The Kansas State Wildcats and Colorado Buffaloes will close out the regular season when they meet in Big 12 football action at 11 a.m. Saturday inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
K-State (5-6, 4-4 Big 12) needs a win to achieve bowl eligibility. Colorado (3-8, 1-7 Big 12) is playing mostly for pride.
Here’s everything you need to know about the game …
K-State vs. Colorado: Game details
Kickoff: 11 a.m. Saturday
Where: Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan
TV/stream: FS1
Radio: KCSP (610 AM) in Kansas City, KFH (1240 AM and 97.5 FM) in Wichita
The line: K-State by 17.5 with an O/U of 50.5
K-State football game prediction
This football game will not be for the faint of heart.
A pair of teams with losing records will face off in cold, and possibly wet, conditions Saturday in Manhattan. The projected high temperature is 41 degrees, and there is a 70% chance of rain in the forecast.
It’s hard to see a true sellout crowd showing up to support the Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
That could make it hard for K-State football players to get fired up for kickoff.
But the Wildcats should be motivated by other factors. It will be senior day, and the oldest members of K-State’s roster will want to go out on a high note. The Wildcats can also earn a bowl trip by winning this game. That may not mean much to some fans, given how high preseason expectations were for this group, but K-State players have said they want to go bowling.
I led off my prediction with a few paragraphs about motivation, because the Wildcats should win if they show up ready to play.
K-State is favored by 17.5 points in this matchup, even with a depleted roster that won’t feature its top running back (Dylan Edwards), wide receiver (Jayce Brown), linebacker (Austin Romaine) or pass-rusher (Tobi Osunsanmi).
Colorado has been one of the worst teams in the Big 12 all season. Its only three wins came against Delaware, Wyoming and Iowa State. The Buffaloes have lost four games in a row, mostly in blowout fashion.
Deion Sanders has been unable to replicate his past success now that Travis Hunter and Shedeur Sanders are in the NFL.
This game clearly doesn’t mean much to Colorado, as starting quarterback Julian Lewis has elected to sit out and preserve his redshirt.
Arizona State rushed for 355 yards and three touchdowns during a 42-17 win in Boulder last week.
K-State should also be able to find success on the ground, as the Wildcats are coming off a record-setting rushing performance against Utah in which Joe Jackson single-handedly rushed for 293 yards.
Chris Klieman has struggled to cover the spread as a big favorite. K-State is 2-1 straight up and 0-3 against the spread this season when favored by 17 or more. So it’s hard to trust the Wildcats to win by a huge margin. But they should win this game with an average effort.
K-State 31, Colorado 17
Last game prediction: Utah 38, K-State 13 ✅ (Final score: Utah 51, K-State 47)
Season prediction record: 9-2
Season prediction record ATS: 8-3
Season record O/U: 6-5.
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Kellis Robinett
The Wichita Eagle
Kellis Robinett covers Kansas State athletics for The Wichita Eagle and The Kansas City Star. A winner of more than a dozen national writing awards, he lives in Manhattan with his wife and four children.
