College Football Betting – (13) K-State Travels to West Virginia (Thursday)

(13) Kansas State Wildcats at West Virginia Mountaineers (-2.5, 58 o/u)

Once a top-ten team in the nation and a contender for a playoff spot, No. 13 Kansas State (7-2, 5-1 Big 12) saw its title hopes come crashing down in its last game, a 41-20 loss to No. 5 TCU. Now the once-mighty Wildcats enter Thursday’s game at West Virginia (6-4, 4-3 Big 12) as underdogs.

Even though Kansas State sits behind TCU in the Big 12 standings, the Wildcats are still in the running for a share of the Big 12 title. But they will need to win their last three games – the last of which is on the road at No. 6 Baylor – and get some help from the Horned Frogs.

Wildcats defensive back Morgan Burns said, “[QB] Jake Waters looked at me and told us that we still have a lot to play for [after the loss to TCU], like a Big 12 championship. We can still have a great season if we finish out well. I think right after the game we started moving forward and realized we have a lot of great things we can play for.”

Kansas State’s top receiver, Tyler Lockett, was one of the few Wildcats to impress against TCU; Lockett hauled in 11 catches for 196 yards in the loss.

Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said of Lockett, “If you watch him on tape, you realize that he is a gifted young guy. He can run, catch, and make you miss after he catches the ball. He has all of it.”

Lockett has put up similar numbers against West Virginia in his career, posting 305 yards receiving and five touchdowns in his last two games against the Mountaineers. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen isn’t overlooking the speedy wideout this time around.

He said, “I think Lockett, 16, is one of the best players in the country. He hurt us last year, he’s hurt a lot of people over the last couple of years.”

The Mountaineers are hopeful quarterback Clint Trickett,  who ranks sixth in the nation with 3,173 passing yards, comes up big against the Wildcats. Though Trickett has struggled in the Mountaineers last two games – throwing just one TD and three picks during losses to TCU and Texas – Kansas State is still rightfully wary of the talented senior.

Said Snyder, “I think Clint is throwing the ball awfully well. He is an accurate thrower. I think he got ingrained in the system consequently like (TCU’s Trevone) Boykin.”

Despite Trickett’s talents, the Mountaineers are going to struggle against a Wildcats team that has its eye on the prize. Take Kansas State and the points (+2.5).

(Photo credit: The US Army (flickr) “Wildcat Willie” [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode]. Photo may appear cropped.)