The annual rivalry matchup will be televised by FS1 with Eric Collins and Spencer Tillman on the call. Both teams are coming off losses to ranked teams. Kansas (2-3, 0-2 Big 12) traveled to Salt Lake City last weekend to take on No. 12 Utah and dropped a 41-24 decision, while Kansas State (3-2, 0-2) hosted No. 22 Houston and fell 35-16.
The two teams will look to rebound as they officially hit the midway point of the regular season. Kansas quarterback Isaiah Marshall is coming off the best game of his young career Saturday against the Utes. Marshall completed 19-of-37 passes for 333 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. He also scored his first career rushing touchdown, finishing with three total scores.
Marshall is up to 1,143 passing yards on the season with eight touchdowns to four interceptions. He has also rushed for 255 yards on 60 attempts. The quarterback established strong connections with receivers Cam Pickett and Nik McMillan on Saturday. Pickett finished with eight catches for a career-high 134 yards, while McMillan had four catches for 89 yards and a touchdown. McMillan leads Kansas in catches (18), receiving yards (345) and touchdowns (3).
On the other side of the ball, defensive end Leroy Harris III continued his breakout season Saturday in Utah, collecting a pair of sacks and 2.5 tackles-for-loss to go with his second blocked kick of the season. The defensive end now leads the Big 12 Conference in solo tackles-for-loss with nine and is tied for the overall lead at 9.5 with Santana Hopper from Colorado. Harris is tied fourth in the league with three sacks. Fellow defensive end David Santiago also had a strong game with six tackles, two tackles-for-loss, one sack and one forced fumble, which he recovered. The two defensive ends have combined for 16 tackles-for-loss on the season, which are the most by any duo in FBS.
Kansas State is paced by veteran quarterback Avery Johnson, who has thrown for 1,092 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions this season. He’s also the team’s leading rusher with 330 yards on the ground and three touchdowns. He’s complemented by running back Rodney Fields Jr., who has 320 yards and four touchdowns, while averaging 5.1 yards per rush. Jaron Tibbs is the team’s leading receiver with 20 catches for 201 yards and two touchdowns.
Defensive end Wendell Gregory, a transfer from Oklahoma State, has 8.5 tackles-for-loss on the season to go with 2.5 sacks. Darien Whitaker also has 2.5 sacks to go with 4.5 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble. Overall, Logan Bartley is the team’s leading tackler with 27 stops, while Gabe Powers is second with 24 to go with 3.5 tackles-for-loss.
The Wildcats rank first in the conference in fewest penalties per game at just 3.80 and are also first in fewest passing yards allowed per game at 133.4. Offensively, K-State is second in the conference and second in the country in third down conversion percentage at 61.6 percent.
The matchup against Kansas State will wrap up two straight road games for the Jayhawks, who will return home to David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium after the K-State game to host Baylor for Homecoming on Oct. 24.
Source: kuathletics.com
