Manhattan, KS– Angel Rodriguez is clutch. With just over 5 seconds remaining in Saturdays tilt against Oklahoma, Rodriguez went to the line with a chance to give K-State a lead over the Oklahoma Sooners. Cool, calm, and collected Rodriguez buried both. The 52-50 victory over Oklahoma, coupled with KU’s upset at home, has breathed new life into the K-State Wildcats. Here are 5 things we learned from Saturday’s victory.

1.) More than just McGruder- In what has now been a theme in the past 2 games, K-State has proven they can win games without the scoring of Rodney McGruder. Against Texas and Oklahoma, McGruder picked up 2 early fouls that benched him for the majority of the first half. Jr. Will Spradling also picked up 2 early fouls and was out for the majority of the 1st half. Even without the Cats 2 main scoring options, they were able to score and maintain a lead over Oklahoma. Martavious Irving was the main spark plug coming off the bench. Irving poured in 10 points, including 2 3 pointers to supply K-State with some key bench scoring.

2.) Defense, Defense, Defense- If we learned anything from Saturday’s performance, it was what the Cats sometimes lack in offense, they make up for in defense. For the 2nd team in as many weeks, K-State held a team to its lowest offensive output of the season. Even more impressive, with Spradling and McGruder benched, K-State held Oklahoma scoreless for a 10 minute stretch from the 6:27 mark of the first half, to the 15:43 mark of the second half. 10 minutes with 0 points from the Sooners, that is impressive. If K-State can put in more defensive performances like that for the rest of the season, they will become one of the deadliest defenses in college basketball.

3.) Angel Rodriguez is a True Point Guard- While Bill Self threw his senior ball handler under the bus following their loss to Oklahoma State, Kansas State is sitting pretty with one of their best point guards in the past decade. While Rodriguez is just a So. he leads the Big 12 in assist to turnover ratio, and gives K-State that something special when he is on the court. Still prone to taking bad shots, Rodriguez has eliminated a lot of the Fr. mistakes he was known for last year. He came to K-State as a so called “clone” of Denis Clemente, but might leave with a reputation that would far overshadow Clemente.

4.) Warrior Spradling- With McGruder struggling, it was in fact Will Spradling that stepped up big for Kansas State. With his 12 points, Spradling lead K-State in scoring, but it was the timing of his points that were most impressive. Midway through the second half, Isaiah Cousins buried a top of the arc three, to pull within one of K-State. On the ensuing possession Spradling buried a cold blooded corner three after K-State drained the shot clock down to 6 seconds. Later in the half Spradling tipped in a Southwell 3 pointer to extend K-States lead to 8. Considering Spradling supposedly broke his nose against Texas and was benched for the majority of the first half, Spradling is turning into one of K-State’s biggest warriors.

5.) Back in the Title Race……….For Now- With K-States win, and KU’s loss the Cats are now just a game back of the Jayhawks in the race for first. Throw in a Baylor loss at Iowa State, and K-State are in sole possession of second. With 10 games remaining on the Big 12 slate, it is a longshot but K-State is now locked in a battle for the Big 12 crown. If K-State can take down Texas Tech and Iowa State in its next 2 games, they will go into Lawrence a game behind the Jayhawks. And if, K-State can shake its game woes to the Jayhawks K-State could find themselves halfway through the Big 12 slate tied for first in the conference.

While half of the season is yet to be played, K-State has found themselves exactly where they wanted to be at this point in the conference slate. 2nd in the conference with a chance, while it is a small chance, to unseat the Jayhawks at the top of the conference. If you haven’t already, buckle up cause the rest of the K-State season could be the most exciting in a very long time.

Manhattan, KS– So close, yet so far. K-State dropped a 59-55 heartbreaker last night to Kansas in Bramlage Coliseum.

K-State fought hard and stayed close the entire game but was never able to close the gap on No. 3 Kansas. The Cats were lead by Jr. Shane Southwell, who had a career game making 5 three pointers to give him 19 points and lead all players in scoring.

KU jumped out to an 18-10 lead midway through the first half and looked to be running away from the Cats until So. Angel Rodriguez breathed life into K-State and lead them on a 9-0 run, capped by a Southwell three pointer, to give K-State a 19-18 lead with 6:23 left in the half. Unfortunately for K-State, that was the last time they would lead in the game. Perry Ellis answered with a layup and K-State was never able to get closer than one the rest of the game.

Missed opportunities was the story of the game for Kansas State. The Cats went 9-30 from three point range and spurned many wide open looks. Star player Rodney McGruder was 3-9 and finished the night with just 13 points. Angel Rodriguez and Will Spradling were a combined 1-10 from behind the arc, while Southwell went 5-11. K-State was able to get wide open looks for the majority of the match up but were not able to hit the shots when it counted.

Nadir Tharpe went to the line for a one and one with the Jayhawks up 3 with 26 seconds left and calmly swished both to end the Cats realistic hopes.

With the loss K-State drops to 15-3 on the season and 4-1 in Big 12 play. Next up a big road matchup with Farmageddon rival Iowa State on Saturday. K-State will need a win to keep KU within their grasp.

Manhattan, KS– For the second straight year the Wildcats and Head Coach Bill Snyder have outdone themselves. Picked to finish 6th in the Big 12 preseason polls, the Wildcats have finished on top of the conference for just the second time ever. K-State put the finishing touches on its Big 12 title by “owning” Texas for the 5th straight time, 42-24.

K-State entered saturday’s match up needing a win to secure a Big 12 title and a Fiesta Bowl berth due to Oklahoma defeating TCU earlier in the day.

An emotionally charged night begin with one of the loudest senior night presentations in K-State history as three of K-State’s all time greats, Collin Klein, Arthur Brown, and Nigel Malone, were all playing their final game in Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

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Manhattan, KS– 9 days ago K-States bowl picture seemed crystal clear. Beat Baylor and solidify at least a Fiesta Bowl berth, then play Texas for a trip to the National Championship. Surely the number 1 team in the country wouldn’t lose to the worst defense in the country. But once again, the Sports Illustrated curse reared its ugly head and the Cats went down. Now with one game left to play where does that put K-State in the bowl picture?

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Manhattan, KS– Suddenly it is all clear. There should be no more worrying, no more thoughts of being left out. If Kansas State can beat Baylor and Texas, they will play in the national championship.

The team that 14 years ago ended K-State championship dreams, has now cleared the path for the Cats to play in their first ever championship game.  Some might find it poetic justice, others might see it as a sign. But just minutes after K-State kicked off against TCU, the Aggies held on to defeat the #1 ranked Crimson Tide. Two days later, the Wildcats now sit at #1 in the BCS polls, compared to #2 in the Coaches and Harris polls.

Despite, Oregons now firm grasp on the top spot in all human polls, K-State is firmly above Notre Dame in both polls at #2, so any hopes of an Irish leap frog have been pretty much dashed. K-State now controls its own destiny in Championship hunt.

Only 2 teams now stand in the way between K-State and Miami, a hungry Baylor team this saturday and a red hot Texas team who hasn’t beaten K-State since 2003.

K-State defeated TCU 23-10 on Saturday, but it came at a cost. K-State lost 3 starters to injury for an unseeable amount of time. So. WR Curry Sexton went down with a shoulder injury, while more importantly, starting Safety Ty Zimmerman and all american WR and kick returner Tyler Lockett both went down with leg injuries. Unconfirmed reports have given indication that Sexton will be out for the remainder of the season, while both Lockett and Zimmerman are questionable to doubtful for K-State two remaining games.

Head Coach Bill Snyder has not and will not say a peep about the status of any of K-States injured players, so Cat fans will just have to waiting for the rest of the season.

K-State Heisman contender Collin Klein did return to action at TCU after suffereing from an apparent head injury the week before against Oklahoma State. While Klein did not fully appear himself, he still account for 195 yards and two touchdowns.

If the Cats win in Waco this weekend, a birth in the Championship will come down to a December showdown with top 15 Texas in a game that might mirror K-States showdown with Texas A&M in 1998. This time expect a happier ending for the boys wearing purple.

Manhattan, KS– When K-State heads south to Fort Worth on Saturday to take on the TCU Horned Frogs, the second ranked Wildcats will once again be on upset alert. This time, for a different reason. Last Saturdays mysterious injury to Collin Klein has left many in the dark about his current condition, and whether or not he will play. Regardless of Klein’s condition it sets up for a very interesting match up between K-State and TCU.

The second ranked Kansas State Wildcats are off to their best start in well over a decade, and are poised to play for the schools first ever BCS National Title.

Led by Heisman Front Runner Collin Klein, the Wildcats have been very difficult to stop this season. Teams have been able to shut down, or limit, parts of the Wildcat attack. But when Kansas State needs to make plays, they have been impossible to stop this season. Facing critical thirds downs in away games at both Oklahoma and Iowa State, the Kansas State offense has answered every test.

Devonte Fields and the 25th ranked TCU defense will be looking to become the first school to shut down the Collin Klein led attack this year. The Horned Frogs are currently the top ranked defense in the Big 12, in terms of yards allowed, at 333 per game, and will be K-State’s biggest test since facing Oklahoma earlier in the season. But with all the offensive weapons on the K-State side, TCU will have to get pretty creative to stop the Cats.

TCU is coming off of a much needed 39-38 double overtime win at West Virginia. The Horned Frogs were in the middle of a 2 game losing streak going into the game. In addition the Horned Frogs are returning home for the first time 2 games. TCU is 2-2 on the season at home, and 0-2 in conference play.

Leading the Horned Frog attack is Fr. QB Trevone Boykin. What Boykin lacks in decision making, he makes up for in playmaking. While Boykin is no where close to the QB that Casey Pachall was, Boykin can make plays both on the ground and through the air. On the year he has thrown for 1376 yards and 13 touchdowns, while adding 2 on the ground.

K-State will need to get pressure on Boykin and force him into making decisions before he wants too. Kansas State has done a great job of rattling QB’s early on in games. The Cats have also forced multiple QB’s into turning the ball over multiple times. If K-State can keep Boykin from getting the ball to his playmakers on the outside, K-State should win, and easily for that matter.

Prediction: #2 Kansas State 45 TCU 21

Offensive Captain Mike Peabody leads K-State Men’s Lacrosse this weekend in their first pre-season tournament, as they travel to Joplin Missouri to face other Mid-West teams. Peabody is confident in the level that his team is at, and thinks that they will be able to pull out a few victories as long as the team is well paced and has good ball movement.  This is the first time that K-State has had a pre-season in at least years, we will know just how good the team is after this tournament.

Defensive  Captain Jeff Rixey hopes that the defense has made the necessary improvements, as they will be playing in their first pre-season tournament in Joplin Missouri this weekend. They will be playing other Mid-West teams, and Rixey is confident that the defense has greatly improved since last year, and says that a better offensive unit makes a better defensive unit. If the offense keeps the b all on the other side of the ball, it gives an added advantage to the defense. We will know just how good the defensive unit is after this tournament.

John Forsee

Manhattan, KS– It wasn’t always pretty, and it was very scary, but in the end #2 Kansas State disposed of #24 Oklahoma State rather easily.

The story of the game however, was a mysterious injury suffered by K-State Heisman contending quarterback, Collin Klein. After scoring a 1 yard touchdown off of a quarterback sneak, Klein trotted to the sidelines and did not return.

Leading 38-20 following a field goal response on the following drive, Bill Snyder put fear into the hearts of many K-State fans by sending backup quarterback into the game. Although the Cats did not score a touchdown following Klein’s injury, which is now assumed to be a concussion or head/neck injury, Sams did a good job of managing the game and lead K-State to 2 4th quarter field goal drives.

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NO. 12 OKLAHOMA VS. IOWA STATE

Time: 12:00 p.m. ET

Location: Jack Trice Stadium, Ames, Iowa

T.V.: ABC

Coming off a BCS-crippling loss to the No. 3 Notre Dame Fighting Irish, the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners look to get back on track for a high finish in the Big 12 with a win in Ames on Saturday. However, the Cyclones just knocked off Baylor in impressive fashion, as its defense held the Bears to just 21 points. And you know the saying, nobody just waltzes into Jack Trice Stadium and strolls out with a victory.

For the second time this year, Landry Jones failed to produce at a high level against a tough defense, as he was held to zero touchdowns and was picked off late in the game by Manti Te’o, which dashed any hopes of a comeback. In its other loss this season though, after falling to then-No. 15 Kansas State, the Sooners responded with a 41-20 drubbing of Texas Tech, and the Red Raiders have beaten the Cyclones this year. The Sooners are still 13th in the country in scoring, in 16th in points allowed despite only scoring 13 and allowing 30 to the Irish.

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The Kansas State Women’s team had their first exhibition game tonight at Bramlage Stadium against the Fort Hays State Lady Tigers. The Wildcat’s last exhibition game against the Lady Tigers was in 2010 where the Wildcats crushed Fort Hays 91-25.

The game started great with senior Britney Chambers putting the first points on the board. Unfortunately the Wildcats lost their lead until there were six minutes left in the half when Ashia Woods scored bringing the Cats up 20-19.

K-State kept the lead for the remainder of the half going into halftime with a 30-26 lead over the Fort Hays Lady Tigers. By the end of the first half Ashia Woods, Brittany Chambers, and Brianna Craig were tied with 8 points each, but the top scorer of the game so far was Fort Hays’ number 40 Katie Lehman with 10.

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