TCU will look to keep their College Football Playoff hopes alive on Saturday in a huge battle with Kansas State.
The No. 6 TCU Horned Frogs will take on the No. 7 Kansas State Wildcats at Amon G. Carter Stadium in the most surprising high stakes game of the Big 12 season that was expected to be headlined by Baylor and Oklahoma. Instead, it’s Kansas State who is 5-0 in conference and 7-1 overall and TCU who also sits at 7-1 but trails the Wildcats in conference by one game at 4-1. The teams are 6th and 7th in the college football playoff rankings and a win by either team could soar them into the top four or right on the outside looking in.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 8
Start Time: 7:30 E.T.
Location: Fort Worth, Texas
Stadium: Amon G. Carter Stadium
TV Info: FOX
Radio: Kansas State: Sports Radio 810 TCU: KTCU 88.7
Kansas State
The Kansas State Wildcats have had an underrated season as their only loss has come in a close game from No. 3 Auburn Tigers, and they’ve had victories over Oklahoma and blowout victories against Texas and Oklahoma State in their last two contests. With that, they’ve surged up the rankings to the No. 7 spot and have a potential college football playoff bid in their back pockets, but it won’t be easy to get there as they have to win games against TCU, West Virginia and Baylor in their final four games of the season, all three coming on the road. They can get a huge momentum boost this Saturday night against TCU. The Wildcats’ offense (38.3 PPG, 15th nationally) scores about 10 points less than TCU per game, but is just as dangerous. Senior quarterback Jake Waters hasn’t thrown an interception in five games and can hurt defenses through the air as well as on the run game. He’ll need his best game of the season to unwind a tough TCU defense and match the Horned Frogs’ ridiculous attack offense. If Waters can hold his own and keep Kansas State even in the game and have the Wildcats defense make some tough stops down the stretch, you may see K-State take a big win Saturday night on the road.
TCU
The TCU Horned Frogs have had a great season so far, with their only loss coming from a heart breaking comeback victory by Baylor 58-61 in Baylor earlier this season. TCU hasn’t lost a game since, outscoring opponents of Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and West Virginia 155-66 including a clutch comeback victory on the road last week against West Virginia last week. Trevone Boykin and the passing attack (335.9 YPG, 5th nationally, 4th in the nation in scoring) has been unbelievable for the Horned Frogs this year and they’ll look to keep that going against Kansas State at home. TCU has a real chance to find themselves in the college football playoff this year with their final four games against K-State and struggling Kansas, Texas and Iowa State teams. If TCU can control Saturday night’s game through the air and make it a high scoring battle, they should be able to take home the victory and then be in the drivers seat, controlling their own postseason fate for the rest of the season.
Betting Odds
Point Spread: TCU -6
O/U: 57.5
Prediction
TCU and Trevone Boykin will be too much for Kansas State in this home game for the Horned Frogs on Saturday. The passing attack from TCU has been too much for every team this season except for Baylor, and K-State will fall victim to a high scoring back and forth match up that TCU will take over late in the game. It’ll be a quarterback battle with Boykin and Waters and will undoubtedly be a classic, but TCU will come out with the win and have the ability to coast into the college football playoff with a few easier games and then a tough Big 12 championship game to close the season.