Kansas State has a chance to make themselves the team to beat for years to come after the departure of Oklahoma and Texas this past offseason. Both of those teams always seemed to compete for the top spot in the conference and now with them gone, it is anyone's spot to take and the Wildcats have their eyes set on the prize.
Chris Klieman and company have their work cut out for them this season with a tough schedule ahead of them and a lot of new players in new positions this season. Of course, everyone knows about Avery Johnson taking over the full-time quarterback position, but there are other players who will have to step up into bigger positions this year.
This is so crucial because the Wildcats' 2024 schedule is tough including playing against three of the four conference newcomers, but only two of them count as conference games. They are able to escape from playing Utah this season as they are the conference favorites, but they face a lot of tough opponents this season.
Those tough opponents also happen to be the most important games of the season for Kansas State. Obviously, every game is important, but winning these certain games could give the Wildcats a tiebreaker over these teams when it comes to the end of the season.
So which games does Kansas State need to make sure they are ready to win this season?
West Virginia Mountaineers
Now this game is probably the easiest of the four games we are about to talk about, but by no means will this game be a walk in the park. The Mountaineers found their footing halfway through the season in 2023 and they are planning on riding that momentum into 2024.
Not only will this be a tough game, but the Wildcats will also have to travel to Morgantown, a known tough and hostile environment to play in. These two teams have only met 13 times in their history and Kansas State only holds a one-game lead in the series 7-6 over West Virginia. The Mountaineers have a dynamic offense this season that the Wildcats will have to have an answer for, making it tough, but very important in order to stay at the top of the Big 12.
Kansas Jayhawks
A rivalry game is always tough and important no matter how the other team is playing, but now that the Jayhawks have some firepower on their squad, it makes this game that much tougher and more important.
The Jayhawks have found success in the past few years thanks to their head coach Lance Leopold. However, the Wildcats have a streak to protect as they have not lost to the Jayhawks in 15 years. So not only to they have the pressure of trying to beat a tough team, but they have the pressure of a streak following them in this game.
Iowa State Cyclones
It seems like every season this is a game that is circled on the Wildcats schedule as a tough one. Even if the Cyclones aren't doing the best during the season, they always seem to know how to challenge K-State.
Last season, the Cyclones spoiled any chance of K-State playing in the Big 12 title game by beating them in the regular season finale. Now the Wildcats will have to face Iowa State at the end of the season yet again, but this time gets to play spoiler at home for the Cyclones. However, Ames is still a tough place to play, but this may be a win-or-go-home game for K-State in order to punch their ticket to the Big 12 title game.
Oklahoma State Cowboys
K-State plays Oklahoma State in their second Big 12 game of the season which is huge. They have the ability to set the tone of the season early by hopefully beating the Cowboys. It will be tough as the Wildcats will need to stop Cowboys running back Ollie Gordon, who was the leading rusher in college football last season.
However, if the Wildcats can get the win early, they can start to put space between them and the Cowboys early in the season and hopefully have the tiebreaker at the end of the season.