Coming off a 3-0 start to Big 12 play and a bye week, Kansas State is back in action this Saturday as the Wildcats host Kansas for the Dillons Sunflower Showdown inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The game kicks off at 11 a.m., and will be shown on FS1 with Eric Collins (play-by-play) and Ben Leber (analyst) on the call. Fans can also catch the game on SiriusXM (S: 98, X: 200, Internet: 954) in addition to the TuneIn app.
A LOOK AT K-STATE
• K-State improved to 3-0 in Big 12 play for the first time since 2014 following a 21-14 victory at TCU two weeks ago, the Wildcats’ second conference road win this season.
• The victory was impressive considering the Wildcats started true freshman Will Howard at quarterback following a season-ending injury to senior Skylar Thompson.
• Howard, who became the first K-State true freshman signal caller to win his first road start, earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors following the game against the Horned Frogs.
• Another true freshman, running back Deuce Vaughn, continues to impress as he leads the team in rushing and receiving, the only player in the Big 12 to lead his team in both categories.
• Vaughn is one of only three players in the nation to eclipse 200 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards in 2020, joining Clemson’s Travis Etienne and North Carolina’s Javonte Williams.
• K-State is currently plus-7 in turnovers, which is tied for third in the nation. The Wildcats lost their first turnover of the year in the third quarter at TCU, but they quickly made amends later in the quarter against the Horned Frogs thanks to a pick six from senior AJ Parker, which proved to be the difference in the game.
• It was K-State’s first interception-return touchdown since 2017 and the first of Parker’s career, who earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week and Jim Thorpe Award Player of the Week accolades.
• A pair of senior linebackers from Georgia in Elijah Sullivan (27) and Justin Hughes (26) are the Wildcats’ top two tacklers.
• A total of 13 Wildcats have tallied at least a half tackle for loss, while six players have at least one sack. The list includes junior Wyatt Hubert, who is tied for 13th nationally among active players in career sacks per game (0.48).
• Safety Jahron McPherson leads the team with a pair of interceptions, which is tied for first in the Big 12.
• Kansas State’s special teams ranks second nationally in efficiency according to ESPN thanks in large part to a blocked kick in each of the first four games. The Wildcats are the first FBS team since 2016 (Texas) to block a kick in each of the first four games of a season.
• Senior place kicker Blake Lynch is 5-for-8 for the year but 2-for-2 from 50 or more yards. He connected on a game-winning 50-yard field goal at Oklahoma, while he set a new career long with a 53-yarder at TCU.
A LOOK AT KANSAS
• Kansas enters this week’s game in search of its first win of the season as the Jayhawks dropped their non-conference game to Coastal Carolina before starting 0-3 in Big 12 play.
• Velton Gardner and Pooka Williams pace KU in rushing with 225 yards and 196 yards, respectively, with a pair of touchdowns each.
• KU has started three different quarterback this year, including Miles Kendrick, who started last week at West Virginia. On the year, Kendrick has thrown for 341 yards and three touchdowns on 40-of-66 aim with four interceptions.
• Andrew Parchment and Takulve Williams lead the team with 17 receptions apiece, while Kwamie Lassiter is tops on the team with 171 receiving yards.
• Defensively, safety Kenny Logan has a team-high 34 tackles. Linebacker Dru Prox, who has 22 tackles, leads the team with 3.5 tackles for loss.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
• Kansas leads the all-time series, 64-48-5, but Kansas State has won each of the last 11meetings and 24 of the last 29 dating back to 1991.
• This is the 110th-consecutive year of the Sunflower Showdown, which will make it the third longest uninterrupted series in FBS history.
• It will be tied for the 10th most played rivalry in FBS history with the 118th meeting.
• The Wildcats’ average margin of victory over the last 11 years is 25.8, while they have hit the 45-point mark in five of those contests.
• Kansas State has won each of the last five meetings in Manhattan, the latest being a 21-17 victory in 2018.
INTO THE RANKINGS
• Following its 3-0 start to Big 12 play, Kansas State was ranked 22nd in both the Associated Press Top 25 and Amway Coaches’ Poll on October 11. The Wildcats remained in the polls this week by checking in at No. 19 in the coaches and No. 20 in the AP.
• K-State has been ranked during the season in the first two years of the Chris Klieman era, while it is the first time the Wildcats have been ranked in consecutive seasons since 2011 and 2012.
3-0 IN BIG 12 PLAY
• Kansas State is 3-0 in Big 12 action for the first time since 2014 and the sixth time in the 25-year history of the conference.
• The other five times the Wildcats began a Big 12 slate at 3-0, they went on to win the fourth conference game of the season. Those other five teams also went on to earn at least seven conference victories each time.
ONE OF THE BIG 12’S BEST
• K-State continues to quietly rank among the Big 12’s best teams since the league began in 1996. The Wildcats are third with 121 victories behind Oklahoma and Texas.
• The Wildcats also rank third in the conference in winning percentage since round-robin play began in 2011. They sit at 61.9% (52-32), trailing only Oklahoma (81.0%; 68-16) and Oklahoma State (65.1%; 54-29). No other team is above 60%.
A LONG-STANDING RIVALRY
• The Dillons Sunflower Showdown is not only one of the most played rivalries in FBS history but one of the longest uninterrupted series.
• Saturday’s matchup will be the 118th all-time meeting between the two schools, which will be tied for 10th all-time in FBS history.
• It will also be the 110th-straight season K-State and KU will meet on the gridiron, which will be the third longest uninterrupted series at the conclusion of the year.
A WINNING HISTORY
• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman holds an 83-19 career record as his 81.4% winning percentage ranks ninth among all NCAA coaches – regardless of division – among those with at least seven full years of experience.
• 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. A native of Waterloo, Iowa, 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.
WIN THE TURNOVER BATTLE
• One of the formulas of success for Kansas State under Chris Klieman is winning the turnover battle, which the Wildcats have done in three of four games this year.
• The Wildcats are plus-seven this season in turnover margin, which is tied for third in the nation.
• K-State turned the ball over for the first time this season in the third quarter at TCU. The Wildcats went the first 211:53 of game time before their first turnover of 2020.
• K-State has turned its eight turnovers gained this season into 28 points, while TCU came up empty on the Wildcats’ first turnover of 2020.
YOUNG PUPS
• Kansas State played 33 freshmen during the 2019 season, including 12 true freshmen, and that trend continued in the first four games of 2020.
• So far this season, 19 freshmen have played, including eight true freshmen. Of the 19 freshmen, three have tallied starts in right tackle Cooper Beebe (3), running back Deuce Vaughn (2) and defensive back Will Jones II (1).
CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation’s best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 21-plus seasons as it has 119 since 1999, 11 more than the next closest team.
• Since 1999, K-State was averaging 5.6 non-offensive scores per year entering 2020, while the yearly average for the other 105 teams to play FBS football since 1999 is 2.7.
• K-State has had at least five non-offensive scores in seven of the last nine years, including the 2019 season.
GOING THE DISTANCE
• K-State has put together four scoring drives of 90 yards or longer, which ranks second by a Wildcat team since 2000 (5 in 2008).
• The four drives this year spanned 92 yards against Arkansas State, 97 yards against Texas Tech, and a pair of 91-yard drives at TCU, one of which resulted in a field goal.
• Dating back to last season, K-State has seven scoring drives that have spanned at least 90 yards, which is the most in a two-year span since 2000.
• Last season, K-State had touchdown drives of 97 yards (Nicholls), 95 yards (TCU) and 98 yards (Iowa State).
• The long drives this season have been aided by the fact that K-State has five plays from scrimmage of at least 60 yards, the most by the Wildcats in the first four games of a season since at least 2002.
RED ZONE SUCCESS
• K-State finished the 2019 season with 39-straight scoring trips inside the red zone, the most by the Wildcats since at least 2003. That helped K-State finish first in the nation with a 96.2% conversion rate.
• Of K-State’s 14 red zone chances this year, 11 have resulted in touchdowns and the other three were made field goals.
• K-State’s current red zone scoring streak of 53 is three shy of the Wildcats’ best during the Big 12 era (56 between 2015 and 2016) and is the longest active streak in the Big 12.
TAKE CARE OF THE FOOTBALL
• In 17 games under head coach Chris Klieman, K-State has only committed 11 offensive turnovers, including just one this season. The lone turnover this year was an interception at TCU as the Wildcats went 211 minutes, 53 seconds into the season prior to their first turnover.
• Last season, K-State tied for first in the Big 12 with only 14 turnovers lost, but three were on punt returns and one was on an interception return.
• K-State was the final team in the nation last year to commit an offensive turnover when it fumbled at Oklahoma State. The Cats went the first 189 minutes, 38 seconds of the 2019 season without committing an offensive turnover.
REBUILDING THE LINE
• K-State has been putting the pieces together for the 2020 offensive line, one that did not return a single start from last season.
• It marked the first time since at least the 1989 season that the Wildcats did not return any starts from the previous season.
• Last year’s starting offensive line finished with a combined 208 games played and 159 career starts. This year’s initial two-deep totaled 52 games played and three starts entering the year. Of those, 13 career games and one start are from Logan Long, who has converted from tight end to offensive line this season.
WILLING K-STATE TO VICTORY
• A native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, Will Howard earned his first-career start at TCU and became the first K-State true freshman quarterback to win his first-career road start.
• For his effort against the Horned Frogs, Howard was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week.
• Howard’s play at TCU came on the heels of the Texas Tech game when he came into the game in the second quarter and eventually led the Wildcats to a fourth-quarter comeback. He led K-State to a pair of touchdown drives that turned a four-point deficit (21-17) with 10 minutes left into a 10-point win.
BIG PLAY WILL
• One of the reasons Will Howard has found early success is that he has been involved in three of K-State’s five plays from scrimmage that have spanned at least 66 yards.
• Against Texas Tech, Howard threw a 70-yard, game-clinching touchdown pass to Deuce Vaughn, while he also had a 66-yarder to Briley Moore earlier in the fourth quarter to set up the go-ahead score.
• It was the first time a K-State quarterback threw two passes of at least 65 yards in the same game since Jesse Ertz in the 2017 season opener against Central Arkansas.
• Then, on the third offensive play of the game at TCU, Howard ran 80 yards to set up an early field goal. It was the seventh-longest run ever by a Wildcat and the second longest by a K-State quarterback (91 yards by Ell Roberson against Nebraska in 2002).
MAKING A SPLASH
• K-State doesn’t only have a true freshman quarterback making headlines, running back Deuce Vaughn has been on fire to begin his collegiate career.
• Vaughn is one of only three players in the nation this season to tally at least 200 rushing yards and 200 receiving yards, joining Clemson’s Travis Etienne and North Carolina’s Javonte Williams.
• A product of Round Rock, Texas, Vaughn is also the only player in the Big 12 to lead his team in both rushing yards and receiving yards.
• Vaughn has already begun to etch his name in the K-State record book. He is fifth in school history in receiving yards among freshmen, but he is the only true freshman and running back on the list. He also ranks eighth in school history in single-season receiving yards among running backs.
• Additionally, Vaughn is 51 yards shy of entering the top five in K-State history in rushing yards by a freshman.
DEUCE ON THE LOOSE
• Deuce Vaughn put together consecutive games of at least 170 yards from scrimmage against Oklahoma (194 yards) and Texas Tech (174 yards), two of the top scrimmage yard efforts in the nation this season.
• At No. 3 Oklahoma, he became the fifth running back in school history – and first freshman – to tally a 100-yard receiving game. It was the fifth most in a single game by a running back in Big 12 history and the most by a freshman.
• Against Texas Tech, the Round Rock, Texas, native was the first Wildcat true freshman to rush for 100 yards in a game since 2008 (Logan Dold vs. Texas A&M).
• For his efforts, Vaughn was named the Big 12 Newcomer of the Week following each of those contests.
MOORE OFFENSE
• One of the top tight ends from the FCS level in 2018, Briley Moore is in his second senior season and his first campaign at K-State.
• Moore, a transfer from Northern Iowa, has started his Wildcat career on the right foot by as he has a team-leading 14 receptions for 201 yards and two touchdowns. Through four games, those are already the best by a Wildcat tight end for a season since Zach Trujillo had 19 catches for 389 yards in 13 games during the 2014 season.
• Against Texas Tech, Moore had a 66-yard catch, a career long and the longest by a Wildcat tight end since Jeron Mastrud also had a 66-yarder at Kansas in 2006.
UNDER AVERAGE
• Last season, Kansas State held 11 of its 12 opponents under their season scoring averages for the season, including double-digit differences in Big 12 play against Oklahoma State (-18.5), TCU (-20.2), Kansas (-17.8), Texas (-12.1) and Iowa State (-17.1).
• It has been more of the same for the Wildcats to start Big 12 play in 2020 under new defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman, who was on staff last season as the safeties coach. They Wildcats have held their three conference foes thus far at least 13.0 points below their season scoring averages entering the contest.
• K-State enters this week’s game ranked fourth in the Big 12 in scoring defense by allowing 26.3 points per game. The Wildcats’ 23.3 points allowed in conference play ranks fourth overall and second among teams that have played at least three games.
EARLY INTERCEPTIONS
• The Kansas State defense has started the 2020 campaign with six interceptions, ranking fourth in the nation and first in the Big 12.
• The Wildcats’ six interceptions in the first four games of the season are the most since they also picked off six in the first four games of the season 2011 campaign.
• The Wildcats intercepted one pass in the season opener and followed that up with three in the win at No. 3 Oklahoma. It was K-State’s first three-interception game since the 2018 contest at West Virginia.
WREAKING HAVOC
• K-State has now blocked a kick and had an interception in each of the first four games this season.
• The 2020 Wildcats are the first FBS team since at least 2011 to have a blocked kick and tallied an interception in each of the first four games of a season.
• In the season opener against Arkansas State, Will Jones II did both himself as he became the first Wildcat with a blocked kick and an interception in the same game since Raphael Guidry against Iowa State in 2011.
WYATT’S COMING FOR YOU
• One of the top young defensive ends in the Big 12 the last two seasons is looking to improve his production as a junior as Wyatt Hubert is back after earning First Team All-Big 12 honors in 2019.
• Hubert also earned votes for the league’s defensive player of the year and defensive lineman of the year awards last season.
• The Topeka, Kansas, native ranks 13th nationally among active players in career sacks per game (0.48), while he is 14th in tackles for loss per game (0.88).
WILEY PLAYING WILD
• Senior defensive tackle Drew Wiley entered the season with 21 tackles and 2.0 tackles for loss in 38 games as a reserve over his first three seasons.
• Starting the first four games of 2020, the Vinton, Iowa, product has been a dominant force in the interior of the Wildcat defensive line as he has 10 tackles, including 4.0 TFLs and a pair of sacks.
• Wiley is the first K-State defensive tackle with at least 4.0 TFLs and two sacks in the first four games of a season since Travis Britz did so in 2015.
VERY EFFICIENT
• Kansas State has always been known to have excellent special teams, and that trend has continued in 2020 as the Wildcats rank second nationally in special teams efficiency according to ESPN.
BLOCKED KICKS
• K-State blocked punts in the first three games of the season and came back with a blocked field goal at TCU.
• It is the first time K-State has blocked a kick on four-straight games since at least 1990. Additionally, the blocked punts in the first three games marked the first time the Wildcats accomplished that feat in three-consecutive games since 1995 (Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma).
• K-State is the first time in the FBS to block kicks in each of the first four games of a season since Texas did so in 2016.
• When the Wildcats blocked punts in each of the first three games, they were the first FBS team to do so since Memphis in 2012.
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last 15-plus years when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.
• The Wildcats have a combined 53 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 21 more than any other FBS school during that stretch.
• Of the 116 other schools to play FBS football since 2005, the average total over those 15 years is 13.3, or nearly 40 less than K-State.
LYNCH IS ACCURATE
• Senior Blake Lynch has proven to be an accurate kicker as his career field goal percentage of 84.4% (38-for-45) currently ranks seventh nationally among active players and is second in school history.
• Lynch, a two-time Lou Groza Award candidate, ranked third in school history a year ago with his 90.5% mark.
FROM DEEP
• After going 2-for-6 from 45 yards or longer in his first two seasons as the primary kicker, Blake Lynch has turned in a pair of field goals from 50 or more yards this season, the first two of his career.
• At Oklahoma, Lynch connected on the eventual game-winning, 50-yard field goal with 4:32 left in the game. It was the first field goal of 50 or more yards that served as the game winner with less than five minutes remaining.
• Lynch, who also connected on a 53-yarder at TCU, is now tied for fourth in school history in 50-plus yard field goal connections in a season. He needs one more to tie the record.