The No. 2-ranked Baylor Bears extended their perfect record this season to seven games with an 18-point triumph over Iowa State last Sunday. They will have another good chance to make it eight-straight wins when they pay the struggling Kansas State Wildcats at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium for their Week 10 clash this Thursday evening. But can they do it even without Seth Russell behind center?
Read on below for an in-depth breakdown of this college football showdown and while you’re at it, you can check out our Week 10 preview of Michigan State vs. Nebraska.
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Baylor Bears vs. Kansas State Wildcats Preview
Where: Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium, Manhattan, Kansas
There’s still no stopping the No. 2 Baylor Bears as they extended their perfect start to the season with another resounding 45-27 victory over Iowa State last Sunday. That win marked their 20th-straight at home.
[sc:NCAA240banner ]However, that win also proved to be a costly one for them. Bears quarterback in Seth Russell sustained a serious neck injury late in the game and has now been deemed out for the rest of the year after undergoing surgery. Before hurting himself, Russell completed of 16 of his 27 passes for 197 yards with a pair of touchdowns and is still the FBS leader with 29 touchdown passes.
Even with Russell gone, the Bears are still talented enough to continue dominating all their games. Their next game will be against the Kansas State Wildcats on Thursday night and they’ll definitely be relying on the pair of Corey Coleman and Shock Linwood to lead the charge for their formidable offense, which is averaging 61.1 points per game and 686.1 total yards per contest (both the best marks in the nation).
Coleman, who is on his third-year with the team, has been right on track in outdoing his 2014 performance. He’s reached the 100-yard mark in all but one of his games and is averaging a team-high of 20.5 yards per reception with 18 touchdowns this year. Linwood, meanwhile, is getting it done on the ground with 8.1 yards per carry in the same stretch as well.
Then of course, the Bears’ chances of success will greatly depend on freshman quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who will now enter his first start with the team as he takes over signal-calling duties for the injured Russell. The former five-star recruit might not really give them the upgrade they’re looking but he’s not to be underestimated either. Thus far this season, Stidham completed 24 of his 28 passes for 331 yards and six scores.
Baylor is 9-1 SU and 6-4 ATS in its previous 10 road games.
The struggle continues for the Kansas State Wildcats. They were handed their fourth-consecutive setback in their previous game last Sunday, during which Texas got the best out of them with a solid 23-9 triumph. The Wildcats are now 3-4 overall and still winless in the Big 12 this season.
QB Joe Hubener can definitely attest to their losing woes as he’s been having consistent off-games lately. Hubener has only completed 38.5 percent of his passes with five interceptions—at least one in each game—and only has a single touchdown pass under his belt in the past four games. (He does, however, have five rushing touchdowns, including four in their near-upset of TCU.) Hubener will have to be at his best if K-State hopes to finally get back on track for Week 10.
Speaking of Week 10, they’ll be in for a very tough matchup against the second-ranked Baylor Bears, who have yet to lose this season. For the Wildcats to pull off the incredible upset, the pressure is on their regressing offense, which is eight-worst in their conference with just 338.0 total yards per game on the year, to start picking up some steam later.
That said, the duo of RB Charles Jones and WR Deante Burton will need to make their presence felt in this game. Jones leads the team 5.0 yards per rush this season, while Burton also has been their best weapon on the air, averaging 13.1 yards per carry with two touchdowns. Both have also combined for five touchdowns.
Meanwhile, defense will be the key for them to at least make things interesting against the Bears’ fearsome offensive attack. But the Wildcats haven’t been able to get things going on that end of the field thus far this year, giving up a conference-high of 47.1 points per game.
Kansas State is 7-3 SU and 6-4 ATS in its last 10 home games.
