Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats enter this one undefeated and with a 1-0 record in Big 12 play after beating Iowa State two games back at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City. At first glance and before the season started the KSU schedule looked to be soft but as the season has progressed, their opponents they have already beaten have performed well against other teams. Kansas State's opening week victim UCLA went on to beat Texas in Austin and Iowa State knocked off Texas Tech, the Wildcats look to add a top ten ranked team to that list on their own in Nebraska. Carson Coffman has been reserved at the QB spot and while he has thrown five touchdowns against two interceptions this year, three of the TD passes came against FCS Missouri State as did 280 of his 639 yards he has throw for. The Wildcats offense is very straight forward, it revolves around Daniel Thomas who is among the best in the country. Thomas has already carried the ball 105 times for 628 yards and six touchdowns and he averages six yards a carry even though defenses key on him and everyone in the stadium knows he is going to get the ball the bulk of time as he had a 34 carries for 181 yards against Iowa State and 28 carries for 234 yards against UCLA. Aubrey Quarles showed good speed and Tremaine Thompson caught three passes in the comeback win against UCF but the receivers seem to just be there to try and keep opposing defenses honest. The Kansas State defense is allowing 19.8 points per game and 349.2 yards allowing 153.8 per game through the air and 195.5 on the ground. While they have looked vulnerable at times, the KSU defense has got it done when it counted, keeping their perfect record intact to this point.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers look to be back but before that can be made official, there are conference titles to win and beyond, as the bar has been set high in Lincoln. In the mean time the Huskers are off to a 4-0 start and this is their first Big 12 conference game of the year. Nebraska got off to a solid start by knocking off Western Kentucky easily and then got up big on Idaho at home before allowing the Vandals to score late to dress it up. Nebraska then went on the road to Washington where they put on one of the most impressive performances by anyone this season, blowing out the Washington Huskies and holding then Heisman Trophy candidate and front runner, Jake Locker, to just 71 yards passing while racking up 533 yards of their own. Freshman Taylor Martinez has been a force thus far this season and he was seven of 11 passing for 150 yards and a touchdown and he ran for another 137 yards and three touchdowns. Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead have been pouring it on as well with Helu rushing for 305 yards and four touchdowns while finding the endzone four times and Burkhead rushing for 304 yards and three scores. While the Nebraska offense is in good hands, this team will go as far as their defense takes them and by the looks of things, that has a chance to be pretty far. The Cornhuskers are allowing 12.8 points and 265 yards per game with 126.2 coming through the air and 138.8 yards coming on the ground. Jared Crick and Prince Amukamara could play anywhere and will be playing on Sunday in the future and Kicker/Punter Alex Henry is one of the best around. This will be the stiffest test for the Huskers thus far as they beat KSU 17-3 last season.
Kansas State is 4-0 against the spread following a game which they didn't cover, 6-1 against the spread in their last seven conference game, and 0-5 against the spread in their last five home games against a team with a winning record. Nebraska is 6-1 against the spread in their last seven road games against a team with a winning home record, 9-4 against the spread when playing a team with a winning record, and 5-1 against the spread in their last six Thursday games. Nebraska is 3-7 against the spread in the last 10 meetings and the road team is 4-1 against the spread in the last five games between these two.
This should be a solid game as teams who are familiar with one another like these two are means that it will come down to execution and depth and I think the Huskers have the edge there. While Daniel Thomas is one of the best around, Nebraska has the guys who can slow him down and with the Huskers having a cover guy like Amukamara, it takes away half of the field as an option to throw to. The Huskers just have too much. WATCH LIVE ONLINE Give it a try >>>
