College Football: Kansas State Wildcats at Kansas Jayhawks

By BetOnline October 31, 2019

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The 2019 matchup between Kansas State and Kansas extends the longest running rivalry game in college football. Contested since 1902, these two teams will square off in the Sunflower Showdown.

The game has added intrigue as both teams are playing well right now. Kansas State stunned Oklahoma last week, winning outright as a three-touchdown underdog, while Kansas upset Texas Tech one week after nearly beating Texas. Which team has the upper hand in this showdown?

KANSAS STATE WILDCATS AT KANSAS JAYHAWKS
CFB ODDS: KANSAS STATE -6.5
CFB TOTAL: 54

WHY THE WILDCATS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

The Kansas State offense is coming off its best performance of 2019, a game in which everything worked well for the Wildcats. They scored 48 points against Oklahoma, upsetting the Sooners, 48-41, and putting the College Football Playoff picture on its head. Kansas State got a balanced offense – 213 yards passing and 213 yards rushing – while State averaging 4.7 yards per rush. It was a clean game for them as they didn’t turn the ball over and held onto possession for 38 minutes. The question is will they have a letdown? They’re now ranked in the Top 25 (No. 22) and sometimes teams who play with such focus and intensity one week come out flat the next.

The good news is the Kansas defense doesn’t have a reasonably good chance of stopping the Kansas State offense. In their last four games, they’ve allowed 34, 50, 45 and 51. Sure, some of those were to better offenses but it’s not like Texas Tech and TCU are offensive juggernauts. Kansas State should feast here.

WHY THE JAYHAWKS WILL COVER THE SPREAD

This is a team that’s really come alive since firing offensive coordinator Les Koenning. They were sputtering on offense early on, scoring a total of 58 points in a three-game stretch from late September through early October. Since then, they’ve become a really competitive team – mostly in part to their offense. They scored 48 points in a narrow loss at Texas and then 37 in a win over Texas Tech last week. We’re talking about a team that was down three scores to the Red Raiders but had the offensive to comeback. Previous versions of this Jayhawks team would have been blown out.

Very quietly, quarterback Carter Stanley is having a fantastic season. He is now up to 19 touchdowns and just five interceptions and he has just one pick in his last four games. They key here is to cut-off the Wildcats running game because when they don’t run, they don’t win. That’s easier said than done as the Jayhawks are ranked 120th in rushing yards per game allowed with 232.9 per game.

TAKING A LOOK AT THE TOTAL

The total for this game seems noticeably low, since both offenses are humming along and producing at much better and higher rates than they were a few weeks ago. We should see some points in this game.

Six of the last nine meetings at Kansas have gone over the number and five of the last six times Kansas was a dog. Over should be the way to look here.