The Kansas State Wildcats will host Texas Christian University at home this Saturday in Bill Snyder Family Stadium, kicking off at 11 a.m. TCU is currently ranked sixth in the nation with an undefeated 5-0 record, while K-State is 3-2 this season.
Last week, the TCU Horned Frogs went head-to-head against West Virginia University, where they won 31-24 at home. TCU’s quarterback Kenny Hill has racked up 1,153 yards and thrown 10 touchdown passes this season.
TCU’s leading receiver Desmon White has rushed for 168 yards and run two touchdowns. Leading tackler Travin Howard has had 38 tackles in the past five games. Additionally, head coach Gary Patterson currently has a career record of 154-54.
For the Wildcats, last week they went up against the University of Texas and lost 40-34 in double overtime. Sophomore quarterback Alex Delton saw some playing time and showed leadership for the Wildcats, and senior quarterback Jesse Ertz has had 336 passing yards and thrown for three touchdowns.
Sources have said that due to Ertz’s apparent knee injury, Delton could be the Wildcat football team’s first string quarterback on Saturday.
During the K-State football weekly press conference Tuesday, head coach Bill Snyder stayed away from talking about Ertz’s alleged knee injury, but Snyder did talk about the Wildcat quarterbacks in some capacity.
“Jesse is number one, Alex is number two,” Snyder said. “Skylar [Thompson] is doing well — he is getting repetitions in practice. Not too many third string guys get a lot of reps in practice, but he gets a fair share of them.”
Snyder also talked about Delton and the passing ability he has shown this season.
“Alex has a strong arm,” Snyder said. “As for anybody in that position, he wouldn’t be there if he couldn’t throw the ball. I think the important thing is to manage the process and go through the progressions and make the right decisions about where to go with the ball.”
Snyder talked about TCU’s quarterback and how Hill has improved from previous years.
“He wasn’t all that bad when he came into the ballgame against us a year ago,” Snyder said. “They talk about him being improved, and I certainly can see that. That is how it should be. You should be getting better and better all the time — even us old people should be getting better over time.
“[Hill] is throwing the ball well, and he is 10th in the nation in completing 69 percent of his passes,” Snyder continued. “He can bring the ball down when he wants to and run. There are times when you’re watching him on tape and … you can tell he has excellent speed. I do not know what his clock time is, but he can run.”
As far as playing against a highly-ranked team goes, Snyder said he believes it creates a different mindset in football players.
“I think for players it truly does make a difference,” Snyder said. “From a coach’s standpoint, they are all good. … It just makes sense that there are a lot of good football teams in this conference. I would like to think that everybody would be highly motivated no matter who you were playing.”
The Wildcats and the Horned Frogs will kick off at 11 a.m. on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on FS1.
