Kansas State Wildcats Ready To Take Out Frustrations On Houston Cougars After Week Off

The toughest part for the Kansas State Wildcats football team was last Saturday. 

After losing on the road to the Cincinnati Bears Sept. 26 at Nippert Stadium, the Wildcats were cursed with a bye week. That means they have to wait nearly two weeks before getting back on the field. 

So it will be 14 days before the Wildcats get a chance to redeem themselves for the first loss of the season. That was the thing that stung with K-State coach Collin Klein. Sure, he enjoyed the time to correct the issues but wanted to get back out there on the field as soon as possible. 

The positive is the Wildcats will have two weeks to prepare for one of the toughest challenges of the season. They face the No. 22 Houston Cougars Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Cougars are one of only two remaining currently ranked teams on the K-State roster. The other is the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who are No. 18. 

At this point, the Wildcats should just appreciate the time off. They could use it to get extra preparation for a big game that could get them back to their winning ways. A win against the Cougars would put them back in contention in the Big 12 conference standings. 

It seems this league is going to be much tough than expected because some teams are surprising. The Arizona Wildcats and Baylor Bears are just two of the teams that have already exceeded expectations. 

Arizona cruised to an easy victory against Cincinnati, which handed K-State its only loss. The Bears looked very impressive in their win against the Arizona State Sun Devils. Then there's also teams like the West Virginia Mountainers. Even though WVU lost to the Iowa State Cyclones, the game went down to the wire. 

OTHER INJURY UPDATES 

-Tight end Will Anciaux has been ruled out for the season after sustaining a lower leg injury in the Cincinnati loss. 

-Klein said receiver Jaron Tibbs had a good week of recovery during the bye week. There is no timetable on his return but there is a chance he could play this week against the Cougars. 

-Freshman tackle Oliver Miller remains day to day with injury as do backup quarterbacks Blake Barnett, Dillon Duff and Jacob Knuth. The Wildcats only had one available quarterback against the Bearcats. Expect for the Wildcats to update their status perhaps Friday morning or sometime before Saturday's game.