6:00pm: Sportsline with Tony Caridi

Better than their records? K-State-WVU try to prove a point

Kansas State quarterback Daniel Sams broke away from Baylor safety Ahmad Dixon, but the Bears pulled out a 35-25 win.

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The conundrum prefacing Saturday’s game at The Bill depends on your perspective: Are Kansas State and West Virginia truly superior to their combined 5-8 record or are these tams simply in denial about their averageness?

Daniel Sams, the runner in K-State quarterback’s platoon, hasn’t run from talk this week that the Wildcats can win out, turning 2-4 into 7-4. As flighty as that sounds, consider K-State has held a fourth-quarter lead in all but one game this season.

Among the defenders who’ll be chasing Sams in front of a sellout homecoming crowd, WVU nose tackle Shaq Rowell, posed a similar platform.

“Our records don’t show how good both teams are,” he said. “I think you’ll see two teams who are going through up-and-down roller-coaster seasons just come out and play football. It will be a dogfight.”

To hear WVU’s defenders talk, they could use a dogfight. After being carved up by no-huddle spread attacks the past two games, they’re happy to face a more conventional offense like K-State’s.

“This is real football here. You just pounding it every play,” Rowell said. “They’re not going to no-huddle—they’re going to take their time, take 3-4 yards a play and be happy with it.”

Of course, K-State took far more than 4 yards a play last season—7.7 to be precise—in a 55-14 romp that showed WVU wasn’t prepared for “real football.” Though Collin Klein graduated from that team, receiver Tyler Lockett (nine catches for 194 yards) returns along with the bulk of the offensive line.

West Virginia has been outscored 126-49 on the road this season, which seems to indicate they’re exactly as good as their 0-3 record.

Pick: K-state 30-27

Ranking the rest of the week’s Big 12 games:
1. No. 15 Oklahoma 27, No. 10 Texas Tech 20: (Sooners -6.5) After plummeting from the national title race two weeks ago, OU aims to spoil the Red Raiders’ surprising campaign. If Jace Amaro
2. TCU 23, Texas 21: (Horned Frogs -2) Just in time for this matchup, TCU has activated 345 Wi-Fi access points at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Brace yourself for tweet tsunami when the Frogs take down UT.
3. No. 19 Oklahoma State 30, Iowa State 21: (Cowboys -12.5) Two years ago in Ames, an average Cyclones squad knocked OSU out of BCS title contention. This time around, ISU is far below-average and OSU doesn’t have the same choke-inducing pressure.
4. No. 8 Baylor 48, Kansas 17: (Bears -35) At 24 straight Big 12 losses and counting, KU is being drawn and quartered toward Baylor’s record string of 29.




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