A Kansas State Wildcats Blog -- Carrying the Banner High
The previous game against Texas Tech was the first game of the season where I felt the other team was simply better than Kansas State. The Wildcats fought hard, Avery played a gutsy game under constant pressure from the Texas Tech front, and the defense did enough to keep the team in the game early. […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
The Kansas State Wildcats came out of the gate early, weathered an early second half lull, then methodically sped away from the Bellarmine Knights 98-71 in Bramlage Coliseum on Saturday. K-State never trailed in this one, and we saw some things that invoke more…satisfaction…than in the previous game. The Cats got the start they were […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
After a rough go of exhibition play, your Kansas State Wildcats opened the 2025 regular season with a big dud….before turning things on in the second half to beat UNC Greensboro 93-64 back on Tuesday night to start the season 1-0. The Wildcats showed they are capable of losing to anyone, but also that they […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Football is on their third bye weekend of the season thanks to the scheduling quirks associated with the game in Ireland to open the season. So let’s take an opportunity to get caught up. Football The big news to end the week wasn’t really all that surprising if you’ve been paying attention. It was first […]
3 months ago | 1 read
I wasn’t able to catch the game in real time last night, but I was able to keep up with the live box score. I’m not going to lie, at halftime, I was writing, shall we say, a colorful critique of the coaching staff. As things started rapidly shifting in the ‘Cats’ direction, I filed […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
The two couldn’t have been much more alike; both K-State and the internet-based video feed of the game (I refuse to mention them by name here) listlessly stumbled through the first half of Tuesday night’s opener in Bramlage against the UNC-Greensboro Spartans before the Cats pulled away for an easy 93-64 win. Frankly, neither the […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Five turnovers led to 27 points for the visitors as Texas Tech Red Raiders rolled to a 42-20 win over the Kansas State Wildcats this afternoon at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. K-State (4-5, 3-3 Big 12) was still in the game midway through the fourth quarter, but Tech got 14 points off two Wildcat turnovers […]
3 months ago | 1 read
After opening the season 1-3 and looking absolutely dreadful, your Kansas State Wildcats appear to have finally started to pull some things together and have gone 3-1 since the last weekend of September to sit at 4-4 overall and 3-2 in Big 12 play heading into the final month of the regular season. And while […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Kansas State has looked a lot better since the abysmal start to the season, even in the infuriating loss to Baylor. But there are visible cracks, and it may well be that Texas Tech is the wrong team to be playing with those cracks visible. Then again, as long as Mike Leach isn’t on their […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Folks, the Kansas win was tough on me. On one hand, I feel like some of my preseason hype was vindicated. On the other hand, “WHERE WAS THAT AGAINST ARMY AND ARIZONA!” I’m not sure what TCU did to this team, but it appears that they have finally decided to play football! It’s seven weeks […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
Two years ago, if anybody had asked what the new Big 12 would look like, I might have agreed that it would be an exciting league, maybe even an innovative one. I would not have called it intriguing, however, and I certainly would not have predicted the weekly chaos that has become the norm in […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Football Kansas State beat Kansas 42-17, appropriately the 17th straight victory for the Wildcats in the long-running but not always compelling soap opera that is the Sunflower Showdown. K-State’s current streak is by far the longest in the whole series, and the previous streak of 10 games also belonged to the Wildcats. To put this […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
A strong performance by the defense and countless Jayhawk mistakes led Kansas State Wildcats (4-4, 3-2 Big 12) to a 42-17 rout of the Jayhawks Saturday afternoon at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence, the 17th consecutive win in the series for the Cats. Avery Johnson moved into sole possession of second place on the K-State all-time […]
3 months ago | 1 read
It’s time for the Sunflower Showdown, as the Wildcats and Jayhawks are set to face off in Lawrence for the 123rd time on the gridiron. Neither team comes in to this game feeling particularly good about how the 2025 season has gone so far. The Wildcats are 3-4 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 play, […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
The final score says about as much as you need to know about the K-State men’s basketball opener against the Missouri Tigers in Columbia Friday night. The Wildcats appear to be a team that can score. But they will have to improve in other areas to be successful. Defense is an obvious concern. Mizzou’s 100 […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
The Wildcats finally put on a show last time they took the field, but then they got a week off. Will that week result in rust, or in more improvement? We’ll see, but it had better be the latter if The Streak is to continue. The Game The Kansas State Wildcats (3-4, 2-2 Big 12) visit […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
If you weren’t paying attention, you just might have missed that basketball starts tonight. Well…it doesn’t really start tonight, as this is just an exhibition game, but it’s our first chance to see the new-look merc Wildcats in action. And we’re going to need all the help we can get, because for the fourth time […]
3 months ago | 0 reads
Needless to say, but I suppose I’ll say it anyway, this season hasn’t gone as hoped for either of the Big 12 Kansas football teams. Kansas State can’t get out of its own way and has a couple of mind-boggling losses on its resume. If Kansas State and Army play 100 times, Kansas State wins […]
3 months ago | 1 read
Your Benevolent Despot is not above being smug. When the transfer portal opened its gaping maw onto college football and the earliest stirrings of NIL started to creep over the transom, a lot of people were bemoaning what they perceived as an impetus for the bluebloods to scoop up all the talent. At the time, […]
3 months ago | 2 reads
Needless to say, things haven’t exactly gone according to plan for the Wildcats as they gear up to face their in-state rival in the Sunflower Showdown. At one point, I thought this game would play a role in both the Big 12 and College Football Playoff race; instead, it’s a nooner with most interested parties […]
4 months ago | 2 reads
Soccer It’s been milestone after milestone in Colleen Corbin’s first season in Manhattan leading the Wildcats. The first-year head coach directed her squad to the best start in school history, the most consecutive wins, and now has set new program benchmarks for overall wins in a season and home wins in a season after her […]
4 months ago | 0 reads
Football Well, that was fun. In a game that lasted almost four hours (and somehow felt even longer), Kansas State beat TCU 41-28 to improve to 3-4 in a season that has fallen well short of expectation. As others at BotC have noted, this win owed a lot to the defense, and well, maybe some […]
4 months ago | 0 reads
You can parse the numbers, question the play calling, and look for ancillary reasons why Kansas State currently sits 3-4 despite their lofty preseason expectations, but sometimes football isn’t all that complicated. For the first time this season, the offense and defense made winning plays when the opportunities arose. I’ve never seen a team with […]
4 months ago | 3 reads
Desmond Purnell had two interceptions, one a pick-six, Wesley Fair had a scoop-and-score, Joe Jackson got his first 100-yard game, and Garrett Oakley caught two touchdown passes to become K-State’s career leader among tight ends as the Kansas State Wildcats exploded for a 41-21 win over the TCU Horned Frogs on Saturday at Bill Snyder […]
4 months ago | 2 reads
What a weirdly terrible season it’s been so far here in 2025. Your Kansas State Wildcats enter the second half of the season at 2-4 overall and 1-2 in (official) Big 12 play. The season isn’t over, and there is still a legitimate path to bowl eligibility. But it’s not going to be easy despite […]
4 months ago | 1 read