MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Kansas State hopes to know late in the week whether or not it is going to have Adrian Martinez below middle when the No. 22 Wildcats play ninth-ranked Oklahoma State in a recreation that might assist determine who performs in the Big 12 championship recreation.
Martinez barely performed final week at TCU, when the Wildcats (5-2, 3-1) blew a 28-10 lead in a loss to the Horned Frogs that left them preventing for second place in the convention race. They are tied with Oklahoma State (6-1, 3-1), which additionally has misplaced to TCU, and meaning the winner Saturday could have a giant benefit in the race for a title-game rematch.
“Injuries? It’s part of (the game),” stated Kansas State coach Chris Klieman, whose crew has skilled greater than its share this season. (*9*)
“The thing about it is our kids knew that they had an opportunity to win the game no matter who was playing,” Klieman stated of final week’s loss. “We just didn’t make plays. We’re not going to make excuses on who’s playing injuries or not. We’re going to get them ready and we got a tough one against Oklahoma State. We’ll be ready.”
Will Howard threw for 225 yards and two touchdowns in place of Martinez in opposition to the Horned Frogs, and the backup can be first up in opposition to the Cowboys if the Wildcats’ starter can’t play. Howard has been coping with a sore shoulder, although, which briefly pressured third-stringer Jake Rubley into final week’s recreation.
The Cowboys confronted their share of adversity on the sector final week, trailing Texas by 10 late in the third quarter. But they calmly rallied behind quarterback Spencer Sanders, whose two fourth-quarter TD passes lifted them to a 41-34 victory and saved them in prime place to land a spot in the Big 12 title recreation with 5 left on the schedule.
“We ended the game with six freshmen playing on defense there towards the end. I know at kickoff we had nine guys running down the field that had never played college football, basically,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy stated. “We had a lot of guys that were banged up, nicked up, and we had to put some other guys into play. It is what it is.”
KICKER CONCERNS
Kansas State PK Chris Tennant has missed three of his previous 4 field-goal makes an attempt, together with two at TCU that might have helped trim the deficit in the second half. P Ty Zentner and freshman PK Leyton Simmering may get an opportunity Saturday.
(*12*) Zentner stated. “Whoever he rolls out there will be confident.”
OTHER INJURY ISSUES
Wildcats DE Felix Anudike-Uzomah has been nursing accidents a lot of the season, whereas DBs Josh Hayes and Julius Brents have been restricted final week in opposition to the Horned Frogs. LB Daniel Green left the sport with an damage and might be out this week.
DON’T BEAT YOURSELF
The Cowboys are No. 1 in the FBS in fewest penalties with 27 by seven video games, and so they had no penalties final week in opposition to Texas for the primary time in program historical past. Kansas State is No. 13 nationally in penalty yardage at 269.
STOUT ON D
The Cowboys protection is permitting 25.5% of third down conversions, the fourth-best mark in the FBS, and that proved essential in final week’s recreation in opposition to Texas. They trailed 31-24 at halftime however allowed only a discipline aim in the second half.
“We don’t want to argue with each other,” Oklahoma State defensive sort out Collin Clay stated. “We just stayed calm and told each other the game wasn’t over, we still got another half to play. We made the corrections that we needed to make.”
RUN TO DAYLIGHT
Texas ran for 204 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 6.4 yards per carry. That ought to bode effectively for the Wildcats, who’re averaging 232.1 yards on the bottom per recreation, the Eleventh-best whole in main faculty soccer.
“The bad news is we didn’t get the communication right,” Gundy stated. “The good news is we should be able to fix that.”
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More AP faculty soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/college-football and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25.
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