Bobby Maxwell
Thursday's winner...
400-Unit College Primetime Pushover - KANSAS STATE WILDCATS
Other than playing at home, there is absolutely no redeeming quality to the Kansas Jayhawks this season. They don’t play good offense, they can’t stop anybody and they haven’t even been good in front of the home fans. This play is all about Kansas State tonight marching in to Lawrence and delivering a beating to their in-state rivals.
Kansas has lost 12 straight Big 12 games and they were demolished by Baylor on Oct. 2, losing 55-7 as nine-point underdogs. This team opened the season at home with an embarrassing loss to North Dakota State at home, 6-3 as 27 ½-point favorites. They have been outgained in three of their last four contests, including against Baylor when they were outgained by 408 yards.
Kansas State opened the season with four straight wins (all at home) before losing last week to Nebraska 48-13 as 11-point underdogs. The Wildcats own some solid wins, already beating the likes of Central Florida, Iowa State and UCLA.
The Wildcats have a breakaway threat at RB in Daniel Thomas who was second in the nation after two games, only to be held to 80 or less in his last two contests. He is now averaging 138.2 yards per game and while talk of a Heisman run has stopped, he can thrust himself back into the discussion with a dominating game here tonight.
Last year, Kansas State beat their in-state rivals 17-10 at home, cashing in as 1 ½-point ‘dogs. That snapped a three-year losing streak in this rivalry. The Wildcats have cashed in 11 of the last 15 meetings against the Jayhawks and the favorite is 12-3 in the last 15 years of battles.
Kansas has been ugly at the betting window, on ATS slides of 3-11 overall, 2-7 against winning teams, 3-9 as an underdog, 1-8 in Big 12 games and 0-6 in October contests. Conversely, Kansas State is on ATS streaks of 27-12 against losing teams, 6-2 in Big 12 battles, 4-0 after a straight-up loss and 4-1 after a non-cover.
There’s not much good on the Kansas side of the ball. I’ll lay the points on the road in a rivalry game, something I normally would never do, and load up on the Wildcats as Kansas State wins this one going away.