. By the end of the regular season, they owned wins over Gonzaga, Arizona, Kansas and Iowa State.
Their reward: a snub on Selection Sunday.
Conference realignment has changed things so much in college basketball that you can no longer count on something like a decent finish in the Big 12 being enough for an invitation to the Big Dance.
That being said, if K-State can match its projection from the Big 12 coaches then I will like its odds of returning to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since Jerome Tang’s first year in Manhattan. If K-State can win half its games in the Big 12 and pick up notable victories early in the season then it will have a solid resume. Odds are, the Wildcats would have too many good wins to miss out.
Still, the Wildcats would wise to shoot for more if they want to feel comfortable in March.
Tang should be aiming for 20 wins.
My weekly recommendations
Streaming: Cocaine Quarterback: Signal-Caller for the Cartel on Amazon Prime. This is an interesting mini-series about a USC volleyball player quit his sport and successfully walked onto to the football team when the Trojans were winning national titles under Pete Carroll. Then he became a drug kingpin. I still can’t believe it’s a true story.
Sports wager: Texas Tech will probably win the Big 12 this season, but if you’re looking for a long shot then you might want to throw a couple bucks on Baylor at 25-to-1. The Bears ended last season on a six-game winning streak after their bye week. Maybe lightning will strike twice.
Vintage K-State highlight: In honor of Brent Venables’ ridiculous statement about the “old Big 12” being so easy for Oklahoma, let’s re-live the time that the Wildcats beat the Sooners 35-7 in the 2003 conference championship game.