A LOOK AT K-STATE
• K-State boasts 47 returning letterwinners – including 12 starters – from a year ago that ended with an 8-5 record and an appearance in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl.
• Among the 47 returning letterwinners are eight players that earned All-Big 12 honors last season, including first-team selections Wyatt Hubert (DE), Nick Lenners (FB/TE) and Joshua Youngblood (KR).
• Head coach Chris Klieman enters his second season at the helm of the Wildcats and is flanked by nine of 10 returning assistant coaches from a year ago.
• Safeties coach Joe Klanderman takes over as defensive coordinator, while cornerbacks coach Van Malone added the title of Assistant Head Coach. Steve Stanard arrived from Syracuse in the offseason to tutor the linebackers.
• Senior quarterback Skylar Thompson returns with 27 career starts under his belt. He is one of just four quarterbacks in school history to throw for 4,000 career yards and rush for 1,000 career yards, but he is the only one to do so prior to entering his senior campaign.
• Thompson will be behind an offensive line two-deep that only has a combined 31 games played and three starts in their careers as the Wildcats break in a new unit.
• Senior Harry Trotter is penciled in as the starter at running back with fellow senior Tyler Burns and true freshman Deuce Vaughn slated behind him.
• At receiver, seven of the top nine pass catchers from a year ago are back, including sophomore Malik Knowles, who ranked second on the team in catches, yards and TDs.
• Defensively, Hubert leads the charge on the line as he has 11.5 career sacks, and he is joined on the front line by fellow junior Eli Huggins (DT) and a pair of seniors in Drew Wiley (DT) and Bronson Massie (DE).
• Linebacker returns the team's leading tackler from a year ago in Elijah Sullivan, while Justin Hughes – who was slated to start last season prior to an injury suffered in spring practices – is back.
• The secondary consists of familiar faces in safeties Jahron McPherson and Wayne Jones, in addition to cornerback AJ Parker.
• Place kicker Blake Lynch enters his senior season as the school's record holder for career field goal percentage (89.2%), but the full-time punting position from last year must be replaced.
• Sophomore Joshua Youngblood is also back after returning three kickoffs for touchdowns last year en route to Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year honors as well as All-America accolades.
A LOOK AT ARKANSAS STATE
• Arkansas State is 0-1 on the year after a 37-24 setback at Memphis last Saturday.
• The teams traded touchdowns throughout most of the first half, but Memphis scored with 24 seconds left before halftime to kick start the Tigers on a 23-10 run for the remainder of the game.
• Memphis gained 502 total yards, which included 227 on the ground, while Arkansas State totaled 424 yards with over 70% of that (299 yards) coming via the air.
• Arkansas State is one of nine teams in the country that has 12 games scheduled for the fall. Following this weekend's game against K-State, the Red Wolves host Central Arkansas and Tulsa the next two weekends prior to their eight-game Sun Belt schedule beginning on October 3.
• Layne Hatcher starting most of the Red Wolves' games a year ago under center, connecting on 204-of-310 passes for 2,946 yards and 27 touchdowns. He finished last week's game at Memphis with 166 yards, while Logan Bonner started the game and threw for 133 yards and a touchdown but had two interceptions.
• Marcel Murray was A-State's leading returning rusher entering the season, gaining 820 yards on 170 carries with six touchdowns last year.
• A-State's leading returning tackler from a year ago was Caleb Bonner with 65, while Forrest Merrill was the leading returner in sacks with 3.5.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
• Kansas State leads the all-time series against Arkansas State, 2-0, with both previous meetings being in Manhattan.
• This will be the first meeting between the Wildcats and A-State in 40 years.
• K-State holds a 9-1 record all-time against current members of the Sun Belt Conference, while it is the Wildcats' first game against an SBC opponent since a 48-27 victory over Louisiana in 2013.
• The lone loss against a Sun Belt team came on the road, as the Wildcats are 9-0 in home games against current members of the SBC.
SEASON/HOME OPENERS
• K-State owns an 85-34-5 (.706) record all-time in season openers, while the Wildcats are 92-27-5 (.762) all-time in home openers.
• Chris Klieman, who enters his eighth year as a head coach, has earned a 6-1 record in season openers and a perfect 7-0 mark in home openers after K-State's 49-14 victory over Nicholls in his first game at the helm of the Wildcats in 2019.
SORRY WE'RE LATE
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the September 12 start date is the latest that K-State will begin a season since 1992 (September 19 vs. Montana).
• With the lone none-conference game against Arkansas State, it is the first time in school history that the Wildcats will play less than two non-conference games in a season.
• Additionally, it marks the first time since 2001 that the Wildcats' season-opening opponent has already played a game. That year, K-State won, 10-6, at USC after the Trojans defeated San Jose State the week prior.
NON-CONFERENCE NOTABLES
• Since 1990, K-State holds an 89-17 (.840) record in regular-season non-conference games overall, which includes a 76-7 (.916) mark at home.
• During those 30 years, the Wildcats have had perfect regular season non-conference ledgers 16 times and unblemished marks at home on 23 occasions.
ONE OF THE BIG 12'S BEST
• K-State ranks third in Big 12 wins since the league's inception in 1996, trailing only Oklahoma and Texas.
• The Wildcats also rank third in the conference in winning percentage since round-robin play began in 2011. They sit at .605 (49-32), trailing only Oklahoma (.827; 67-14) and Oklahoma State (.642; 52-29).
SIX-SPOT IMPROVEMENT
• A team that has generally out-performed preseason expectations did it again in 2019 as the Wildcats were predicted to finish ninth and ended the season in a tie for third place – a six-spot jump.
• In the nine Big 12 preseason polls during round robin play, last year's Wildcats became just the third squad to see a league-record six-spot improvement from the preseason poll to the final standings.
• The other two occurrences were in 2014 when TCU went from seventh to a tie for first, while the 2011 Wildcats were predicted to finish eighth and concluded the year in second place.
• Since the Big 12 went to the round robin format in 2011, K-State – which was predicted to finish seventh in this year's poll – averages a 2.1 spot jump from the preseason poll to the final standings. The other teams in the conference combine to average a 0.32 spot jump.
A WINNING HISTORY
• A proven winner with a championship history, Chris Klieman holds an 80-18 career record as his 81.6% winning percentage ranks seventh among all NCAA coaches – regardless of division – among those with at least seven years of experience.
• Klieman came to Manhattan after capping his five-year stint as head coach at North Dakota State by winning his fourth national championship in 2018.
• A native of Waterloo, Iowa, Klieman guided the 2018 Bison to a perfect 15-0 record, making NDSU just the fifth team in FCS history to go undefeated and untied on the way to a national championship.
FOOTBALL IS FOOTBALL
• Despite not having any FBS head coaching experience prior to the 2019 season, Chris Klieman showed that "football is football" is more than just a saying.
• Klieman tallied eight victories last year to set the school record by first-year head coaches, topping College Football Hall of Famer Lynn "Pappy" Waldorf (7-2-1 in 1934) and Ron Prince (7-6 in 2006).
• In fact, Klieman is one of the most successful first-time Power 5 head coaches over the last five years as his eight regular-season wins were tied for fifth over that span.
• However, he is the only one in the top five to have taken over a team the year after that program produced a sub-.500 regular season.
HIGH T.O.P.
• K-State has always been one to play ball control, and that was elevated in 2019 as the Wildcats finished ninth nationally in time of possession at 33:27.
• The mark in 2019 was the Wildcats' best since they finished the 2011 season fourth in the nation at 33:55.
• K-State possessed the ball for over 40 minutes twice in 2019, including a 42:52 mark against Bowling Green to rank eighth in Big 12 history. They had two other games with over 38:00 of possession.
YOUNG PUPS
• Kansas State played 33 freshmen during the 2019 season, including 12 true freshmen.
• Those freshmen combined for 28 starts, which included starts by true freshmen Joshua Youngblood (3) and Jax Dineen (1).
CATS TOPS IN NON-OFFENSIVE TDs
• K-State is the nation's best in non-offensive touchdowns over the last 21 seasons as it has 118 since 1999, 10 more than the next closest team.
• Since 1999, the Wildcats are averaging 5.6 non-offensive touchdowns per year, while the yearly average for the other 105 teams to play FBS football since 1999 is 2.7.
• Kansas State's average is boosted by the fact that it has at least five non-offensive touchdowns in seven of the last nine years, which included the 2019 season.
• The Wildcats had a nation-leading four kickoff-return touchdowns a season ago – including three from individual leader Joshua Youngblood – while Jonathan Alexander returned a fumble for a touchdown in the season opener against Nicholls, and Phillip Brooks returned a punt 66 yards for a score in the Liberty Bowl.
BALANCED ON OFFENSE
• K-State showcased a balanced offense in 2019, totaling 2,352 passing yards and 2,314 rushing yards.
• The 38-yard difference between passing and rushing was the fewest in a season since at least 1948 as records of K-State's season stats only go back to 1949.
• In the Wildcats' upset over No. 5 Oklahoma, K-State was a perfect 50-50 split with 213 rushing yards and 213 passing yards.
• K-State had 573 yards of total offense against Nicholls, which tied for the seventh most in school history and were the most ever in a season opener.
• With 521 yards the next week against Bowling Green, K-State eclipsed the 500-yard total offense mark in the first two games of a season for the first time ever.
RED ZONE SUCCESS
• Kansas State made the most of its opportunities in the red zone last season as it converted on a nation-leading 96.2% (50-of-52) of its trips.
• Its only two trips that did not result in points came within the first three games as the Wildcats enter 2020 on a current streak of 39 red-zone opportunities that have resulted in scores.
• The 39-straight scoring trips inside the red zone are the most by the Wildcats since at least 2003.
FEW OFFENSIVE TURNOVERS
• The Wildcats only had 10 offensive turnovers during the 2019 season (4 FUM, 6 INT), their fewest in a 13-game season in school history.
• Of the Wildcats' nine lost fumbles last season, three were on punt returns and one was on an interception return.
• K-State was the final team in the nation last year to commit an offensive turnover when it fumbled at OSU. The Cats went the first 189 minutes, 38 seconds of the 2019 season without committing an offensive turnover.
RACKING UP RUSHING YARDS
• The Cats showed at the outset of 2019 their ability to run the ball as they finished with 2,314 total rushing yards a year ago.
• It marked the 10th time in the last 11 years and the 18th time in the last 23 years that K-State had at least 2,000 rushing yards.
• K-State carded over 300 yards rushing in each of the first two games, the first time since at least 1965 that the Cats went over the 300-yard mark twice to open a season.
• Over the Oklahoma and Kansas games, K-State ran for 555 yards and 11 scores on the ground. Their 342 rushing yards against Kansas were the most in a Big 12 game since totaling 366 yards at TCU in 2016.
REBUILDING THE LINE
• Preseason practices have been a vital time for the Wildcats to start putting together pieces for the 2020 offensive line, one that does not return a single start from last season.
• It marks the first time since at least the 1989 season that the Wildcats do not return any starts from the previous season.
• Last year's starting offensive line finished with a combined 208 games played and 159 career starts. This year's two-deep has totaled 52 games played and three starts. Of those, 13 career games and one start is from Logan Long, who is converting from tight end to offensive line this season.
• Josh Rivas, who rotated in at guard last season, returns. Rivas earned Second Team All-Big 12 honors from the Associated Press last year despite not starting a single game last year, but he did make a pair of starts as a redshirt freshman in 2018.
SKYLAR IN CHARGE
• Senior Skylar Thompson is in line to make his 28th career start on Saturday, which would tie him for third place among Wildcat quarterbacks since 1990.
• Ell Roberson (2001-03) ranks first on the list with 32, Josh Freeman (2006-08) is second with 31, and current quarterbacks coach Collin Klein (2010-12) is third.
• Thompson ranks in the top 10 in K-State history in 10 career categories, including completion percentage (4th; 59.52), completions (7th; 350) and passing touchdowns (9th; 26). More info on page 41.
• Additionally, the Independence, Missouri, has 5,440 career offensive yards to rank eighth in school history, while his 45 career TDs responsible for also rank eighth.
RUN-PASS OPTION
• Skylar Thompson has proven to be equally effective in both the passing and running game as he is one of just four quarterbacks in school history with 4,000 career passing yards and 1,000 career rushing yards. However, he is the only one of the group to do so prior to their senior season.
• He needs just 605 passing yards to be the second player in school history to reach the 5,000/1,000 mark.
MALIK IN THE MIX
• Sophomore Malik Knowles will look to be the Wildcats' top receiver this season to replace Dalton Schoen.
• Last season, Knowles finished second on the team in catches (27) receiving yards (397) and receiving touchdowns (3) despite missing a pair of games due to injury.
• A native of Mansfield, Texas, Knowles earned votes last season for the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year award, while this season he is on the watch list for the Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award.
MOORE OFFENSE
• One of the top tight ends from the FCS level in 2018, Briley Moore enters his second senior season, but this time will do so at K-State.
• Moore, a transfer from Northern Iowa who ranked sixth in the FCS in receiving yards among tight ends in 2018, played in last season's opener at Iowa State but missed the rest of the year due to injury before earning a medical hardship.
• Moore already has a relationship with quarterback Skylar Thompson. Both were raised in the Kansas City area, played against each other in high school and would work out with each other the past few offseasons while at home.
KLANDERMAN TAKES OVER THE DEFENSE
• Kansas State's coaching staff stayed mainly intact from the first year of the Chris Klieman era with the exception of safeties coach Joe Klanderman taking over the defense after Scottie Hazelton left for Michigan State.
• Klanderman, who has spent six seasons on Klieman's staffs at K-State and North Dakota State, is coordinating a defense for a second time in his career as he held the position at his alma mater, Minnesota State, from 2007 to 2013.
• Klanderman served as the safeties coach last year as he guided Denzel Goolsby to Honorable Mention All-Big 12 accolades, the first Wildcat safety to do so since 2016.
GETTING OFF THE FIELD
• The K-State defense excelled in terms of getting off the field on third down during last season as the Cats ranked second nationally in third down defense at 28%, just .7% behind national leader Wisconsin (27.3%).
• The Cats allowed only 42 third down conversions in 2019, which was the fewest in the nation and six ahead of the Badgers (48).
• In the regular-season finale, the Wildcats limited Iowa State to just 1-of-13 on third-down conversions (7.7%), the lowest conversion rate that K-State had yielded in a Big 12 contest since 2003 against Kansas (0-of-11).
WELCOME BACK JUSTIN
• Senior Justin Hughes is back at the starting middle linebacker spot following a season-ending injury during 2019 spring practices.
• Hughes, who earned a medical hardship for the 2019 season, started each of the final seven games in 2018 and was penciled in as a starter last season prior to his injury.
• Alongside Hughes will be his former high school teammate Elijah Sullivan, who has started 16 career games, including 13 a year ago.
• Like Hughes, Sullivan earned a medical hardship in 2018 after suffering an injury three games into the season.
• The former high school teammates at Tucker High in Georgia are poised to start alongside each other for the first time since Hughes' senior season of 2013.
WYATT'S COMING FOR YOU
• One of the top young defensive ends in the Big 12 the last two seasons will look to improve his production as a junior as Wyatt Hubert is back after earning First Team All-Big 12 honors in 2019.
• Hubert also earned votes for the league's defensive player of the year and defensive lineman of the year awards last season.
• The Topeka, Kansas, native enters his junior campaign ranked 12th nationally among active players in career sacks per game (0.50).
• He totaled 11.5 sacks over his first two seasons of play, which tied for the second most in school history among players prior to their junior campaign.
SCORING IN THE THIRD PHASE
• Kansas State has been far and away the best team among FBS programs over the last 15 years when it comes to scoring via a kickoff or punt return.
• The Wildcats have a combined 53 kickoff- and punt-return touchdowns since 2005, 21 more than any other FBS school during that stretch.
• Of the 116 other schools to play FBS football since 2005, the average total over those 15 years is 13.3, or nearly 40 less than K-State.
• Of the 117 schools to play FBS football since 2005 (including K-State), the Wildcats are the only team to have at least one kickoff- or punt-return touchdown every season, and only three schools (Marshall, Oregon and USC) have done so in 14 of 15 seasons.
TO THE HOUSE
• K-State led the nation in 2019 with four kickoff-return touchdowns, a mark that tied the school record with the 2009 and 2015 teams.
• Last season, the Wildcats had as many or more KOR touchdowns than the combined conference totals of four FBS leagues (Pac-12: 4; Sun Belt: 4; SEC: 3; MAC: 2).
• The Wildcats, who represented 0.7% of FBS teams (1 of 130) in 2019 had 8.2% (4 of 49) of kickoff-return touchdowns in the nation last season.
LYNCH IS ACCURATE
• A former walk-on, Blake Lynch has proven to be an accurate kicker as he his career field goal percentage of 89.2% (33-for-37) currently ranks fifth nationally among active players and first in school history.
• Lynch, a two-time Lou Groza Award candidate, currently holds the school record for field-goal percentage, while his 90.5% mark (19-of-21) last year ranked third in school history for a season.
YB ALL THE WAY
• Just a true freshman in 2019, Joshua Youngblood ended his rookie campaign with a nation-leading three kickoff-return touchdowns, all coming over the final four regular-season contests.
• His three kickoff-return touchdowns ranked third in school history for a season – and were tops among freshmen – while he already ranks fourth in K-State history for a career.
• Youngblood also finished third in Big 12 history and tops among freshmen for single-season kickoff-return touchdowns, while he is already tied for seventh in league history for a career.
A SPECIAL PLAYER
• Joshua Youngblood is the continuation of great return men in K-State history as he was named the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year in 2019 by the league's coaches in addition to being named to multiple All-America teams.
• Youngblood became the first true freshman in Big 12 history to earn the league's top honor on offense, defense or special teams.
• It was the fifth time a Wildcat earned the top special teams honor since the award was established in 2005, joining Morgan Burns (2015), Tyler Lockett (2013 and 2014) and Brandon Banks (2009).
• Youngblood was also named a First Team All-Big 12 kick returner, the first Wildcat true freshman to be named to the first team since the league's inception in 1996.
• His All-America designation made him the first Wildcat true freshman to land on a first or second team since Lockett in 2011.
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