Head Coach: Chris Klieman is entering his 6th season as the head coach of the Wildcats with a 39-24 record. Following the legendary Bill Snyder is no easy task but he’s done it so far, he led them to the Big 12 championship in 2022, before he was at Kansas State he dominated at North Dakota State winning the FCS National Title in 4 of 5 seasons as the head coach there.
Program Outlook: Kansas State is in a strong position, under Klieman they’ve established themselves as a top contender to win the Big 12. It’s amazing how far this program has come, before Bill Snyder this was the worst program in the Big 12, or any bigger conference.
How does the 2024 Roster look?: There’s a lot of promise here. The offense is expected to be very explosive on the ground. QB Avery Johnson led them in limited action last year, he’s explosive as a runner but he will need to take another step to be more accurate as a passer. Also helping the ground game will be returning RB DJ Giddens, and they added Colorado RB Dylan Edwards via the portal. Edwards fits right in the mold of K-State legends Darren Sproles and Deuce Vaughn. They have a decent group of receivers back, and they expect to have help from Dante Cephas a former Kent State star who surprisingly didn’t make an impact at Penn State last year. The offensive line will be a bit of a mystery, Klieman’s teams have been consistently great up front but it’s a wholesale change up there this year so it could take time to jell. You can also expect a Chris Klieman team to have a strong defense, and this is an experienced defensive unit back this year. Perhaps the only question mark for this unit is the defensive line, they never properly replaced their star from 2022 Felix Anudike-Uzomah and just couldn’t get home without him. I suspect at least 2 of the 4 one score losses would have flipped in Kansas State’s favor if the pass rush could simply get home. There’s a couple key contributors gone so there’s some question here, but at the same time they have the talent and scheme to get this right. If they can do that, this secondary will eat. They have one of the best safety duos and corner Jacob Parrish is a potential star. I honestly don’t know how this defense doesn’t have a single player on the preseason All-Big 12 team, but that’s exactly how they like it.
Screenshot from fbschedules.com1
2024 Schedule Thoughts: This schedule is actually more difficult than you would think. Their non-conference features Tulane on the road, the Green Wave aren’t going to miss a beat compared to recent years and the weird “non-conference” conference game against Arizona who’s expected to be very good. There’s also UT Martin who’s a potential FCS playoff contender but Kansas State likely will overwhelm them. Looking at this conference schedule, there’s a lot of potential for this to go bad quickly. If there’s an issue for Klieman’s Kansas State teams, it’s slow starts and they really can’t afford to start slow here. They open conference play at BYU, the Cougars are a completely different team at home compared to on the road, then hosting Oklahoma State, and more road games after that. Kansas State can enter the Sunflower Showdown a Playoff contender or completely out of the playoff race. The ending stretch after Kansas is much easier until they finish the season with Farmageddon which could be a key game in the Big 12 race.
Vegas Projection: Kansas State’s win total is set at 9.5 with the odds geared greatly toward the under. The Wildcats are 2nd in Big 12 championship odds with a huge gap to 3rd. Vegas is very high on them.
2024 Best Case: Kansas State gets off to a hot start and the Wildcats are ready to contend. They handle the opening 2 games with ease before their showdown with Arizona, the run game dominates helping them keep Arizona’s talented offense off the field and Kansas State rolls to victory. They handle the road test at BYU to set up a huge undefeated matchup with Oklahoma State. It’s a battle between both experienced teams but Avery Johnson takes off for a late touchdown run to seal the victory for Kansas State. Then they head to Boulder to face Deion Sanders and his Colorado squad who are actually in the middle of their breakthrough season, but Kansas State doesn’t care with all eyes on the game they run all over the Buffs to win. The challenges aren’t done, next they hit the road to play West Virginia in a venue that Penn State couldn’t win in, but the Wildcats aren’t daunted by that. They battle out a close victory over the Mountaineers. Then they follow it up with a satisfying victory over rival Kansas who’s struggling more than expected. Kansas State heads into Farmageddon undefeated, there isn’t a crazy blizzard this time so the Wildcats handle the Cyclones. Kansas State finds a Utah team that is extremely similar to them in the Big 12 championship. Both teams grind it out but Kansas State emerges from a tough battle victorious. They receive a 2 seed and bye in the playoff. Their first playoff game is against a familiar foe, Texas. The Wildcats came so close to beating them last year but this time they don’t make mistakes late in the game and pull off a massive win that no one thought they could do. Next they catch ACC champ NC State in the semis for a Pop-Tarts Bowl rematch, the Wildcats handle the Wolfpack once again to make it to the national title game. They lose a tight game to Georgia there but it’s clear that Kansas State is the head of the Big 12 pack.
2024 Worst Case: The tough early schedule could allow things to get ugly quick. They win the opener but Tulane’s defense stuffs their run game throughout and Johnson just isn’t accurate enough to open the box leading to a Tulane upset. The next week it’s the defense that struggles as they fail to come up with stops against Arizona’s offense in a loss. BYU should be a rebound game but that’s not the case on the road the Cougars are tough there and Kansas State just isn’t ready for it, they fall to 1-3, and that becomes 1-4 after Oklahoma State handles them. Colorado ends up better than expected which means it’s their turn to throw their punches at Kansas State, by the end of the Sunflower Showdown the Wildcats are suddenly on a 7 game losing streak. They end up 3-9 after losing to Iowa State. It’s even worse for the Wildcats when Kansas plays Iowa State for the Big 12 championship and both make the College Football Playoff, winning at least a game each. Just when Kansas State was expected to rise to the top they fell to the bottom instead and now have more questions than answers.
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