Both teams had this past Saturday off to get ready for this Thursday night game. Auburn has started this season off 2-0 with wins over Arkansas and San Jose State while Kansas State also has a 2-0 record coming into this one, with an easy win over Stephen F. Austin and a come from behind 32-28 win over Iowa State on the road. Auburn is ranked fifth in the AP Poll this week while Kansas State checks in at number 20 in the polls. Last season's road opener in Baton Rouge against LSU was a first half nightmare for Auburn; they fell behind 21-0 at halftime and although they played much better in the second half, still lost to LSU 35-21. However, the circumstances in that game were a little different than they will be in this one. As an Auburn fan, this isn't me taking anything away from LSU's win over Auburn a year ago, I give all the credit to LSU for kicking Auburn's butt, but starting QB Nick Marshall had only been with the team for five weeks and it was the first true road game for what was a pretty young team; and Tiger Stadium is about as tough a road environment as there is in college football. Bill Snyder Family Stadium should be rocking on Thursday night, but I think this Auburn team will be more ready for their first true road game as well as the environment that will come with it than last year's team was. WR Sammy Coates was held out of the San Jose State game as a precaution, so I imagine he would have played if the Tigers really felt they needed him. I expect he'll be back in there on Thursday night.
Their opponent will be the Kansas State Wildcats of the Big 12. Auburn's defense will need to be ready for QB Jake Waters. He is a true dual threat guy sort of in the mold of Nick Marshall. Now Waters isn't as fast or athletic as Marshall, but he did rush for 6 touchdowns a year ago and has 4 touchdown rushes on the ground through two games so far this year. I'd consider him a better thrower than Marshall. The biggest weapon Waters has to throw to is a wide receiver by the name of Tyler Lockett. He really broke out in his junior season; catching 81 passes for 1,262 yards and he also hauled in 11 TD catches. The Auburn secondary will have its work cut out for them trying to slow him down. Aside from Waters in the running game, running back Charles Jones has been the main threat for the Wildcats rush attack. On defense, the most accomplished player on the Kansas State defense would be senior defensive end Ryan Mueller. A year ago, he lived in the backfield of opposing offenses recording 18.5 TFL and 11.5 sacks. True freshman outside linebacker Elijah Lee is a guy the Auburn offensive line will want to keep under control; he has recorded 2.5 sacks in the first two games of his college career. Another front seven guy to watch out for is sophomore defensive end Jordan Willis. In the secondary, junior college transfer Danzel McDaniel and senior Randall Evans seem to be the leaders. McDaniel transferred to Kansas State via Dodge City Community College in Kansas. He earned All-Jayhawk Conference honors in his lone year there. Evans walked on at Kansas State to begin his college career before earning a scholarship prior to his sophomore season. He is a force against the pass; deflecting 21 passes the past two years. He already has an interception on the young season; the fourth of his career. He'll have his work cut out for him matching up against one of Sammy Coates or JUCO transfer D'haquille Williams.
Of course the Kansas State football program is coached by the great Bill Snyder. He was hired in 1989 by the university to turn around what had been a program that only had four winning seasons since 1935 at the time of his hire. Snyder's first season in Manhattan was unmemorable as his first Wildcat team went 1-10, but after that, he helped the program take off like a rocket. 1993 was the program's first very good year under Coach Snyder, they went 9-2-1 and won what was then known as the Cotton Bowl by a 52-17 score over the Wyoming Cowboys. Today, the Cotton Bowl is known as the Cactus Bowl for those who care. Snyder's first tenure at Kansas State lasted from 1989 through 2005 where he won 136 games. He was a 7 time conference coach of the year winner, first a three time Big 8 Conference Coach of the Year winner until he and the Wildcats became a member of the Big 12 in 1996. The formation of the Big 12 resulted in the end of the Big 8 as well as the old Southwest Conference. Snyder would temporarily retire after two disappointing seasons in 2004 and 2005. For three years, the K-State program was run by Ron Prince. After Prince couldn't prove to be the guy to keep Kansas State at the levels of success they attained under Snyder, they fired him and brought Snyder back to coach the team in 2009. Since coming back, Snyder has won 44 games, including 21 over a two year stretch in 2011 and 2012, getting the Kansas State program back to the high standards they are used to under his guidance. As I mentioned above, the Wildcats play their games in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. Yes, he has the stadium named after him and it's very much deserved. Snyder Family Stadium opened in September of 1968. It was known as KSU Stadium until November of 2005 when the university changed the name, naming it after their great coach.
As far as this game goes, I'm sure the Wildcats will look to slow the game down since they know Auburn loves to control the tempo by going fast, faster and then even faster. I bet Auburn will look to make Jake Waters one dimensional by placing a spy on him so he can't run wild. That could open up things a bunch for WR Tyler Lockett. The Auburn secondary had some troubles with the San Jose State receiving core. They got burned deep early in that one by Tyler Ervin and had other opportunities that they let slip by the wayside. Arkansas also had some chances to go downfield that they let go by the wayside. I fully expect Waters and Lockett to have their moments and for the Wildcats as a whole to play a lot better than they did against Iowa State, but I'm going to take Auburn in this one. As I stated above, I think they'll be better prepared for a first true road game this year than they were last year and believe while K-State has some solid talent on the defensive side of the ball, there's only so much they'll be able to do to keep Auburn's offense at bay. They'll put up a solid fight, but Auburn will get some breathing room late in the game and take a tough win in the Little Apple and then return home to take on Louisiana Tech.
My Call: Auburn 41, Kansas State 31
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