Kansas State defeated TCU on Saturday night, 23-10, running their record to a perfect 10-0 and maintaining their stranglehold on the Big 12 standings. The Wildcats are poised to assume the top spot in this week's BCS rankings, after Alabama's upset loss to Texas A&M.
Quarterback Collin Klein, widely considered the frontrunner for this year's Heisman Trophy, struggled against the Horned Frogs defense. Klein, who played despite suffering a concussion the previous week, completed just 12 of 21 pass attempts for 145 yards and a touchdown, and ran 15 times for 50 yards and a pair of scores. While citing the injury concern, SB Nation Kansas State site Bring on the Cats gave credit for Klein's struggles to TCU's defense:
A large part of the offense's struggles can be directly attributed to TCU's defensive line play. Instead of having time to stand in the pocket and go through his reads, Klein was often harassed early, and there were few running lanes for John Hubert, Angelo Pease and Klein. TCU held K-State to 260 total yards, and 115 rushing yards, well below the Wildcats' season averages.
Much credit to TCU in this one. For a team that is struggling with youth and depth issues, the Horned Frogs are still a tough out. And they're only going to get tougher with experience.
The waiting game now begins for Wildcat fans. Kansas State will likely be ranked behind Oregon, who throttled Cal on Saturday night, 59-17, to solidify their top position in the human polls. However, the computers that make up a third of the BCS calculation have not been impressed with the Ducks' schedule, preferring Kansas State's performance in the nation's highest-rated conference:
It will be interesting to see how the first-place votes are split tomorrow among K-State and Oregon. Also, Florida won and Notre Dame [posted] another unimpressive victory, and should remain ahead of the Ducks in the computers. K-State's previous opponents posted a 4-4 record today (Missouri State was off).
Kansas State returns to action next week at Baylor.