K-State Returns Home to Host WVU on Fort Riley Day

Kansas State will look for its third-straight Big 12 win and bowl eligibility on Saturday as the Wildcats return home to host 23rd-ranked West Virginia at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The contest, which kicks at 2:30 p.m., will serve as the annual Fort Riley Day game and be shown nationally on ESPN2 with Anish Shroff (play-by-play), Mike Golic Jr. (analyst) and Roddy Jones (Field Analyst) on the call. The game can also be heard across the 40-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. Coverage will also be available on SiriusXM channel 83 in addition to the TuneIn app. Live stats are available at kstatesports.com, while Twitter updates (@ kstate_gameday, @KStateFB) will all be a part of the coverage.

A LOOK AT K-STATE
• Guided by Hall of Famer Bill Snyder, who is in his 26th year at the helm, the Wildcats are looking to become bowl eligible for the eighth-straight season with their next win.
• K-State's comeback win over Texas Tech (down 11 in fourth quarter) was the largest fourth-quarter deficit overcome since being down 35-21 to Iowa State back in 2015 and winning, 38-35.
• It was the largest fourth-quarter deficit overcome in a road game in program history.
• The K-State offense has rushed for 615 yards and eight touchdowns on the ground over the last three weeks against No. 9 Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas Tech.
• The Wildcats, who have reached 200 rushing yards five times this season, enter the week third in the Big 12 in rushing at 193.4 yards per game, second in yards per carry (5.0) and third in rushing touchdowns (20).
• K-State is led on the ground by sophomore Alex Barnes with 587 yards and five TDs, while he became just the third player in school history to eclipse 1,000 career yards prior to the end of his sophomore season.
• Redshirt freshman quarterback Skylar Thompson led a second-half comeback against Tech, finishing 5-of-8 for 96 yards and a touchdown, while he added a rushing score prior to throwing the game-tying two-point conversion.
• Seven different Cats have scored on the ground this year, while three receivers have carded three touchdown catches in Byron Pringle, Dalton Schoen and Isaiah Zuber.
• The K-State defense is led by a pair of linebackers in Trent Tanking (75 tackles) and Jayd Kirby (64 tackles), both of whom rank in the top 12 in the Big 12 in tackles.
• Kirby has nine tackles, 5.0 TFLs, a sack, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups in his last two games.
• Cornerback Duke Shelley is tops in the Big 12 with 11 passes defended, including a pick-six at Texas Tech en route to Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honors.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
• K-State leads the all-time series, 5-2.
• The Cats had won the previous five meetings in the series until last year's 17-16 setback in Morgantown.
• K-State is 4-1 against West Virginia since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12.
• The Wildcats are 2-0 at home against WVU following a 35-12 win in 2013 and a 24-23 win in 2015.

NOVEMBER TO REMEMBER
• Under Bill Snyder, K-State is 60-27-1 in the month of November, including a 19-11 mark in his second tenure.
• Since 2009, K-State has had five winning records in the month.

BOWL STREAK
• With one more win, K-State will qualify for its eighth-straight bowl game and 19th under Bill Snyder.
• The Cats went to 11 straight from 1993-2003 and have gone each year since 2010 in his second tenure.
• K-State is one of 21 teams nationally to hold a current bowl streak of a least seven years.

CONFERENCE CALL
• K-State is one of only three teams in the Big 12 to notch at least 100 league wins.
• Oklahoma tops the list with 134 Big 12 wins over the last 22 years, while the Wildcats are third with 108.
• Additionally, K-State ranks third in the conference in winning percentage since the start of 2011 at .650 (39-21), trailing only Oklahoma (.800; 48-12) and Oklahoma State (.700; 42-18).
• During that stretch, the Wildcats are 21-9 (.700) at home in Big 12 play and 18-12 (.600) on the road.

DOWN, BUT NOT OUT
• Goal No. 10 in the Wildcats' 16 Goals for Success is "Never Give Up," which is exactly what K-State did last week against Texas Tech.
• Trailing 35-27 with less than 10 minutes left, the Wildcats scored 11 points, scored a touchdown in overtime and held Texas Tech on their possession for the victory.
• It was the largest fourth-quarter deficit overcome for a win since trailing by 14 points (35-21) to Iowa State at home in 2015, while it was the largest in a road game in school history.

EXTRA FRAMES
• Kansas State has gone to overtime twice this season, falling 40-34 in two overtimes at Texas before pulling out a 42-35 overtime victory at Texas Tech.
• K-State, now 3-2 all-time in overtimes, recorded its first overtime victory last week.
• The Wildcats' first overtime game was a loss to Texas A&M in the 1998 Big 12 Championship before defeating the Aggies at home in four overtimes. K-State's last overtime game prior to this season was a 39-33 triple-overtime win against Louisiana Tech in 2015.

THE HALL OF FAMER
• The architect of the "greatest turnaround in the history of college football," Bill Snyder was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2015.
• Snyder is just the fourth person in the history of college football to be inducted as an active coach.
• Snyder has compiled a 207-108-1 (.657) record in 26 seasons at K-State as he is one of just six coaches to reach the 200-win mark and coach at only one school.
• Holding 168 more victories than any other coach in K-State history, Snyder ranks first in the FBS in wins among coaches at their current schools and second in total wins among active coaches.
• Additionally, Snyder has 121 conference wins to stand as one of four coaches with 100 Big 8/12 victories (Tom Osborne [153], Bob Stoops [121], Barry Switzer [100]).

TURNOVER TURNAROUND
• A year after finishing minus-3 in the turnover battle, K-State tied for fourth in the nation with a plus-13 turnover margin in 2016.
• It was the Wildcats' best national finish in turnover margin since ranking third in 2012, while it marked an 84-spot jump from a tie for 88th the year prior.
• K-State enters this week tied for 15th nationally in turnover margin at plus-7.
• The Wildcats have gained 16 turnovers – eight fumbles and eight interceptions – while committing nine – five interceptions and four fumbles.

DRAWING FIRST BLOOD
• Since 1990, K-State is 164-33 (.832) when scoring first.
• K-State finished the 2016 season with a 5-2 mark when scoring first and is 19-4 in that department over the last four seasons.
• Under Bill Snyder, K-State is 151-26 (.853) when scoring first, including a 4-2 mark this season.

QUICK OUT OF THE GATE
• K-State started games on the right side of the scoreboard in 2016, outscoring opponents 95-54 in the first quarter.
• That mark improved to 248-137 through the first half and 336-184 after three quarters.
• Through nine games in 2017, K-State has outscored opponents 172-97 in the first half, including a 106-47 margin in the second quarter alone.

LEADING AT THE HALF
• K-State earned an 8-1 record in 2016 when taking a lead into halftime with its only blemish being a loss at West Virginia.
• Under Bill Snyder, the Wildcats are 177-11 (.941) when leading at halftime, including a 58-4 (.935) mark in Snyder's second tenure, which began in 2009.
• The Wildcats are 5-1 this season when leading at halftime and had a nine-game winning streak when leading at the half snapped against Oklahoma.

FILLING THE BILL
• Attendance at K-State games has been at an all-time high over the last five years as K-State has recorded 38-straight sellouts.
• K-State finished second in the nation in percentage of capacity filled in 2013, 2014 and 2015.
• Last year, Kansas State ranked fourth at 103.84-percent, while they are also fourth this year at 103.33-percent.

CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation's best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 19 seasons as it has 111 since 1999, including D.J. Reed's punt return and kick return scores, an interception-return and a fumble-return by Kendall Adams against Charlotte, and Duke Shelley's pick-six last week at Texas Tech.
• K-State's three total defensive touchdowns this season are tied for sixth in the nation.
• Since 1990, the Wildcats are 61-17 when scoring on special teams and 20-1 when scoring on special teams and defense, including an 18-0 mark under Bill Snyder.
• The Cats have now had at least five non-offensive touchdowns in six of the last seven years and in 17 of the 19 seasons since 1999.

NON-OFFENSIVE TD RECORDS
• Under head coach Bill Snyder, K-State is 74-21 (.779) when scoring a non-offensive touchdown, while the Cats are 55-14 (.797) since 1999 in that department.
• Since Snyder returned to the sideline in 2009, K-State is 30-7 (.811) in this same category.

OFFENSIVE NOTES
GROUND ATTACK
• K-State leaned heavily on its running game throughout 2016, particularly during the second half of the year.
• The Cats broke the school record in yards per carry (5.27) and ranked third in rushing yards per game (231.8).
• Dating back to last season, K-State has hit the 200-yard mark on the ground in 13 of its last 18 games, including each of the final seven contests of 2016.
• K-State also had four 300-yard games in 2016, the most by the Wildcats since 2003.
• This year, K-State has recorded five games with at least 200 rushing yards, the latest being a 268-yard output against No. 9 Oklahoma and 202 in a win over Kansas.
• The Wildcats also combined for eight rushing touchdowns over the last three contests.
• K-State enters the weekend ranked third in the conference in rushing offense at 193.4 yards per game, while they are second in yards per carry (5.0) and third in rushing touchdowns (20).

AERIAL ASSAULT
• While the Cats are known to have a powerful rushing attack, the 2017 squad has some weapons through the air as the unit works to achieve balance.
• In the 2017 opener, Jesse Ertz threw for a career-high 333 yards and tied the school record with four passing touchdowns against UCA.
• His passer rating of 319.8 was a new school record and the highest in the nation in week one, while he also became the first player under Bill Snyder to throw three 50-plus yard touchdown passes in the same game.
• K-State enters this week ranked ninth nationally in yards per completion (15.53).

PROECTING THE FOOTBALL
• Kansas State tied for fifth in the country last season in turnovers lost (12), while the Wildcats only threw five interceptions to rank fifth in the country.
• A year after tossing 13 picks, K-State's minus-8 interception differential from 2015 to 2016 ranked third nationally among Power 5 teams behind Maryland (minus-21) and Nebraska (minus-12).
• The Wildcats have lost nine turnovers this year, one of which came on a punt return, which is tied for 20th nationally and ranks second in the Big 12.

LONG DRIVES
• In the era of quick-strike offenses in college football, K-State remains a team that likes to possess the ball.
• Of K-State's 64 scoring drives in 2016, 39 were seven plays or longer, including 19 of 10 or more plays, while 19 scoring drives a year ago lasted at least five minutes.
• The Wildcats have been more of a quick-strike offense this year as 14 of their 30 touchdown drives have been four plays or less.

RED ZONE EFFICIENCY
• K-State has been one of the best red zone teams over the past few years as the Wildcats are the only team to finish in the top-15 nationally in red zone offense in 2014, 2015 and 2016.
• The Cats finished the 2016 campaign 10th in the nation by converting on 91.9-percent (57-of-62) of red zone trips.
• Since the beginning of 2014, K-State has converted on 198-of-217 red zone attempts (.921) with 144 touchdowns. Included in that stretch was a nation-leading scoring streak of 56-straight trips that was snapped in 2016.
• In their last 58 wins since 2011, the Cats are 266-for-291 (.914) in red zone chances with 196 touchdowns, while four of their non-scoring trips have come via kneel downs to close out victories.

SEEING DOUBLE
• In his start against Oklahoma, Alex Delton carded 142 rushing yards, the 11th-most ever by a quarterback in school history and the third most among underclassmen (Fr. and So.) signal callers.
• Delton was backed by 108 yards from running back Alex Barnes, the third 100-yard game of his career.
• Barnes' total was aided by a 75-yard touchdown run on the second play of the game, which was the 10th-longest rush in school history.
• It was the 15th double 100-yard game in school history.
• Barnes came back with another 128 yards and two touchdowns at Kansas, the second time in his career he has recorded consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

1,000 ON THE GROUND
• Sophomore running back Alex Barnes became the 29th player in school history with 1,000 career rushing yards, a mark he eclipsed during the Texas Tech game.
• In doing so, he is just the fourth player in school history to reach the 1,000-yard barrier prior to the end of his sophomore season.
• Junior Justin Silmon (950) is closing in on joining the list as he just needs 50 more yards.

1,000 THROUGH THE AIR
• Byron Pringle became the 31st player in K-State history to eclipse the 1,000-yard receiving mark in a career, a bar he reached during the Kansas game.
• He joins a list of six other former community-college receivers to hit the 1,000-yard mark for a career at K-State. The last to accomplish the feat was Brandon Banks, who had 1,754 yards between 2008 and 2009.
• Now ranking 27th in school history in career receiving yards, Pringle has made the most of his catches this year as his 24.3-yard average ranks second in the nation and third in school history.
• Junior Dominique Heath is not far from the mark as he has 843 career yards in his three years of action.

HE'S SCHOEN WHAT HE CAN DO
• A third-year member of the program who came to K-State as a walk-on, sophomore Dalton Schoen has been the Wildcats' most consistent receiver this year.
• The Overland Park, Kansas, native is second on the team with 440 yards and is tied for the team lead with three touchdowns.
• Of his 20 receptions, six have gone for at least 23 yards, including touchdown catches of 70 and 82 yards.
• His 70-yard touchdown came on his first-career catch against Central Arkansas, the longest by a Wildcat on their first-career catch since 2001.
• His best game thus far was at Texas when he caught five passes for 128 yards and two scores, featured by the 82-yard strike, which was the ninth-longest pass play in school history.
• Schoen is coming off his second 100-yard game of the year, which featured a 54-yard drive to set up a late touchdown prior to catching the game-tying two-point conversion.

YOUNG TALENT
• Left tackle Scott Frantz has started all 22 career games beginning with his redshirt freshman season of 2016.
• Frantz's 22 starts are the most by a Wildcat underclassman (Fr. or So.) left tackle since 1989, 10 more than Barrett Brooks (1992-93).
• Of the 354 total starts at left tackle since 1989, only 60 have been made by underclassmen (16.9-percent), but 36.7-percent of those are represented by Frantz.

DEFENSIVE NOTES
STOUT SCORING DEFENSE
• Kansas State enters the week allowing only 24.8 points per game to rank fourth in the Big 12.
• The Wildcats held each of their first four opponents under 21 points, marking the first time they accomplished the feat in 15 years and just the sixth time since 1990.
• The other five times the Wildcats allowed 21 or less points in each of the first four games were 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002.

TOUGH AGAINST THE RUN
• Kansas State was stout in rushing defense in 2016, ranking 11th nationally and leading the Big 12 by allowing only 115.0 yards per game.
• The Cats finished in the top 15 in the country in run defense, doing so by limiting opponents to less than 125 yards on eight occasions, including five times in Big 12 play.
• The Wildcats have surrendered less than 125 rushing yards in six games this season, including 98 yards to a TCU team that was averaging 200-plus rushing yards per game entering the contest.
• The 98 yards by TCU were the fewest the Wildcats surrendered to a ranked opponent since No. 20 Oklahoma State could only muster 49 yards in 2015.
• K-State has held four opponents to less than 100 yards on the ground as they also limited Vanderbilt to just 65 rushing yards, Baylor to 84 yards and Kansas to 64 yards.

PICKING THEM APART
• After recording only five interceptions in 2015, K-State reversed the trend last year with a Big 12-leading 16 picks, a mark that tied for 14th in the nation.
• K-State's plus-11 up-tick in interceptions from 2015 to 2016 was the highest turnaround among Power 5 teams.
• The Wildcats have notched at least one interception in 35 of the last 46 games and have totaled eight this year.
• K-State also had three pick-sixes last year, including ones by current Wildcats D.J. Reed (Texas Tech) and Duke Shelley (Oklahoma State), and two this year by Kendall Adams (Charlotte) and Shelley (Texas Tech).
• Reed snagged the team's first interception of 2017 against Central Arkansas and had one on the first play at Texas and one on the final play at KU. He became the first Wildcat with an interception on the first play of the game since Ty Zimmerman did so against Missouri in 2011.

LBs STEPPING UP
• Although it is a group that is deep with players that shined on special teams in their careers, K-State did not return any starts at linebacker in 2016.
• The Wildcats were one of three teams in the nation – but the only one from a Power 5 school – to not return a single start at linebacker this year. The next closest among Power 5 schools was Florida, which returned 12 total starts.
• Although lacking experience, great leadership resides in the unit and is paced by Trent Tanking, who leads the Wildcats with 75 tackles to rank sixth in the Big 12, while his 54 stops in league play rank fourth.
• The former walk-on from Holton, Kansas, is also averaging 6.3 solo stops per game to rank sixth in the nation.

KIRBY CAME TO PLAY
• Fellow linebacker Jayd Kirby, who ranks second on the team and 12th in the Big 12 in tackles, had a game to remember against Kansas.
• All the Blooming Grove, Texas, native did was record five tackles, including 4.0 for loss, a sack, three forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and a pass breakup.
• Kirby's 4.0 TFLs were the most by a Wildcat since Charmeachealle Moore also had 4.0 against West Virginia in 2015.
• His three forced fumbles were the most by Wildcat since Darren Howard also had three against Nebraska in 1999, are tied for the most in the nation this year and are the most by a Big 12 player since at least 2009, while he ranks 14th nationally in forced fumbles this season.

BATTING IT AWAY
• Kansas State has two of the top three players in the Big 12 and two of the 30 nationally in terms of passes defended in Duke Shelley and D.J. Reed with 11 apiece, including nine apiece in conference play to tie for first in the league.
• It is a continuation of what they have been doing throughout their careers as Reed has 30 career passes defended to rank 15th in school history, while Shelley's 25 are tied for 22nd in school history.
• Reed leads the team and is tied for third in the Big 12 with three interceptions, while Shelley's first of the season was a big one as he returned in 25 yards for a score in K-State's overtime win at Texas Tech.

GEARY LEADS THE LINE
• A former in-state walk-on, Will Geary has recorded a team-best 39 career starts, which includes 34 of the last 35 games.
• The Topeka, Kansas, native held a streak of four-straight games with at least one tackle for loss, including a season-best 3.0 TFLs against Baylor.
• Geary, who ranks second on the team in career tackles with 148, ranks 14th in program history in career tackles among interior defensive linemen.
• Additionally, Geary has 23.5 career tackles for loss, which ranks fifth in school history among interior defensive linemen.

SPECIAL TEAMS NOTES
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last decade when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.
• The Wildcats have a combined 44 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 16 more than any other FBS school over the last 13 seasons.

DEFENSE IN THE THIRD PHASE
• On the flip side, K-State has been just as consistent in terms of kickoff and punt coverage.
• The Cats have not allowed a kickoff-return touchdown in the last 59 games as the last was against Louisiana on Sept. 7, 2013. During that stretch, K-State has defended against 233 kickoff returns.
• The Wildcats have also not allowed a punt-return score in the last 46 games, the last being at Iowa State on Sept. 6, 2014. The Wildcats have successfully defended against 59 punt returns during that stretch.

KICKOFF-RETURN STREAKS
• Kansas State is currently riding a pair of streaks in terms of kickoff returns as the Wildcats have returned a kick for a touchdown in each of the last 13 seasons – the longest streak in the nation by five years.
• D.J. Reed extended the streak against Kansas when he returned a first-quarter kickoff 99 yards to paydirt.
• Since head coach Bill Snyder's return in 2009, K-State has returned 18 kickoffs for touchdowns as opposed to only four in his first tenure, which lasted 17 years.
• Reed is trying to become an All-Big 12 kick returner, which would mark the 12th-straight year a Wildcats received all-conference honors for the discipline.

REED RANKS HIGH
• Junior D.J. Reed is making his case for being the next great K-State returner as he ranks in the top 10 nationally in kickoff-return average (2nd; 37.3), punt-return touchdowns (8th; 1), combined return yards (8th; 676) and kickoff-return touchdowns (10th; 1).
• He had 189 combined return yards at Kansas and 181 against Central Arkansas, the top two marks in the Big 12 this season, while the former is tied for the ninth most in the nation.
• The first Wildcat with a kickoff-return touchdown and a non-blocked punt-return touchdown in the same season since Terence Newman in 2002, Reed is trying to etch his name into the K-State record book.
• The Bakersfield, California, product ranks first in K-State history for single-season kickoff-return average, while he is currently second for a career.

ALL-PURPOSE PLAYER
• An impressive returner in his own right, who became the school's 31st career 1,000-yard receiver during the Kansas game, Byron Pringle recorded his second career milestone in as many games at Texas Tech.
• Pringle topped 2,000 career all-purpose yards during the game against the Red Raiders, a game in which he recorded 199 all-purpose yards en route to being named to the Paul Hornung Award weekly honor roll.
• The Tampa, Florida, native has 2,139 all-purpose yards as he is just the seventh former community-college player to reach the 2,000-yard barrier and the first since Daniel Thomas had 3,303 all-purpose yards from 2009-10.

McCRANE IN THE RECORD BOOK
• Matthew McCrane will finish his career highly on many of K-State's career kicking lists.
• McCrane current ranks first in school history and seventh nationally by making 86.9-percent (53-of-61) of his career field goals.
• The two-time All-Big 12 place kicker ranks first in school history in career extra-point percentage (99.2-percent) and is in K-State's top-10 in career field goals made (2nd; 53) and extra points made (t4th; 118).
• His next made field goal will tie Martin Gramatica's career record of 54 field goals, a mark that has stood 19 years. They are the only two kickers in school history to top 50 career field goals made.
• McCrane also ranks fifth overall in school history but third among kickers with 277 career points scored.
• In terms of just his senior season, McCrane has made 17 field goals to tie for seventh in school history.

CONNECTING FROM DEEP
• A product of Brownwood, Texas, Matthew McCrane has been one of the best in K-State history in long-distance field goals.
• By connecting from 51 yards against TCU, McCrane made his fifth-career field goal of 50 or more yards to tie with Jeff Snodgrass (2005-06) and Martin Gramatica (1994-95, 1997-98) for the school record.
• Additionally, it was McCrane's third 50-yard field goal this season to tie both Snodgrass (2006) and Gramatica (1997) for first in K-State history.
• Against Texas, McCrane drilled a career-long 54-yarder, which was tied for the eighth-longest field goal in school history, was the longest in the Big 12 this year and tied for the seventh-longest in the nation this season.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Kendall Adams

Alex Barnes

Alex Delton

Jesse Ertz

Scott Frantz

Will Geary

Dominique Heath

Jayd Kirby

Matthew McCrane

Charmeachealle Moore

Byron Pringle

D.J. Reed

Dalton Schoen

Duke Shelley

Justin Silmon

Trent Tanking

Skylar Thompson

Isaiah Zuber

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