Kansas State Headed to Iowa State on Saturday

Game 8
Kansas State at Iowa State
Date: Saturday, October 29, 2016

Kickoff: 11 a.m.

Location: Ames, Iowa

Stadium: Jack Trice Stadium (61,500)

Series: Iowa State Leads, 46-49-4

TV: FSN

Mark Followill (Play-by-Play)

Ben Leber (Analyst)

Lesley McCaslin (Sidelines)

Radio: K-State Sports Network; k-statesports.com

Wyatt Thompson (Play-by-Play)

Stan Weber (Analyst)

Matt Walters (Sidelines)

Sirius Satellite Radio Ch. 108, XM Satellite Radio Ch. 200

Twitter Updates: @kstatesports, @kstate_gameday, @KStateFB

WILDCATS HEAD BACK ON THE ROAD TO FACE CYCLONES
Kansas State, following a 24-21 home win over Texas last weekend, will head back on the road in Big 12 play as the Wildcats head to Ames, Iowa, to face the Iowa State Cyclones. Saturday’sgame, which kicks off at 11 a.m. from Jack Trice Stadium, will be televised on FSN with Mark Followill (Play-by-Play), Ben Leber (Analyst) and Lesley McCaslin (Sidelines) calling the action. The contest can also be heard across the K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sidelines) on the call, as well as SiriusXM channel 108/200. 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

K-State continues to rank among the best defenses in the league as it currently leads the Big 12 and ranks third nationally in rushing defense (94.9 ypg), while the Wildcats are third in the league in total defense (343.6 ypg).
Nine players on defense have recorded 20 or more tackles, led by Elijah Lee’s 58 stops, while Jordan Willis currently leads the league in sacks (8.0) and TFLs (11.5).
K-State has held each of its first seven opponents below their season average in points.
K-State scored in all three phases of the game vs. Texas Tech and is a perfect 18-0 under Bill Snyder when scoring on offense, defense and special teams.
K-State had its nation-leading red zone scoring streak snapped at 56 straight trips after a fumble just inches from the goal line against Texas. The Cats still lead the nation in red zone offense (.970).
K-State has had 22 of its 36 scoring drives this season span seven plays or longer, including eight that lasted at least 10 plays. Also, K-State’s first-half time of possession against Texas of23:18 was the third-most in a half this season among all FBS schools.

A LOOK AT IOWA STATE

Coming off a bye week, Iowa State enters this week’s contest with a 1-6 record overall and an 0-4 record in Big 12 play.
Despite their 0-4 conference record, the Cyclones have held halftime leads in three of those contests.
Quarterbacks Joel Lanning and Jacob Park have thrown for 1,665 yards and 13 scores while completing 58-percent of their passes.
Mike Warren is averaging 70.9 yards per game on the ground, while Allen Lazard has 34 catches and four TDs.
On defense, Willie Harvey has a team-best 46 tackles, while Jhaustin Thomas leads the squad with 3.0 sacks.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES

Iowa State leads the all-time series, 49-46-4, but K-State is 22-4 against the Cyclones since 1990.
Kansas State has won eight straight in the series, including the last two in Ames. However, those two games at Iowa State have been narrow wins with the total margin of victory being 10 points.
Bill Snyder has 20 wins in 24 tries against Iowa State, the most wins by a current FBS head coach over one opponent.
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 178 victories, which ranks 19th in the nation.
The Cats are only one win away from 16th and five victories away from the top 15.
Among current Big 12 teams, only Oklahoma (5th; 201), Texas (11th; 194) and TCU (15th; 183) rank higher.

THE CENTURY MARK

With its 44-38 win over Texas Tech, K-State became just the third Big 12 program to reach 100 league wins since the conference began in 1996.
The Wildcats, who have 101 Big 12 wins, are joined Texas (116) and Oklahoma (124) in the century club.

300 AT ONE

K-State’s game against Texas Tech 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 197 career victories, 158 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 victories among active coaches overall and 27th in all-time wins.
He is three wins away from becoming the 25th coach in FBS history with 200 career wins.
Snyder, who has 114 conference wins, is one of four coaches with 100 Big 8/12 victories (Tom Osborne [153], Bob Stoops [113], Barry Switzer [100]).

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.
Penalties were more frequent early in the year, but the Wildcats cleaned up down the stretch. In the final eight games of the regular season, K-State had just 32 (4.0 per game) penalties to jump back to No. 1 in the Big 12.
With 13 underclassmen starters in the first seven games of 2016, the Wildcats have been flagged more than usual as they are committing 7.0 penalties per game for an average of just over 51 yards.
K-State has ranked first or second in the conference in fewest penalty yards per game each of the previous five years. The Wildcats led the league in 2014, 2013 and 2011, while they ranked second in 2012 and 2010.
The Cats have work to do to get back into the top two in the conference as they currently rank third in the Big 12.

YOUTH IS SERVED

The season-opening depth chart featured 24 combined underclassmen (Fr. or So.; does not count special teams), including 17 on offense. It was the most on the initial depth chart of a year since at least 1988.
K-State started 11 underclassmen – including four freshmen – in the opener at No. 8/7 Stanford. It was the most for either category since at least 1997.
The previous high of underclassmen starting during that stretch was nine in 2005.
The four freshmen starters at Stanford marked the second-straight year the Wildcats started at least three freshmen in a season opener.
K-State had no more than two freshmen starters in a season opener in any of the previous 18 years, while the Wildcats had started a combined total of eight freshmen in season openers from 1998-2014.

DRAWING FIRST BLOOD

Since 1990, K-State is 158-30 (.840) when scoring first.
K-State, 3-1 this year when scoring first, will be looking to bounce back from a 3-2 record in 2015 when getting on the board first, defeating South Dakota, Louisiana Tech and Kansas, but losing to Oklahoma State and Arkansas.
In 2014, the Cats held a perfect 7-0 record when scoring the game’s first points.
ROAD SCORING STREAK
Jesse Ertz’s touchdown run in the second quarter at Oklahoma extended K-State’s consecutive road scoring streak to 91 games.
The last time the Wildcats have not scored in a road game was in 1996 at Colorado.

OFFENSIVE NOTES

RED ZONE ALERT

Kansas State has been one of the best red zone teams over the past few years, including a perfect mark over the final seven games of the 2015 season.
Over the last 14 games dating back to 2015, K-State has converted on 57 of 58 red zone attempts with 39 touchdowns, but it had its nation-leading scoring streak stopped at 56 straight trips against Texas.
In their 47 wins over the last six seasons, the Cats are 222-for-243 (.914) in red zone chances with 162 touchdowns, while four of their non-scoring trips have come via kneel downs to close out victories.

QUICK OUT OF THE GATE

Kansas State has started games on the right side of the scoreboard this season, outscoring opponents 63-31 in the opening 15 minutes.
That mark improves to 155-76 through the first two quarters and 171-96 after three, but opponents have gotten the best of K-State in the final quarter to the tune of 51-41.

LONG DRIVES

In the era of quick strike offenses in college football, K-State remains a team that likes to possess the ball.
Of K-State’s 33 scoring drives this season, 22 have been seven plays or longer including eight of 10-plus plays.
Nine scoring drives have taken five minutes or longer with a 17-play, 8:32 drive at Oklahoma being the longest.