Many of the players on this year’s Kansas State football team haven’t had to face the adversity that this year’s team has had to go up against.

In their first eight games of this season the Wildcats are 4-4. The last time a KSU team went 4-4 through the first eight games of the season was in 2008, Ron Prince’s final season as the KSU Head Coach. Starting in 2009 Head Coach Bill Snyder returned to the sidelines. In 2009 the Wildcats went 5-3 through the first eight games and the same in 2010. In 2011 the team went 7-1 and in 2012 the Wildcats were perfect through their first eight games.

B.J. Finney, Junior Center, said that after going 2-4 to start the season the team really needed to pull together in order to get back to 4-4,”The first six games not heading our way, being 2-4, we had to draw closer and tighter and we didn’t fall apart. We’re tighter than we have been in forever. We’re tighter than last year’s team for sure.”

He said that the team had to take it upon themselves to get the team going, “Now we have the opportunity to make it still something truly special for this season and we’re trying to work towards that.”

“Just the adversity that this teams faced it’s more than any of the teams that I have been a part of have faced. The guys underneath me, they haven’t been here. They haven’t faced that adversity. It’s been pretty smooth sailing for the last two seasons or even last season that they’ve been a part of.”

That adversity won’t change as the Wildcats will travel to Texas Tech Saturday for their first morning game of the season. The Red Raiders are 7-2 on the season, losing their last two to #17 Oklahoma and #18 Oklahoma State. They are under the direction of first year Head Coach Kliff Kingsbury.

Coach Snyder said during his weekly press conference Tuesday that going up against a new coach can be a little more difficult because of the newness and uncertainty.” You just don’t have that familiarity with the system. You don’t know what all is there. You haven’t seen it all over a period of time. Something new presents itself every week.”

Saturday’s game is scheduled for an 11:00 a.m. kick off and will be broadcast live on ABC.