Saturday, November 30
Manhattan, Kan.
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
Iowa State
Wildcats Host Iowa State on Senior Night in Manhattan
Nov 25, 2019 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. - K-State returns home following a 30-27 win at Texas Tech for the final regular-season game of the year as the Wildcats host No. 22 Iowa State on Senior Night. The game, which kicks at 6 p.m., will air on FS1 with Brian Custer (play-by-play) and Robert Smith (analyst) on the call. The contest can be heard across the 39-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game can also be heard on SiriusXM (S: 98, X: 200, Internet: 954) in addition to the TuneIn app.
A LOOK AT K-STATE
• K-State is bowl-eligible under first-year head coach Chris Klieman and is looking to improve upon its bowl position and 7-4 record this weekend on Senior Night.
• K-State has rushed for 2,037 yards this year on 462 carries which includes 26 rushing touchdowns after tallying only 20 rushing scores a year ago.
• K-State totaled 11 rushing scores over the Oklahoma and Kansas games, which were the most in the nation over that stretch. Skylar Thompson had seven of those scores, also the best in the nation during that stretch.
• Thompson's seven rushing scores against OU and KU were the most over a two-game stretch by a K-State quarterback since Collin Klein in 2012.
• Thompson – who has four career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or later – has thrown for 2,134 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions.
• Thompson also became the fourth signal caller in school history with 4,000 career passing yards and 1,000 career rushing yards, but the first to do so prior to his senior year.
• Receivers Dalton Schoen and Malik Knowles each have over 350 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
• The K-State defense enters the week ranked highly in many statistical categories, including third down defense (4th; 27.9%) and first downs allowed (25th; 195).
• K-State has given up just 10 passing TDs this season, which are tied for the sixth fewest nationally this year.
• The Cats have surrendered only 34 total third down conversions this season – tied for the fewest in the FBS – while they were the final team to allow a fourth-down conversion when they did so at Texas on November 9.
• Linebacker Elijah Sullivan (52) and safety Wayne Jones (52) lead the team in tackles.
• Eleven different Cats have at least 2.0 TFLs – led by Wyatt Hubert's 10.5 – and Hubert leads the team and ranks second in the Big 12 with 7.0 sacks.
• The Wildcats possess a great kicker/punter duo as Blake Lynch ranks 10th nationally in field goal percentage (88.9%), while Devin Anctil ranks 16th in the nation with a 44.9-yard punting average.
• Freshman Joshua Youngblood has two kickoff-return touchdowns this season – a 98-yarder at Texas and a 100-yarder last week at Texas Tech, the latter earning him Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
A LOOK AT IOWA STATE
• Iowa State enters the game with a 7-4 overall record and 5-3 mark in Big 12 play.
• All four of Iowa State's losses have been by seven points or less.
• Brock Purdy leads the offense with 3,575 passing yards and 26 touchdowns, while receivers Deshaunte Jones (70 catches) and La'Michael Pettway (48) along with tight end Charlie Kolar (47) are his favorite targets.
• True freshman Breece Hall leads the team with 783 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, while Purdy is second with 268 yards and eight scores.
• On defense, Iowa State ranks 28th nationally against the run and is No. 50 in total defense.
• Marcel Spears leads the team with 80 tackles, while O'Rien Vance has a team-high 9.0 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
• Lawrence White, who is second on the team with 77 tackles, has a team-high two interceptions.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
• Iowa State leads the all-time series, 50-48-4, but K-State has won the past 10 of the last 11 meetings and is 24-5 in the last 29 meetings between the programs.
• K-State saw a 10-game winning streak over the Cyclones come to an end last year in Ames in a 42-38 ISU victory. It was Iowa State's first victory since a 31-20 win in Ames in 2007.
• The Wildcats have won each of their last six home matchups against Iowa State, a streak that dates back to 2006.
• Two years ago in Manhattan in the regular-season finale, The Wildcats trailed 19-7 early in the fourth quarter. K-State pulled to within five points on a 13-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a Winston Dimel-to-Alex Barnes touchdown pass. Following an ISU punt, K-State started a drive on its own 13-yard line with 1:55 left and proceeded to march 87 yards in 10 plays, capped by a Skylar Thompson pass to Isaiah Zuber in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game to secure a 20-19 victory.
CATS IN NOVEMBER
• Over the past decade, Kansas State has been at its best in the final month of the season as the Wildcats hold a 24-14 record in November since 2010.
• K-State has not had a sub-.500 mark in November since 2009.
• The Cats are in the midst of playing five games in the month of November for the first time since 2013 when they finished off the final month of the season with a 4-1 mark.
ONE OF THE BIG 12'S BEST
• K-State ranks third in Big 12 wins since the league's inception in 1996, trailing only Oklahoma and Texas.
• The Wildcats also rank third in the conference in winning percentage since round-robin play began in 2011. They sit at .600 (48-32), trailing only Oklahoma (.825; 66-14) and Oklahoma State (.650; 52-28).
CATS ARE BOWL BOUND
• With a 38-10 win at Kansas, K-State got win No. 6 and became bowl eligible for the 22nd time in school history.
• Since 1990, K-State has qualified for the postseason 21 times, including this season.
• Chris Klieman became the second coach in school history to take the Wildcats to a bowl in their first year as coach and the fourth coach overall to do so.
A NEW ERA
• The new era of K-State Football under Chris Klieman has opened with a 7-4 record through 11 games.
• Klieman, who was named the 35th head coach in school history on December 10, 2018, was just the fourth head coach in K-State history to start 3-0.
• He is the second head coach in school history to lead the Wildcats to bowl eligibility in their first season, while he tied for the most wins by a first-year head coach in school history with a victory at Texas Tech.
A WINNING HISTORY
• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman came to Manhattan after capping his five-year stint as head coach at North Dakota State by winning his fourth national championship in 2018.
• Klieman guided the 2018 Bison to a perfect 15-0 record, making NDSU just the fifth team in FCS history to go undefeated and untied on the way to a national championship.
• A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman has a career record of 79-17 (.823), as he went 69-6 in his five seasons at North Dakota State, 3-7 in one year as the head coach at Division III Loras College in 2005 and 7-4 so far at K-State.
• Klieman's overall winning percentage ranks eighth among all active NCAA coaches – regardless of division – and tops among active FBS coaches.
FEW FLAGS
• One staple of Kansas State football throughout the years has been limited penalties, and the 2019 Wildcats have continued that trend.
• K-State enters the week tied for fourth in the Big 12 in fewest penalties with 67 this season.
• The Kansas game was an anomaly as the Wildcats were flagged 11 times for 113 yards, the first time they had over 10 penalties and 100 penalty yards since the 2018 season opener.
CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation's best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 20-plus seasons as it has 116 since 1999, eight more than the next closest team.
• Entering the season, the Wildcats were averaging 5.6 non-offensive touchdowns per year since 1999, while the yearly average for the other 105 teams to play FBS football since 1999 was 3.3.
• Kansas State's average is boosted by the fact that it has at least five non-offensive touchdowns in six of the last eight years.
HIGH T.O.P.
• K-State enters this week ranked third nationally in time of possession at 34:17.
• The Wildcats' best season time of possession average since 1985 was 33:55 during the 2011 season.
• K-State has possessed the ball for over 40 minutes twice this season, including a 42:52 mark against Bowling Green to rank eighth in Big 12 history.
THESE CATS ARE SMART
• Kansas State has been one of the top teams in the Big 12 in terms of performance in the classroom as the Wildcats lead the league with 167 All-Big 12 honors over the last six seasons.
• The Wildcats have 41 more than the next closest team, Oklahoma State (126).
• The number was given a big boost this year as K-State set a school record with 32 Academic All-Big 12 honorees, including a conference-record 26 first-team members. The 32 total members ranked third in Big 12 history.
• Additionally, Kansas State is tied for first in the nation with SMU by having 21 graduates on its current roster.
FEW OFFENSIVE TURNOVERS
• The Wildcats only have seven offensive turnovers in its first 11 games (3 FUM, 4 INT), their fewest in the first 11 games of a season since 2012.
• K-State's had a three-game stretch of zero turnovers snapped at Texas (one fumble).
• Of the Wildcats' seven lost fumbles this season, three are on punt returns and one is on an interception return.
• K-State was the final team in the nation to commit an offensive turnover this year when it fumbled at OSU. The Cats went the first 189 minutes, 38 seconds of the 2019 season without committing an offensive turnover.
RACKING UP RUSHING YARDS
• The Cats showed at the outset of the year its ability to run the ball, a mark that now stands at 185.2 per game.
• K-State has 2,037 total rushing yards this season. The Wildcats have hit 2,000 rushing yards for the 10th time in the last 11 years and the 18th time in the last 23 years.
• The Cats hit the 1,000-yard mark in their fifth game, marking the eighth time since 2000 but just the second since 2013 it only took five games to get to 1,000.
• K-State carded over 300 yards rushing in each of the first two games, the first time since at least 1965 that the Cats went over the 300-yard mark twice to open a season.
• Against OU and KU, the Cats ran for 555 yards and 11 scores on the ground. Their 342 rushing yards against Kansas were the most in a Big 12 game since totaling 366 yards at TCU in 2016.
RUNNING TO PAYDIRT
• Seven different Wildcats have tallied rushing touchdowns this year for a team total of 26. Last year, K-State had 20 total rushing touchdowns in 12 games.
• The Wildcats are five rushing scores away from tying for 10th in school history.
• K-State running backs have accounted for 15 rushing touchdowns this season after the position group only had 13 in 2018.
DEFENSE RANKING HIGHLY
• K-State ranks second in the Big 12 and 32nd nationally in scoring defense (21.9 pts/gm), while the Wildcats are third in the league and 49th nationally in passing yards allowed (214.5 yd/gm).
• The Wildcats' current scoring defense mark is their best since 20036 (16.3), while the passing yardage mark is their best since 2010 (214.3).
LIMITED SNAPS
• Thanks to its efficiency on third downs, the K-State defense is one of the nation's leaders in fewest defensive snaps played.
• K-State has defended against just 659 plays in its 11 games as its 59.9 defensive snaps per game rank fourth in the nation.
GETTING OFF THE FIELD
• The K-State defense has excelled in terms of getting off the field on third down during this year as the Cats rank fourth in the nation in third down defense (27.9%) behind Wisconsin (24.6%), Clemson (27.3%) and UAB (27.4%).
• The Cats have allowed only 34 third down conversions this year, tied for the fewest in the nation with Wisconsin.
• Additionally, K-State was the last team in the nation to allow a fourth-down conversion when Texas converted one on November 9.
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last 15 years when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.
• The Wildcats have a combined 51 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 20 more than any other FBS school during that stretch.
• Malik Knowles got things going for the Wildcats in that department in 2019 with a 100-yard kickoff return at Mississippi State, while Joshua Youngblood went 98 yards for a kickoff-return score at Texas and 100 yards at Texas Tech for his second of the season.
DEFENSE ON KICKOFFS
• K-State has been consistent in terms of kickoff coverage as the Cats have not allowed a kickoff-return touchdown in the last 86 games, the last being against Louisiana on September 7, 2013. During that stretch, K-State has defended against 322 kickoff returns.
• K-State has ranked in the top 30 nationally in kickoff return defense each of the last five seasons, including a No. 2 national ranking in 2017.
• The Wildcats enter this week ranked 22nd in that department by limiting opponents to just 18.1 yards per return.
A LOOK AT K-STATE
• K-State is bowl-eligible under first-year head coach Chris Klieman and is looking to improve upon its bowl position and 7-4 record this weekend on Senior Night.
• K-State has rushed for 2,037 yards this year on 462 carries which includes 26 rushing touchdowns after tallying only 20 rushing scores a year ago.
• K-State totaled 11 rushing scores over the Oklahoma and Kansas games, which were the most in the nation over that stretch. Skylar Thompson had seven of those scores, also the best in the nation during that stretch.
• Thompson's seven rushing scores against OU and KU were the most over a two-game stretch by a K-State quarterback since Collin Klein in 2012.
• Thompson – who has four career game-winning drives in the fourth quarter or later – has thrown for 2,134 yards and 12 touchdowns with four interceptions.
• Thompson also became the fourth signal caller in school history with 4,000 career passing yards and 1,000 career rushing yards, but the first to do so prior to his senior year.
• Receivers Dalton Schoen and Malik Knowles each have over 350 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
• The K-State defense enters the week ranked highly in many statistical categories, including third down defense (4th; 27.9%) and first downs allowed (25th; 195).
• K-State has given up just 10 passing TDs this season, which are tied for the sixth fewest nationally this year.
• The Cats have surrendered only 34 total third down conversions this season – tied for the fewest in the FBS – while they were the final team to allow a fourth-down conversion when they did so at Texas on November 9.
• Linebacker Elijah Sullivan (52) and safety Wayne Jones (52) lead the team in tackles.
• Eleven different Cats have at least 2.0 TFLs – led by Wyatt Hubert's 10.5 – and Hubert leads the team and ranks second in the Big 12 with 7.0 sacks.
• The Wildcats possess a great kicker/punter duo as Blake Lynch ranks 10th nationally in field goal percentage (88.9%), while Devin Anctil ranks 16th in the nation with a 44.9-yard punting average.
• Freshman Joshua Youngblood has two kickoff-return touchdowns this season – a 98-yarder at Texas and a 100-yarder last week at Texas Tech, the latter earning him Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
A LOOK AT IOWA STATE
• Iowa State enters the game with a 7-4 overall record and 5-3 mark in Big 12 play.
• All four of Iowa State's losses have been by seven points or less.
• Brock Purdy leads the offense with 3,575 passing yards and 26 touchdowns, while receivers Deshaunte Jones (70 catches) and La'Michael Pettway (48) along with tight end Charlie Kolar (47) are his favorite targets.
• True freshman Breece Hall leads the team with 783 rushing yards and eight touchdowns, while Purdy is second with 268 yards and eight scores.
• On defense, Iowa State ranks 28th nationally against the run and is No. 50 in total defense.
• Marcel Spears leads the team with 80 tackles, while O'Rien Vance has a team-high 9.0 tackles for loss and 6.5 sacks.
• Lawrence White, who is second on the team with 77 tackles, has a team-high two interceptions.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
• Iowa State leads the all-time series, 50-48-4, but K-State has won the past 10 of the last 11 meetings and is 24-5 in the last 29 meetings between the programs.
• K-State saw a 10-game winning streak over the Cyclones come to an end last year in Ames in a 42-38 ISU victory. It was Iowa State's first victory since a 31-20 win in Ames in 2007.
• The Wildcats have won each of their last six home matchups against Iowa State, a streak that dates back to 2006.
• Two years ago in Manhattan in the regular-season finale, The Wildcats trailed 19-7 early in the fourth quarter. K-State pulled to within five points on a 13-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a Winston Dimel-to-Alex Barnes touchdown pass. Following an ISU punt, K-State started a drive on its own 13-yard line with 1:55 left and proceeded to march 87 yards in 10 plays, capped by a Skylar Thompson pass to Isaiah Zuber in the back of the end zone on the final play of the game to secure a 20-19 victory.
CATS IN NOVEMBER
• Over the past decade, Kansas State has been at its best in the final month of the season as the Wildcats hold a 24-14 record in November since 2010.
• K-State has not had a sub-.500 mark in November since 2009.
• The Cats are in the midst of playing five games in the month of November for the first time since 2013 when they finished off the final month of the season with a 4-1 mark.
ONE OF THE BIG 12'S BEST
• K-State ranks third in Big 12 wins since the league's inception in 1996, trailing only Oklahoma and Texas.
• The Wildcats also rank third in the conference in winning percentage since round-robin play began in 2011. They sit at .600 (48-32), trailing only Oklahoma (.825; 66-14) and Oklahoma State (.650; 52-28).
CATS ARE BOWL BOUND
• With a 38-10 win at Kansas, K-State got win No. 6 and became bowl eligible for the 22nd time in school history.
• Since 1990, K-State has qualified for the postseason 21 times, including this season.
• Chris Klieman became the second coach in school history to take the Wildcats to a bowl in their first year as coach and the fourth coach overall to do so.
A NEW ERA
• The new era of K-State Football under Chris Klieman has opened with a 7-4 record through 11 games.
• Klieman, who was named the 35th head coach in school history on December 10, 2018, was just the fourth head coach in K-State history to start 3-0.
• He is the second head coach in school history to lead the Wildcats to bowl eligibility in their first season, while he tied for the most wins by a first-year head coach in school history with a victory at Texas Tech.
A WINNING HISTORY
• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman came to Manhattan after capping his five-year stint as head coach at North Dakota State by winning his fourth national championship in 2018.
• Klieman guided the 2018 Bison to a perfect 15-0 record, making NDSU just the fifth team in FCS history to go undefeated and untied on the way to a national championship.
• A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman has a career record of 79-17 (.823), as he went 69-6 in his five seasons at North Dakota State, 3-7 in one year as the head coach at Division III Loras College in 2005 and 7-4 so far at K-State.
• Klieman's overall winning percentage ranks eighth among all active NCAA coaches – regardless of division – and tops among active FBS coaches.
FEW FLAGS
• One staple of Kansas State football throughout the years has been limited penalties, and the 2019 Wildcats have continued that trend.
• K-State enters the week tied for fourth in the Big 12 in fewest penalties with 67 this season.
• The Kansas game was an anomaly as the Wildcats were flagged 11 times for 113 yards, the first time they had over 10 penalties and 100 penalty yards since the 2018 season opener.
CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation's best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 20-plus seasons as it has 116 since 1999, eight more than the next closest team.
• Entering the season, the Wildcats were averaging 5.6 non-offensive touchdowns per year since 1999, while the yearly average for the other 105 teams to play FBS football since 1999 was 3.3.
• Kansas State's average is boosted by the fact that it has at least five non-offensive touchdowns in six of the last eight years.
HIGH T.O.P.
• K-State enters this week ranked third nationally in time of possession at 34:17.
• The Wildcats' best season time of possession average since 1985 was 33:55 during the 2011 season.
• K-State has possessed the ball for over 40 minutes twice this season, including a 42:52 mark against Bowling Green to rank eighth in Big 12 history.
THESE CATS ARE SMART
• Kansas State has been one of the top teams in the Big 12 in terms of performance in the classroom as the Wildcats lead the league with 167 All-Big 12 honors over the last six seasons.
• The Wildcats have 41 more than the next closest team, Oklahoma State (126).
• The number was given a big boost this year as K-State set a school record with 32 Academic All-Big 12 honorees, including a conference-record 26 first-team members. The 32 total members ranked third in Big 12 history.
• Additionally, Kansas State is tied for first in the nation with SMU by having 21 graduates on its current roster.
FEW OFFENSIVE TURNOVERS
• The Wildcats only have seven offensive turnovers in its first 11 games (3 FUM, 4 INT), their fewest in the first 11 games of a season since 2012.
• K-State's had a three-game stretch of zero turnovers snapped at Texas (one fumble).
• Of the Wildcats' seven lost fumbles this season, three are on punt returns and one is on an interception return.
• K-State was the final team in the nation to commit an offensive turnover this year when it fumbled at OSU. The Cats went the first 189 minutes, 38 seconds of the 2019 season without committing an offensive turnover.
RACKING UP RUSHING YARDS
• The Cats showed at the outset of the year its ability to run the ball, a mark that now stands at 185.2 per game.
• K-State has 2,037 total rushing yards this season. The Wildcats have hit 2,000 rushing yards for the 10th time in the last 11 years and the 18th time in the last 23 years.
• The Cats hit the 1,000-yard mark in their fifth game, marking the eighth time since 2000 but just the second since 2013 it only took five games to get to 1,000.
• K-State carded over 300 yards rushing in each of the first two games, the first time since at least 1965 that the Cats went over the 300-yard mark twice to open a season.
• Against OU and KU, the Cats ran for 555 yards and 11 scores on the ground. Their 342 rushing yards against Kansas were the most in a Big 12 game since totaling 366 yards at TCU in 2016.
RUNNING TO PAYDIRT
• Seven different Wildcats have tallied rushing touchdowns this year for a team total of 26. Last year, K-State had 20 total rushing touchdowns in 12 games.
• The Wildcats are five rushing scores away from tying for 10th in school history.
• K-State running backs have accounted for 15 rushing touchdowns this season after the position group only had 13 in 2018.
DEFENSE RANKING HIGHLY
• K-State ranks second in the Big 12 and 32nd nationally in scoring defense (21.9 pts/gm), while the Wildcats are third in the league and 49th nationally in passing yards allowed (214.5 yd/gm).
• The Wildcats' current scoring defense mark is their best since 20036 (16.3), while the passing yardage mark is their best since 2010 (214.3).
LIMITED SNAPS
• Thanks to its efficiency on third downs, the K-State defense is one of the nation's leaders in fewest defensive snaps played.
• K-State has defended against just 659 plays in its 11 games as its 59.9 defensive snaps per game rank fourth in the nation.
GETTING OFF THE FIELD
• The K-State defense has excelled in terms of getting off the field on third down during this year as the Cats rank fourth in the nation in third down defense (27.9%) behind Wisconsin (24.6%), Clemson (27.3%) and UAB (27.4%).
• The Cats have allowed only 34 third down conversions this year, tied for the fewest in the nation with Wisconsin.
• Additionally, K-State was the last team in the nation to allow a fourth-down conversion when Texas converted one on November 9.
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last 15 years when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.
• The Wildcats have a combined 51 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 20 more than any other FBS school during that stretch.
• Malik Knowles got things going for the Wildcats in that department in 2019 with a 100-yard kickoff return at Mississippi State, while Joshua Youngblood went 98 yards for a kickoff-return score at Texas and 100 yards at Texas Tech for his second of the season.
DEFENSE ON KICKOFFS
• K-State has been consistent in terms of kickoff coverage as the Cats have not allowed a kickoff-return touchdown in the last 86 games, the last being against Louisiana on September 7, 2013. During that stretch, K-State has defended against 322 kickoff returns.
• K-State has ranked in the top 30 nationally in kickoff return defense each of the last five seasons, including a No. 2 national ranking in 2017.
• The Wildcats enter this week ranked 22nd in that department by limiting opponents to just 18.1 yards per return.