Rapid recap: Kansas State places importance on Sunflower Showdown
Kansas State’s Sunflower Showdown importance
Playing Kansas and the in-state rivalry means the game carries a little more importance than usual. Kansas State has over 50 players on the team from the Sunflower State. Even the out-of-state players know the importance of the game because of the amount of in-state players on the roster.
However, even though there is more importance to the game, every K-State player on Tuesday afternoon said the same thing. The Wildcats have to prepare the same way they have been preparing to beat Kansas. Cooper Beebe takes a tremendous amount of pride in the Sunflower Showdown. The senior offensive lineman says it is nice to show off for Kansas on the national level because a lot of players from the state are overlooked.
Kansas State passing game coming along
Senior quarterback Will Howard has been on a bit of a heater in the last few games. The Pennsylvania native has thrown for 880 yards and 12 touchdowns with just one interception in the last four games. Howard is starting to mesh with all of the receivers more and he knew they were capable of this all along.
It is also not just the passing game clicking. Kansas State’s run game is one of the best in the country in yards per game this season. K-State has also been extremely efficient in the red zone. Howard believes sometimes it just takes time for things to be clicking on all cylinders and that is happening with the Wildcat offense.
A look at Kansas’ defensive line
Kansas has one of the best defensive lines in the Big 12 this season. The Jayhawks are second in total sacks with 25 and Austin Booker is tied for third in the conference in sacks this season with seven. Hayden Gillum said Kansas has a lot of players up front that have length and are physical. The super senior also pointed out the Jayhawks have a lot of defensive line depth and a lot of players that can get to the quarterback.
