Ho-hum. Another victory for K-State against a team from the SEC. Excuse my sarcasm, but I will chalk up K-State’s 41-34 victory over Oklahoma on Saturday as a win against the vaunted SEC, whom the national media tells us is the premier college football league in America. Yes, I know Oklahoma is not officially a member of the SEC yet, but if you ask them, they will tell you that they can’t get out of the Big 12 fast enough. That is good enough for me.

Counting the Sooners as a member of the SEC, look at K-State’s last four games against SEC teams:

September 24, 2022 – K-State 41 Oklahoma 34
September 10, 2022 – K-State 40 Missouri 12
January 4, 2022 – K-State 42 LSU 20
September 14, 2009 – K-State 31 Mississippi State 24

K-State is undefeated against the SEC in their last four games, and they will go for five in a row against Texas on November 5th. But first, there are other games to play, starting with this Saturday against Texas Tech.

Texas Tech beat Texas in overtime on Saturday, leading Tech fans to storm the field and some other shenanigans after the game when a Texas Tech student shoved a Texas Longhorn player in the back. Not only did Tech face a fine for storming the field, but they also have the shoving controversy to deal with. It has been an emotional week around Red Raider football, and we will see how they respond on Saturday against the Wildcats.

The Red Raiders are 3-1 on the year. They beat Murray State 63-10, Houston 33-30 in two overtimes, lost to NC State 27-14 and beat Texas 37-34 in OT. Tech quarterback Donovan Smith had a big day against the Longhorns, passing for 331 yards and two touchdowns with zero interceptions. Smith is the second-string quarterback, playing in relief of Oregon transfer Tyler Shough, who injured his shoulder in week one. It is not clear when Shough will return to the field, so most people expect Smith to play again this week. Although he played great against Texas, it has not been all good for Smith. He had three interceptions against Houston and two against NC State, so he has had a tendency to throw the ball to the opposing team. This is something that K-State may be able to take advantage of.

Texas Tech has the 29th best offense in college football, averaging 476 yards per game. They get most of their yardage passing the ball, ranking third in the country in passing offense at 363 yards per game. They are going against a K-State defense that is ranked 46th in total defense in the country and 36th in passing yards allowed at 193 yards per game. Tech is likely to get a lot of passing yards and score a lot of points in this game. The Red Raiders have some weapons on offense, starting with wide receiver Myles Price, who had 13 catches for 98 yards against Texas. They also have a big tight end, Baylor Cupp, who is 6’6” and around 250 pounds, who had four catches and 65 yards against the Longhorns. Can K-State keep them in check, get some turnovers, and keep the offensive momentum going that they found on Saturday against Oklahoma?

Adrian Martinez had one of the best games by a K-State quarterback in history on Saturday, with 382 total yards, four rushing touchdowns, and one passing touchdown. He threw for 234 yards and ran for 148. Out of curiosity, I looked up the top ten quarterback performances in K-State history and found that Martinez put together a performance that is right up there with the best ever. Ninth and tenth place on the record list for quarterback yardage in a game at K-State is Jake Waters and Lynn Dickey, who each had a game of 395 total yards. With 382 yards, Martinez’s performance on Saturday was a top ten-ish performance of all-time. If he can keep that going this Saturday against Texas Tech, and not turn the ball over, I like K-State’s chances.

The line on this game is seven and a half points, and assuming the Wildcats show up and play as they did on Saturday, K-State should get a win. Tech will have a bit of a letdown factor after beating Texas, and K-State has the advantage of playing at home with an 11:00 AM start. My prediction is K-State 44 Texas Tech 30.