For three weeks now, college bowl season has been entertaining fans. There were initially 42 bowl games scheduled, plus next week’s National Championship Game. Many of the games were canceled or used replacement teams.
Big 12 in the NY6 Games:
The Big 12 Conference had seven teams qualify for bowls. Two of those teams played, and won, in two of the NY6 Bowls. Big 12 champs #7 Baylor beat #8 Ole Miss in the Allstate Sugar Bowl on January 1, 21-7. And #9 Oklahoma State beat #5, Notre Dame, in the PlayStation Fiesta Bowl on January 1, 37-35.
Other Big 12 bowl game results included:
- West Virginia lost to Minnesota 18-6 in the Guaranteed Rate Bowl (December 28)
- Iowa State lost to # 19 Clemson 20-13 in the Cheez-It Bowl (December 29)
- #16 Oklahoma beat #16 Oregon 47-32 in the Alamo Bowl (December 29
The last of the seven teams to play is Kansas State. The Wildcats will face LSU on Tuesday night. Here’s a preview of that game:
TaxAct Texas Bowl: Kansas State (7-5) vs. LSU (6-6)
Tuesday, January 4, [FuboTV 8 p.m. CT, ESPN]
NRG Stadium, Houston, Texas
Line: Kansas State -7.0; over/under – 47.5
The big cats come to play in the last bowl game of the season before the National Championship Game. It’s unusual to see an LSU team end the season at 6-6. Even more unusual to see them as the underdog to the K-State Wildcats.
LSU struggled this season. They are only in this bowl game because somehow, they were able to win their last two games against ULM and a ranked A&M team to become bowl eligible. If they lose this bowl game, they will have their first losing season since 1999.
LSU fired their head coach, Ed Orgeron, midway through the season and then hired Brian Kelly away from Notre Dame. Kelly will not coach LSU for the bowl game. Instead, Brad Davis will serve as interim head coach for the bowl game. Davis will then be the offensive line coach under Kelly for the 2022 season. LSU will only have 40 scholarship players at the game, and the coaching staff is a hodgepodge of coaches from the old and new staffs.
Last spring, LSU had four quarterbacks on the roster. None of those four will be in the bowl game due to either injury or transfers. Their quarterback will be one of two walk-ons. Their leading running back, Tyrion Davis-Price, opted for the NFL draft and won’t play. He had 1,003 rushing yards and six touchdowns during the regular season.
LSU finished 6-6 for the season and 3-5 in SEC play. This placed them 7th in the SEC West. All the SEC teams except, Vanderbilt, were bowl eligible this year. The Tigers opened the season with a loss at UCLA, then beat McNeese State, Central Michigan, and Mississippi State. They then had back-to-back losses against then #22 Auburn and then #16 Kentucky before beating then #20 Florida. They then lost three straight to #12 Ole Miss, #2 Alabama, and #25 Arkansas. The Tigers finished the season beating Louisiana-Monroe and #15 Texas A&M.
LSU and Kansas State will meet for only the second time. The previous meeting was in 1980 in Baton Rouge, with LSU winning 21-0. This will be KSU’s third trip to the Texas Bowl, having lost to Rutgers in 2006 and beating Texas A&M in 2016. LSU is making their second appearance in this bowl, having won in 2015 against Texas Tech.
Kansas State is in a bowl game for the second time in three years under coach Chris Klieman, who replaced legendary coach Bill Snyder after the 2018 season. After having a decent season, KSU lost its last two games to eventual Big 12 champion Baylor and Texas despite holding those two teams to a total of 42 points. Their downfall was the inability to convert on third down attempts, going 5-22 in those last two games.
Quarterback Skylar Thompson was injured in the Baylor game and did not play against Texas. He does, though, look to be ready to play in this game. This will be his 40th game as a Wildcat in what has been a very long career. The star of the Wildcats offense is running back Deuce Vaughn. He was a consensus All-American, ranking in the Top 10 nationally in all-purpose yards (144.1 per game) and total touchdowns (18).
On the defensive side, Kansas State has the Big 12’s co-Defensive Lineman of the Year with defensive end Felix Anudike-Uzomah. He leads the nation in forced fumbles (six) and is tied for 10th in sacks (11). Horned Frogs fans know that a good percentage of those sacks came at their expense.
Kansas State finished 7-5 and 4-5 in Big 12 play. This placed them right in the middle of the pack at 5th place in the Big 12. They won all three of their non-conference games to begin the season, which included a win over the Pac-12’s Stanford at AT&T Stadium in Arlington. They then beat Southern Illinois and Nevada before suffering three straight losses to Oklahoma State, #6 Oklahoma, and Iowa State. They then won four straight, beating Texas Tech, TCU, Kansas, and West Virginia. They finished the regular season with losses to Baylor and Texas.
| Team Stats Per Game | Kansas State | LSU |
|---|---|---|
|
Points Per Game |
26.3 |
27.1 |
|
Points Allowed Per Game |
21.1 |
25.3 |
|
Total Yards |
355.7 |
373.5 |
|
Yards Passing |
195.0 |
264.2 |
|
Yards Rushing |
160.7 |
109.3 |
|
Yards Allowed |
348.0 |
372.2 |
|
Pass Yards Allowed |
221.7 |
234.9 |
|
Rush Yards Allowed |
126.3 |
137.3 |
Season Leaders
Passing Yards
Kansas State – Skylar Thompson – 141-205, 1,854 yards, nine touchdowns, four interceptions
LSU – Max Johnson – 225-373, 2,815 yards, 27 touchdowns, six interceptions
Rushing Yards
Kansas State – Deuce Vaughn – 214 carries, 1,258 yards, 15 touchdowns
LSU – Tyrion Davis-Price – 211 carries, 1,003 yards, six touchdowns
Receiving Yards
Kansas State – Phillip Brooks – 38 receptions, 474 yards, two touchdowns
LSU – Kayshon Boutte– 38 receptions, 509 yards, nine touchdowns
The pick: Kansas State – 35-24
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