MANHATTAN, Kan. — When college football schedules were released to the masses earlier this year, there probably wasn’t much jostling among television producers and executives for the chance to point lenses on today’s game between Texas Tech and host Kansas State.
After all, what implications would a late-October game between the team picked to finish sixth in the Big 12 preseason poll (Kansas State) and the team picked to finish ninth in that poll (Tech) be likely to hold?
As it turns out, it holds plenty.
The 2:30 p.m. clash today between the No. 15 Red Raiders (6-1, 3-1) and the No. 4 Wildcats (7-0, 4-0) has become an anticipated affair that will serve as a tasty appetizer to FOX’s coverage of Game 3 of the World Series. First place in the Big 12, Heisman Trophy positioning and national recognition will all be on the line when the ball kicks off at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
“It’s all in our hands,” Tech linebacker Terrance Bullitt said. “We control our own fate.”
For any team taking aim at a conference championship, there is virtually no room for error. A Tech loss Saturday would put the Red Raiders’ hopes for a Big 12 title in serious jeopardy. Meantime, a team eyeing a spot in the BCS championship game like Kansas State can’t afford any setbacks at all.
All that should make for big theatre in the Little Apple.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Kansas State running back Angelo Pease said. “It’s not over yet. We approach every week like we’ve got to do it one game at a time. We can’t get ahead. Yeah, the rankings look good, but it only looks as good as it is at the end of the season.”
Both teams are brimming with confidence. Tech played poorly at times last Saturday against TCU, which may have made its 56-53 triple-overtime win even more impressive. Not playing at their best, the Red Raiders still found a way to win with their backs against the wall, showing fight rarely seen during last year’s 5-7 meltdown.
Of course, “at their best” is exactly what the Red Raiders will have to be Saturday if they hope to emerge from Manhattan with a share of the Big 12 lead. Tech certainly had its chances against the Wildcats in Lubbock last season, but the Red Raiders turned the ball over three times in the fourth quarter — and turned the ball over on downs during their final possession — on the way to a 41-34 loss.
Tech coach Tommy Tuberville knows his team can’t live with those kinds of mistakes against a Kansas State team that makes very few errors of its own. The Wildcats lead the nation in fewest penalties and are plus-12 in turnover margin.
“We’re going to load up and go and try to play much better than what we played (last week) if we’re going to have any chance to win,” Tuberville said.
Ball control is one of the things that has helped the Wildcats thrive in close games. Since the beginning of last season, Kansas State is 10-1 in games decided by seven points or less, winning eight of nine such games in Big 12 play. That mark includes a 24-19 win against Oklahoma earlier this season.
“If it comes to one score or one situation in a game,” Pease said, “we have a lot of confidence our coaching staff will put us in the right position to win the game.”
Keeping the game close, and giving itself a chance to tarnish Kansas State’s record in such games, will require Tech to limit Heisman frontrunner Collin Klein, the senior quarterback who has developed as a passer but is still just as capable of beating teams with his legs. Klein has rushed for 551 yards and 14 touchdowns.
Klein has an NCAA record 41 rushing touchdowns by a quarterback over a two-year period.
“He’s persistent throughout the game,” Bullitt said of Klein. “He’s never going to be too high, too low. The way he plays in the first quarter, that’s how he’s going to finish the fourth. And he runs hard.”
Meantime, Tech’s own quarterback, Seth Doege, hopes to keep up a blistering pace that has seen him throw 13 touchdown passes in the last two games, while moving into the Heisman Trophy discussion himself. The Red Raiders are also hoping for better production out of their run game, which was shut down last week save for Kenny Williams’ 47-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
“We did struggle with the ball running a little bit,” Doege said, “but I know those guys bounce back. Those guys will take it personal — the running backs and the offensive line and the run game — and we’ll be better this weekend.”
Then again, with so much on the line, the Red Raiders would rejoice in a win no matter how they achieved it.
“It’s college football,” Tuberville said. “It will be fun.”
Staff writer Don Williams contributed to this report.
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