Kansas State vs TCU: Big 12 Championship Game Open Thread

Dec 3, 2022 - 4:00 PM

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It all comes down to this.

It’s been a great season for two good programs, but only one of the Big 12’s Purple Powerhouses can claim the championship crown today in the Big 12 Conference Championship Game.

TCU enters the game undefeated and a favorite to make the College Football Playoff. They’ve won close games, they’ve won blowouts, but regardless they just keep winning. Sonny Dykes’ first season in Ft Worth has been an incredible one, and largely with the same players that went 5-7 last year in Garry Patterson’s final season. They can run the ball effectively with Kendre Miller, and throw the ball well with a resurgent Max Duggan and receivers like Quentin Johnston. On defense they are solid across the board, and have put together performances like stuffing Texas’s Bijan Robinson, but have also struggled against teams with stronger passing attacks.

Kansas State enters the game at 9-3 on the year, but all three losses have come against Top 25 teams, including to TCU in Ft Worth earlier this year. Will Howard has taken over at QB after Adrian Martinez went down again, and the Cats are undefeated this season when Howard starts, and 4-1 when he plays a preponderance of snaps. He’s joined on offense by the electric Deuce Vaughn, who just put up his third-straight 1,000+ yard season on the ground. Defensively, the Wildcats now lead the conference, and have become really good at making halftime adjustments to shut teams down.

This should be a great game in Arlington. Let’s just hope the Wildcats can pull off the stunner and earn their 3rd Big 12 title.

We’ve got early game slot today, and an 11:00am CT kickoff from AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX being aired on ABC with Chris Fowler (Play-by-Play), Kirk Herbstreit (Analyst), and Holly Rowe (Sidelines) on the call. You should also be able to watch the game live online at ESPN.com, if you have the correct cable package.

If you don’t have ABC, or can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across the 38-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 will also be on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 80 or 81 (possibly with the ESPN Radio crew of Mike Couzens (Play-by-Play) and Max Starks (Analyst)), and available online at K-Statesports.com. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and Twitter updates (@KStateFB) will also be a part of the coverage.

Go Cats!

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Hey, are you on Discord? We are now, too! Feel free to join us! (Make sure you click the reaction button on the rules notice though, or you won’t see anything.) We’ll have a game thread there as well!