A year ago, K-State welcomed Houston to its first-ever meeting in the Bill and topped the Cougars with a 41-0 victory. The game was practically over so early that Will Howard – who was 15-17 with two touchdowns – didn't even break the 200-yard mark. DJ Giddens didn't make it to 100 yards. And K-State still managed nearly 400 yards on the Cougar defense.

The Cougars had a 4-8 season and are only slightly better this year. Can the Wildcats keep the big zero on the scoreboard? Can the offense roll? We'll find out.

The game

The 17th-ranked Kansas State Wildcats (7-1, 4-1 Big 12) visit the Houston Cougars (3-5, 2-3 Big 12).

As already mentioned, this is only the second meeting between the two teams. Of course, Houston has a new coach this year: Willie Fritz, who is 1-0 against the Cats since he was responsible for Tulane's surprise win in Manhattan in 2022. Something has to give, one suspects.

Houston isn't great. They beat TCU, but TCU is capable of losing to almost anyone this year. They also beat Utah, which is…well, worse than Houston. Rankings don't lie. Houston's losses came to Cincinnati and Iowa State, which you can't really blame them for, a subpar Oklahoma team and UNLV, teams no better than K-State, and… Kansas, which took them two completely out of the Cleared away weeks ago.

Quarterback Donovan Smith, who helped K-State beat his own team last year, has completed 65% of his passes for just 867 yards and four touchdowns to eight interceptions. Houston has only rushed for 1,176 yards this season, which is barely more than Giddens and Joe Jackson combined, not to mention Avery Johnson and Dylan Edwards. They are averaging 15.6 points per game and allowing over 22, a number that dropped last week thanks to 60 minutes against Utah's offense. K-State scores 32.8 and gives up under 22.

What we're saying is that everything suggests you'll be relaxing comfortably at 4pm, but you never know what strange things could happen, especially given the weather forecast.

Start

Saturday, November 2nd, 2:30 pm CT at TDECU Stadium (40,000) in Houston, Texas.

Tickets

You can walk in the door for less than $10. With a few exceptions, each ticket costs less than $75, and the average ticket, well, give someone a photo of Andrew Jackson and you'll get a ticket and change.

Weather

The weather will be disgusting. Rain is forecast to start early this morning, ruining your tailgate, and thunderstorms are forecast for a six-hour period between 11am and 4pm, which could cause delays. But hey, the temperature will be in the high 70s all day.

Opportunities

The Cats opened at -9.5 and things have only gotten worse for Houston since then. DraftKings currently has odds of -13 and an over of 46, pointing to a 30-16 win for K-State. The money line is -550 for K-State, +410 for Houston. Oddshark's computer is even more purple, predicting a 34-14 win.

TV

After a week on a secondary network, K-State is returning to a primary network as the game will be on FOX. Jason Benetti, Brock Huard and Allison Williams have the call.

radio

As always, Wyatt Thompson, Stan Weber and Matt Walters will be on site on the K-State Sports Network and via satellite on SiriusXM 111 or 198.

Internet streaming

The game will be streamed on the FOX Sports app (cable/satellite subscription required). Audio available via kstatesports.com. Live statistics provided by StatBroadcast.

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