Wildcats Host Kansas on Senior Day as Coach Snyder Goes for Win No. 200

Kansas at Kansas State
Date: Saturday, November 26, 2016

Kickoff: 11 a.m.

Location: Manhattan, Kan.

Stadium: Bill Snyder Family Stadium (50,000)

Series: Kansas Leads, 64-44-5

CATS HOST KANSAS ON SENIOR DAY AS SNYDER GOES FOR WIN NO. 200
Coming off a 42-21 win at Baylor that saw Alex Barnes and Winston Dimel combine for six rushing touchdowns, K-State is back home for its final home game of 2016 when in-state rival KU visits for the 114th meeting of the Dillons Sunflower Showdown. The contest, which will be the final home game for 24 seniors, will kick off 11 a.m., and be televised to a national audience on FS1 with Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Petros Papadakis (analyst) calling the action. The contest can also be heard across the K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sidelines) on the call, as well as Sirius channel 136, XM channel 199. Live stats are available at k-statesports.com, while Twitter updates (@ kstate_gameday, @KStateFB) will all be a part of the coverage.
A LOOK AT K-STATE

Continuing to rank among the league’s best when it comes to rushing offense and run defense, K-State has carded 582 yards rushing and 10 TDs on the ground in the last two games. The last time the Cats had 10 rushing scores in consecutive games was 2011 (OSU and TAMU).
The Cats have recorded four-straight league games with 200 or more rushing yards, their longest streak since 2003.
Due to its stout rushing attack, K-State has had 31 of its 49 scoring drives this season span seven plays or longer, including 15 that lasted at least 10 plays.
K-State’s rushing attack is led by quarterback Jesse Ertz, who ranks first in the Big 12 among QBs with 67.6 yards per game, including two 100-yard games.
Redshirt freshman running back Alex Barnes set a K-State freshman record with four rushing TDs at Baylor en route to his first career 100-yard game with 129 yards.
K-State continues to highly on defense, leading the Big 12 and ranking 13th nationally in rushing defense (110.8 ypg), while also leading the league in total defense (390.3 ypg).
Junior Elijah Lee leads the team and ranks third in the Big 12 with 82 tackles. Jordan Willis is second in the league in sacks (9.0) and TFLs (13.5).

A LOOK AT KANSAS

Kansas is coming off an emotional 24-21 overtime win against Texas last week.
Carter Stanley has taken over at quarterback the last two games and thrown for 657 yards and four scores.
Receivers Steven Sims and LaQuvionte Gonzalez have combined for 124 catches and 1,420 yards with nine TDs.
Defensively, Dorance Armstrong leads the Big 12 in sacks (10.0) and tackles for loss (17.0) while safety Fish Smithson ranks eighth in the league with 7.5 tackles per game and four interceptions.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES

KU leads the all-time series, 64-44-5, but K-State has won seven straight since Bill Snyder returned in 2009.
Kansas State has won 20 of the last 24 meetings, including each of the last three in Manhattan.
Snyder is 20-4 against KU and 11-1 in Manhattan.
The series is one of six in the nation that have been played continuously for at least 100 years, including one of three that will be played on Nov. 26.
SUNFLOWER STATEMENT
This week’s game has extra meaning for the 48 players on K-State’s roster from the state of Kansas (40-percent of roster). Of the 48 Kansans on the roster, 17 have made starts this season.

THE CENTURY MARK

Earlier this year, K-State became just the third Big 12 program to reach 100 league wins since the conference began in 1996.
The Wildcats, who have 103 Big 12 wins, are joined by Oklahoma (128) and Texas (118) in the century club.

SUSTAINABLE SUCCESS

Kansas State is in rare company in college football as the Wildcats rank in the top 20 in wins among FBS programs over the last 21-plus seasons.
Since 1995, K-State has picked up 180 victories, which ranks 19th in the nation.
Among current Big 12 teams, only Oklahoma (T4th; 205), Texas (12th; 196) and TCU (15th; 184) rank higher.

300 AT ONE

K-State’s game against Texas Tech earlier this year was the 300th game under the direction of head coach Bill Snyder.
Snyder became just the seventh person all-time to coach 300 games on one FBS school. Among the seven, six – Joe Paterno (Penn State), Bobby Bowden (Florida State), LaVell Edwards (BYU), Chris Ault (Nevada), Tom Osborne (Nebraska) and Snyder – are in the College Football Hall of Fame.

SNYDER IN ELITE COMPANY

Head coach Bill Snyder currently has 199 career victories, 160 more than any other coach in school history.
Snyder ranks first in the FBS in wins among active coaches at current schools, second in total wins among active coaches overall and 26th in all-time wins.
He is one win away from becoming the 26th coach in FBS history with 200 career wins but just the sixth to do so at one school.
Snyder, who has 116 conference wins, is one of four coaches with 100 Big 8/12 victories (Tom Osborne [153], Bob Stoops [117], Barry Switzer [100]).

TURNOVER TURNAROUND

A year after finishing minus-3 in the turnover battle, K-State currently ranks 11th nationally and first in the Big 12 with a plus-9 turnover margin.
The Wildcats have given up only 10 turnovers to rank seventh nationally and tops in the conference.
In 2015, K-State was minus-3 in the turnover margin through 10 games.
More significantly, K-State has only allowed 14 points of its turnovers, 30 less than the next best Big 12 team.

CLEAN IT UP

K-State led the Big 12 and ranked 16th nationally last year with only 39.3 penalty yards per game, while the Cats were second in the league with 4.38 penalties per game.
The Wildcats, who have ranked first or second in the conference in fewest penalty yards per game each of the previous five years, are on their way to accomplish that feat again in 2016.
Although K-State ranked 104th in the nation and sixth in the Big 12 with 74.5 penalty yards per game following its FAU contest on Sept. 17, the Wildcats are now second in the league with a 50.9-yard average.

HOME SWEET HOME

Since 1990, K-State holds a 143-35-1 (.802) record when playing at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
That record includes a 70-5 (.933) mark in non-conference games and a 73-30-1 (.707) record in league games.
K-State is looking to bounce back from a 4-3 (.571) home record in 2015, its worst home winning percentage since also going 4-3 in 2008.
The Wildcats are 4-1 at home this year and will look for their sixth year with five or more home victories since head coach Bill Snyder returned to the sidelines in 2009.

FILLING UP THE BILL

Attendance at K-State games have been at an all-time high over the last four-plus years as K-State has recorded 32-straight sellouts, a number that is expected to reach 33 after the Wildcats’ regular-season finale against KU.
For a third-straight year, K-State finished second nationally in 2015 by filling up its stadium at a 106.20-percent clip, a number that was just 0.52-percent behind Oregon (106.72).
K-State averaged a school-record 53,100 fans in its 50,000-seat stadium in 2015, a number that has increased each of the last four seasons.
Twenty-one of the largest 25 crowds in stadium history have come since 2013, including six of the seven home games in 2015.

YOUTH IS SERVED

Through the first 10 games of 2016, Kansas State has a combined 107 starts from freshmen or sophomores, which are the most under head coach Bill Snyder. The previous high was 101 in 1989, Snyder’s first season at the helm.
A majority of the starts this year are by sophomores (75), while 32 starts have come from redshirt freshmen.
K-State started 11 underclassmen – including four redshirt freshmen – in the opener at Stanford. It was the most for either category since at least 1997 as K-State had no more than two freshmen starters in a season opener in any of the previous 18 years.

DRAWING FIRST BLOOD

Since 1990, K-State is 159-31 (.837) when scoring first.
However, K-State is 4-2 this year when scoring first and just 7-4 in that department over the last two seasons.
In 2014, the Cats held a perfect 7-0 record when scoring the game’s first points.

QUICK OUT OF THE GATE

Kansas State has started games on the right side of the scoreboard this season, outscoring opponents 79-41 in the opening 15 minutes.
That mark improves to 195-114 through the first half and 260-148 after three quarters, but opponents have gotten the best of K-State in the final quarter to the tune of 89-62.

Ryan Lackey — Assistant Director — Athletic Communications