Pick and preview: Troy at Kansas State
KSO will look at a handful of categories each week when previewing the Kansas State game on Saturday. We discuss factors to keep in mind for the Wildcats, what K-State needs to learn, the players to watch and a final prediction.
FOUR FACTORS FOR KANSAS STATE
1. Preparation: A few Kansas State players mentioned throughout the week that they may have taken Tulane too lightly after being high and mighty on themselves after blasting Missouri. You don’t overlook a team on Saturday. You overlook them on Monday through Friday and it screws with preparation. So, the hay is already on the barn at this point. Are they mature enough to take care of business?
2. Disruption: Where K-State can exploit Troy the most is to live in the backfield, much like they did a week ago versus SEMO. The advantage is on that line of scrimmage, and I’m not convinced the Trojans are better up front on the offensive side of the ball than what the Wildcats saw from the Redhawks. Pair that with a quarterback that isn’t all that mobile, and it could be a sack party and turnover-fest.
3. Protect Howard: In ways, Troy will be a good tune-up for the Missouri contest. They can really get after the quarterback. It’s probably their best trait. Kansas State wasn’t the sharpest on handling pressure last Saturday.
4. Clean: The defense probably has less to improve upon when it comes to this category just because they were rarely tested by SEMO. However, in general, a clean game from K-State with noticeable improvement and less mistakes would be a welcome sight just before they take on the Tigers from the SEC.
WHAT THE WILDCATS NEED TO LEARN
1. Offensive line: We expected Kansas State to have a dominant offensive line, and they weren’t quite up to that caliber in the opener. It was a slow start for the group. Seeing them more in form against Troy would be reassuring.
2. Keagan: It would be great to discover that Keagan Johnson can go this week, at least a little bit, and get his feet wet a bit before traveling to Columbia and facing Missouri.
SATURDAY STARS
Ben Sinnott: While I believe that K-State can and will run the ball against Troy, their front is pretty stout so the Wildcats could run into a bit of resistance. Protecting the quarterback hopefully isn’t an adventure, but don’t rule it out. The short and intermediate passing game could be the way to go and the biggest mismatch on the field is Kansas State tight end Ben Sinnott.
Khalid Duke: I picked him last week and he did record a sack. It’s probably more than one this week for pass-rushing extraordinaire Khalid Duke.
Chris Tennant: Earlier in the week, I already projected Chris Tennant to sail three field goals through the uprights. It has to be him.
Kansas State/Kansas State Athletics
PREDICTION
In my opinion, ksu_FAN put it best. It will look more like the Nevada game than the Tulane contest from a season ago. I’ll take it a step further. It may even be a little more one-sided than that. I still don’t believe in Troy. Last year was a bit of good fortune and they’re not as good this season.
Kansas State plays a little cleaner on offense, the defense is very disruptive with a large amount of sacks and turnovers and the Wildcats cruise past this Group of Five team with relative ease after a fast start. Maybe they don’t finish all their drives, because the Trojans have some mettle, but they’ll score on many.
K-State races past Troy, 37-13.
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