After making the College Football Playoff last year, the Tulane Green Wave are off to a 1-1 start entering Saturday's game against the Kansas State Wildcats
The Kansas State Wildcats are so close to an undefeated start before opening Big 12 play.
After blowout wins against the Nicholls Cowboys and Washington State Cougars, the Wildcats try to improve to 3-0 this weekend. They are up against the Tulane Green Wave Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
Even with the early success, the Wildcats have to be careful with this one. The Green Wave have struggled so far this season, but they are coming off a season where they made the College Football Playoffs. Last year they lost to the Ole Miss Rebels in the first round.
Their encore season hasn't gone as expected. They lost the opener against the Duke Blue Devils and followed that with a narrow victory against the South Alabama Jaguars last week. In that game, the Green Wave trailed 10-0 in the first quarter before rallying to a 28-24 victory.
Despite being a 20.5-point favorite, the Wildcats are approaching this game with caution.
"They're extremely well coached," Kansas State coach Collin Klein said. "They have a very sound defensive scheme that has been there now for a little while with two different coaches and done a really, really nice job."
A win would put the Wildcats at 3-0 entering next weekend's Big 12 opener against the Cincinnati Bearcats. Even though K-State was picked to finish eighth in the conference in the preseason by league media, they have hopes of a Big 12 title and a berth in the College Football Playoff.
The schedule seems in the Wildcats' favor. They avoided the Utah Utes, BYU Cougars and Texas Tech Red Raiders (the top three teams in the league) on the schedule and play most of their tough games at home in Manhattan.
A win Saturday puts the Wildcats closer to that goal. They have yet to reach the Top 25 but are receiving votes in the Associated Press and Coaches Polls. This could be a special year for Klein in his first season but they first have to take care of business against the Green Wave.
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Shandel Richardson is the publisher of KStateRoundtable. He can be reached at [email protected]
