Game 7 5/5 Oklahoma at Kansas State

Date: Saturday, October 26, 2019

Kickoff: 11 a.m.

Location: Manhattan, Kan.

Stadium: Bill Snyder Family Stadium (50,000)

Series: Oklahoma leads, 76-19-4

TV: ABC

Bob Wischusen (Play-by-Play)

Dan Orlovsky (Analyst)

Allison Williams (Sidelines)

Radio: K-State Sports Network; k-statesports.com

Wyatt Thompson (Play-by-Play)

Stan Weber (Analyst)

Matt Walters (Sidelines)

Sirius Satellite Radio Ch. 136, XM Channel 200, Internet Channel 954

Twitter Updates: @KStateFB

CATS HOST NO. 5 SOONERS IN MORNING ABC TILT

Following a hard-fought 24-17 win over TCU last week, K-State welcomes No. 5 Oklahoma to Manhattan for an 11 a.m., contest on Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game will air on ABC with Bob Wischusen (play-by-play), Dan Orlovsky (analyst) and Allison Williams (sidelines) on the call. The contest can be heard across the 39-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game can also be heard on SiriusXM (S: 136, X: 200, Internet: 954) in addition to the TuneIn app.

A LOOK AT K-STATE

• K-State got back on the winning track last week with a 24-17 win over TCU to move to 4-2 on the season. The Cats have opened the Chris Klieman era with four impressive victories – highlighted by a 31-24 win at No. 23 Mississippi State and last week’s win.

• K-State has rushed for 1,183 yards (197.2 yds/gm) through its first six games, while it eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in the fifth game. It marked just the eighth time since 2000 – but just the second since 2013 – that the Wildcats hit the 1,000-yard rushing mark through the first five games of the season.

• The Wildcats also have 14 rushing touchdowns after tallying only 20 rushing scores a year ago. Of the 14 scores, 11 have come from running backs after the group accounted for only 13 last season.

• Quarterback Skylar Thompson – who now has four game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or later in his career – has thrown for 994 yards and seven touchdowns with one interception, while three receivers – Dalton Schoen, Phillip Brooks and Malik Knowles – each have at least 10 catches and 100 yards on the year.

• The K-State defense enters the week ranked highly in many statistical categories, including third down defense (2nd; 23.9%), passing yards allowed (5th; 152.5 yds/gm), first downs allowed (6th; 98), pass efficiency defense (10th; 105.88) and scoring defense (19th; 18.7).

• The Wildcats have surrendered only 2.7 third-down conversions this year to rank second in the nation behind Wisconsin (2.1).

• Freshman safety Wayne Jones (31 tackles) is one of six Wildcats with at least 20 stops on the season.

• Eighteen different Wildcats have at least a half tackle for loss for a team total of 30, led by Wyatt Hubert’s 5.0. The sophomore also leads the team with 3.0 sacks, just ahead of redshirt freshman linebacker Daniel Green (2.0).

• Cornerback AJ Parker has a team-high two interceptions.

• The Wildcats possess a great kicker/punter duo as Blake Lynch ranks 19th nationally in field goal percentage (87.5%) and fifth among active players for a career, while Devin Anctil ranks 13th in the nation with a 45.5-yard punting average.

A LOOK AT OKLAHOMA

• Oklahoma enters the game ranked fifth in the country and is led by Heisman Trophy candidate Jalen Hurts at quarterback.

• The Sooners defeated West Virginia, 52-14, last week to improve to 7-0, and they enter the game with the No. 1 offense in the nation in both yards and points.

• Hurts lead the team in rushing and passing and has combined for 30 touchdowns (20 passing and 10 rushing) through seven games.

• CeeDee Lamb is a Biletnikoff Award candidate and currently has 31 catches for 681 yards and 10 touchdowns.

• Defensively, Kenneth Murray leads the team with 51 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES

• Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 76-19-4, including a 38-10-1 mark in Manhattan.

• Kansas State will be looking to snap a seven-game winning streak by the Sooners in Manhattan as the Wildcats’ last home win over OU was a 42-35 triumph in 1996.

• That streak was nearly snapped two years ago in a 42-35 contest in 2017. The Wildcats scored a game-tying touchdown with 2:25 left in the game, but Oklahoma went 76 yards in 11 plays and scored the game-winning touchdown with seven seconds remaining.

HOSTING TOP FIVES

• K-State will host an AP top-five team in Manhattan for the 27th time in school history and the eighth time since 2000 on Saturday.

• The Cats are 2-24 overall and 2-5 since 2000. The two victories were against No. 4 Nebraska, 29-28, in 2000 and No. 4 Texas, 45-42, in 2006.

TWO OF THE BIG 12’S BEST

• Saturday’s match up between K-State and Oklahoma features two teams that rank in the top three in Big 12 wins since the league’s inception in 1996. The Sooners lead with 149 wins, while the Wildcats are third with 114 victories.

• The Wildcats also rank third in the conference in winning percentage since round-robin play began in 2011. They sit at .600 (45-30), trailing only Oklahoma (.829; 63-13) and Oklahoma State (.632; 48-28).

A NEW ERA

• The new era of K-State Football under Chris Klieman has opened with a 4-2 record through six games.

• Klieman, who was named the 35th head coach in school history on December 10, 2018, was just the fourth head coach in K-State history to start 3-0.

• He also became just the fourth head coach to begin a tenure with at least four wins in the first six games.

A WINNING HISTORY

• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman came to Manhattan after capping his five-year stint as head coach at North Dakota State by winning his fourth national championship in 2018.

• Klieman guided the 2018 Bison to a perfect 15-0 record, making NDSU just the fifth team in FCS history to go undefeated and untied on the way to a national championship.

• A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman has a career record of 76-15 (.835), as he went 69-6 in his five seasons at North Dakota State, 3-7 in one year as the head coach at Division III Loras College in 2005 and 4-2 so far at K-State.

• Klieman’s overall winning percentage ranks seventh among all active NCAA coaches – regardless of division – and tops among active FBS coaches.

FEW FLAGS

• One staple of Kansas State football throughout the years has been limited penalties, and the 2019 Wildcats have continued that trend.

• K-State enters the week ranked second in the Big 12 and 17th nationally in fewest penalties (34), while it is second in the league and 14th in the country in fewest penalty yards (293).

YOUNG PUPS

• K-State opened the season with 60 total freshmen (true and redshirt) on the roster, which equated to 47.2 percent of its total squad.

• The 60 freshmen were the eighth most in the nation.

• The Wildcats played 20 total freshmen (combined true and redshirt) in their season opener, which ranked seventh in the nation.

• In week two against Bowling Green, the Wildcats played 32 freshmen.

HIGH T.O.P.

• K-State enters this week ranked fifth nationally in time of possession at 34:11.

• The Wildcats’ best season time of possession average since 1985 was 33:55 during the 2011 season.

• K-State possessed the ball for 41:09 against Nicholls, the most in the nation in the opening weekend.

• The Wildcats followed that up with 42:52 against Bowling Green to rank as the most is the most by at K-State team since at least 1988, while it ranked eighth in Big 12 history and was the most by a Big 12 team since 2011.

CONTROLLING THE TEMPO

• K-State has showcased a balanced offense in the first half of the season, highlighted by a 197.2-yard average on the ground to rank fifth in the Big 12.

• The Wildcats had 573 yards of total offense against Nicholls, which tied for the seventh most in school history and were the most ever in a season opener.

• With 521 yards against Bowling Green, K-State eclipsed the 500-yard total offense mark in the first two games of a season for the first time ever.

FEW OFFENSIVE TURNOVERS

• The Wildcats only have three offensive turnovers in its first six games (2 INT, 1 FUM), their fewest in the first half of the season since 2012 (2 INT, 1 FUM).

• K-State was the final team in the nation to commit an offensive turnover when it fumbled at Oklahoma State.

• Of the Wildcats’ four lost fumbles in their first three games, three were on punt returns and one on an interception return.

• K-State went the first 189 minutes, 38 seconds of the 2019 season without committing an offensive turnover.

RACKING UP RUSHING YARDS

• The Wildcats showed at the outset of the season its ability to run the football, a mark that now stands at 197.2 per game.

• Kansas State has 1,183 total rushing yards this season. The Wildcats hit the 1,000-yard mark in their fifth game, marking the eighth time since 2000 but just the second since 2013 it only took five games to get to 1,000.

• K-State carded over 300 yards rushing in each of the first two games, the first time since at least 1965 that the Wildcats went over the 300-yard mark twice to open a season.

RUNNING TO PAYDIRT

• Six different Wildcats have tallied rushing touchdowns this year for a team total of 14. Last year, K-State had 20 total rushing touchdowns in 12 games.

• K-State running backs have accounted for 11 rushing touchdowns this season after the position group only had 13 in 2018.

• Transfer running backs James Gilbert (4) and Jordon Brown (3) lead the team in rushing touchdowns, while quarterback Skylar Thompson has two and both Harry Trotter and Joe Ervin have one.

DEFENSE RANKING HIGHLY

• K-State ranks first in the Big 12 and 19th nationally in scoring defense (18.7 pts/gm), while the Wildcats are first in the league and fifth nationally in passing yards allowed (152.5 yd/gm).

• Kansas State finished in the top 25 nationally in scoring defense only twice since 2003. In terms of pass defense, K-State has not finished better than 40th in the country since 2003 when it ranked seventh.

GETTING OFF THE FIELD

• The K-State defense has excelled in terms of getting off the field on third down during the first six games of the year as the Wildcats rank second in the nation in third down defense (23.9%) behind Wisconsin (16.1%).

• The Wildcats are allowing only 2.7 third down conversions per game to rank second nationally to the Badgers (2.1).

• Additionally, K-State is the only team in the nation to not allow a fourth-down conversion.

LIMITED SNAPS

• Thanks to its efficiency on third downs, the K-State defense is one of the nation’s leaders in fewest defensive snaps played.

• K-State has defended against just 361 plays in its six games as its 60.1 defensive snaps per game rank fifth in the nation.

SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE

• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last 15 years when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.

• The Wildcats have a combined 49 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 19 more than any other FBS school during that stretch.

• After only having one in 2018 – a punt-return score in the season opener – Malik Knowles got things going in 2019 with a 100-yard kickoff return at Mississippi State.

DEFENSE ON KICKOFFS

• K-State has been consistent in terms of kickoff coverage as the Cats have not allowed a kickoff-return touchdown in the last 81 games, the last being against Louisiana on September 7, 2013. During that stretch, K-State has defended against 304 returns.

• K-State has ranked in the top 30 nationally in kickoff return defense each of the last five seasons, including a No. 2 national ranking in 2017.

• The Wildcats enter this week ranked 12th in that department by limiting opponents to just 16.92 yards per return.

DEFENSE ON PUNTS

• K-State also rank highly this season in punt-return defense at 10th by allowing only 2.0 yards per punt return.

• The Wildcats have allowed just one punt-return touchdown in the last 68 games, defending against 90 punt returns.

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