Kansas State Wildcats
Head Coach: Bill Snyder
2011 Record: 10-3 overall, 7-2 Big 12
2011 Bowl Result: Lost in Cotton Bowl 29-16 to Arkansas
Odds to Win Big 12 Championship: 16/1
Odds to Win 2013 BCS Championship: 150/1
Over Under Regular Season Wins: under 7 1/2 -135 / over +105
All Odds Courtesy of Bovada

Coming into last season, no one outside of Manhattan (Kansas, not New York) expected much from Kansas St, coached by the legendary Bill Snyder. The experts thought Kansas St simply didn’t have the firepower to compete with the high octane Big 12 offenses. Well, Kansas St ended up winning 10 games last year, with the only losses coming to Oklahoma, Oklahoma St, and Arkansas in the Cotton Bowl. All three were ranked in the top 10 at the time Kansas St played them, although Oklahoma ended up fading down the stretch.

Apart from blowout wins over Kent St and a terrible Kansas team, every other win for the Wildcats was by 7 points or less. So was the loss to Oklahoma St. I am not saying Kansas St wasn’t a good team last year, but they got some lucky breaks last year. Kansas St is ranked in both pre-season polls, #21 in the coaches’ poll and #22 in the AP poll. They won’t sneak up on anyone this year.

Offense

Last season, Kansas St averaged 337 yards per game, including 185.5 rushing yards a game. They scored 31.8 points per game, with was 34th nationally, under coordinators Dana Dimel and Del Miller.

Last season, senior quarterback Collin Klein came out of nowhere to become one of the nation’s top dual threat quarterbacks along with Michigan’s Denard Robinson and Nebraska’s Taylor Martinez. Klein completed 57.3% of his passes for 1,918 yards with 13 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. Klein was much more effective with his legs. He had 317 carries for 1,141 yards and 27 touchdowns. He was tied for second nationally in rushing touchdowns behind Wisconsin RB Montee Ball who had 33. The drawback of having that many carries, is Klein was sacked 42 times last year. Durability could be an issue since he has to take so many hits every game. However, if he stays healthy and improves his passing he could be a dark horse Heisman candidate. If something happens to Klein, three players are battling to be his back-up. Redshirt freshman Daniel Sams, true freshman Tavarius Bender, and sophomore Sam Johnson could step in.

Running back John Hubert had 200 carries for 970 yards and 3 touchdowns. He also had 24 catches, 188 yards, and 1 touchdown catch. Angelo Pease had 36 carries, 144 yards, and 2 touchdowns. Running back Robert Rose is only 5-4 and 174 pounds. He only had 9 carries last year but looks to take on a bigger role this season. This is the school that had so much success with another small yet extremely speedy back, Darren Sproles, in the mid 2000’s. Braden Wilson is the fullback but will only get a handful of carries, and maybe a catch or two. Of course, Klein will continue to get most of the carries.

Including Hubert, the top 4 receivers return for Kansas St. Chris Harper had 40 catches, 547 yards, and 5 touchdowns. Tramaine Thompson had 21 catches, 338 yards and a touchdown. The X-factor will be the health of electrifying sophomore Tyler Lockett, who was named Big 12 freshman offensive player of the year last year despite missing several games at the end of the season due to a lacerated kidney suffered in the Oklahoma St game. He has recovered from that injury but suffered several minor injuries during the off season. Before the injury, Lockett had 18 catches, 246 yards, and 3 touchdowns. He also averaged 35 yards per kick return with 2 touchdowns. He was the four leading rusher with 10 carries for 110 yards. The tight ends will be Travis Tannahill and Andre McDonald.

The offensive line must replace 4 players with a combined 79 games experience including all-conference tackles Zach Hanson and Clyde Aufner. Despite those two the line wasn’t very good. It was more because of the athletic ability of Klein and Hubert that K-State was able to run so well. Guard Nick Puetz and center B.J. Finney have 25 career starts.

Defense

Last season, Kansas St allowed just under 264 passing yards a game and almost 28 points a game. Those numbers aren’t bad when you consider they were facing some of the nation’s top offenses on a weekly basis in the Big 12. That was under coordinator Chris Cosh who left to take the same position at South Florida. Wildcats’ secondary coach Tom Hayes is the new defensive coordinator.

The line must replace 3 players, end Jordan Voelker and tackles Ray Kibble & Raphael Guidry. Snyder brought in three JUCO college transfers at tackle to infuse talent in the unit, Darryl Blackmon, John Sua and Javonta Boyd. They will join Vai Lutui who had 34 tackles last year. End Meshak Williams had 29 tackles, including 10 for loss and 7 sacks. The other end will be Adam Davis who had 34 tackles, 8 for loss, and 4 sacks. Ryan Mueller, Laton Dowling and Wesley Hollingshead will also get some time in the rotation.

The star of the defense is former Miami transfer linebacker Arthur Brown. After sitting out a year, he led the team in tackles with 101, including 9.5 for loss and 2 sacks last year. he was first team All-big 12 last year, and will be a first round pick the NFL draft in the future. Tre Walker had 52 tackles last year. Jarell Childs is a converted running back and Justin Tuggle is a converted quarterback. Both will see action at linebacker, as will Blake Slaughter and Mike Moore.

Senior Nigel Malone starts at one cornerback. he had 58 tackles, 7 interceptions, and 10 passes broken up. Allen Chapman takes over at the other corner from David Garrett. Chapman made 50 tackles and had an interception last year. Ty Zimmerman, Thomas Ferguson, Jarard Milo, and Randall Evans will rotate at the safeties.

Special Teams

Senior kicker Anthony Cantele returns. He made 17 of 23 field goals, but 3 of those were between 40 and 49 yards. He made a 54 yard kick in the Oklahoma game. He made 7 of his last 8 field goals after that game. Cantele is also one of the best kickoff specialists in the Big 12 along with Oklahoma St’s Quinn Sharp.

Punter Ryan Doerr averaged 40.8 yards per punt last year, with 32 fair catches and 14 inside the 20. The punt coverage unit still allowed 10 yards per return.

If Lockett is healthy he will return both kicks and punts. Lockett was a sensational kick returner, but he averaged only 6.3 yards per punt return.  Tramaine Thompson averaged 12 yards per return. Ty Zimmerman could also be in the mix.

Schedule

K-State open with non-conference home games against Missouri St, Miami-FL, and North Texas. They have road conference games at Oklahoma, Iowa St, West Virginia, TCU, and Baylor. The Wildcats host Kansas, Texas Tech, Oklahoma St, and Texas.

Outlook

The offense did just enough to win games last year. The defense wasn’t as bad as the numbers suggested. With Klein, Hubert, and potentially a healthy Lockett the offense could be even better, even with uncertainty on the line. The defense should be better as well. Still, I think this team doesn’t win 10 games like they did last year. I see a 9 win season for the Wildcats.

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