Who is your Big 12 sleeper? Bring me Texas Tech! — Chad S., La Grange, Texas
I’m sensing a lot of positivity around Texas Tech and its 3-0 start, but just two weeks ago the Red Raiders had to stop Stephen F. Austin inside the 10 with two minutes left to preserve a victory. I’d like to see more first (and will starting this week against Texas).
The team we’re not talking nearly enough about is Kansas State. In Week 1, the Wildcats nearly shut out Stanford, notching two interceptions and four sacks against quarterbacks
Jack West and
Tanner McKee. Since then the Cardinal, having switched full-time to McKee, have put up 42 and 41 points against USC and Vanderbilt, respectively, while allowing just one sack and throwing no INTs. Then last week, K-State scored three fourth-quarter touchdowns to win 38-17 over a decent Nevada team, led by potential first-round quarterback
Carson Strong, whom the Wildcats picked once and sacked three times.
If nothing else, we’ve got enough evidence to conclude that Chris Klieman’s team has a particularly salty defense. It’s been a mix of veterans like linebacker
Daniel Green and defensive tackle
Eli Huggins taking a big step forward; young guys like sophomore defense end
Felix Anudike-Uzomah, sophomore cornerback
Tee Denson and redshirt freshman defensive back
TJ Smithbreaking out; and Klieman landing a couple of high-impact transfers in safety
Russ Yeast (Louisville) and cornerback
Julius Brents (Iowa).
The wild card hovering over the Wildcats is that four-year starting quarterback
Skylar Thompson hurt his knee in the second game against Southern Illinois and is out indefinitely. Thompson suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the third week last season, and K-State stumbled to a 4-6 record. But
Will Howard, who struggled in his place, is now a sophomore and played well against Nevada. Also: K-State still has star running back
Deuce Vaughn. The guy is an absolute stud who is averaging 123.7 yards per game and 6.0 yards per carry.
