On October 1, the Kansas State Wildcats will visit Morgantown to square off with the West Virginia Mountaineers at Milan Puskar Stadium in the first Big 12 Conference game for each team. The Mountaineers will be looking to exact some revenge on the Wildcats as Bill Snyder’s team currently has a five-game winning streak against WVU.

Last season, Kansas State escaped with a 24-23 victory over the Mountaineers in Manhattan, KS despite playing converted wide receiver Kody Cook at quarterback. A fourth quarter 97-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Morgan Burns ended up being the difference in the Wildcats’ win.

Let’s take a look at the 2016 version of the Kansas State Wildcats and what to expect when they come to Morgantown.

Game #4: Kansas State Wildcats

Wikipedia

Kansas State finished 2015 with a 6-7 record after falling in the Liberty Bowl to Arkansas. Despite the losing record, it was quite an achievement for the Wildcats to even make a bowl after suffering injuries to four quarterbacks during the season. Cook ended up having to start the last two games of the season with no other healthy options on the roster.

Entering the 2016 season, it looks like redshirt junior Jesse Ertz will be the Wildcats’ starter at quarterback, although Snyder has stated that Joe Hubener and Alex Delton will have an opportunity to win the job as well. Ertz was listed at No. 1 on the team’s depth chart entering last season as well before tearing his ACL.

Wildcat Offense: Conservatism Is The Name Of The Game

The Wildcats are never going to be confused for an air raid offense, but the unit should be better than it was last season based purely on the health of the quarterback position. Leading receiver Deante Burton returns and Kansas State is especially excited about junior college transfer Byron Pringle who registered nine catches for 163 yards and a touchdown in the team’s spring game.

Starting running back Charles Jones returns in 2016, but Snyder will be without four of his five starting offensive linemen from 2015 including Cody Whitehair who was a second round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 2015 NFL Draft. The lone returning starter will be sophomore center Dalton Risner.

Defense Is Wildcats’ Calling Card

Snyder’s defense had an uncharacteristically down season in 2015 as the unit was torched by the likes of TCU, Oklahoma and Texas Tech. In those three games, the Wildcats gave up a combined 166 points as they couldn’t find a way to slow down those high-flying offenses.

The good news for Kansas State is that there are nine players returning with starting experience. With another year under their belts, one would think that there would be some better performances on the horizon.

Prediction: WVU Breaks The Losing Streak

The Mountaineers have only beaten the Wildcats once in six meetings between the two schools and have lost five in a row. With the amount of firepower returning on offense for WVU, and the home-field advantage, I expect the Mountaineers to finally down Kansas State, 36-27.

In a series of ground-breaking partnership announcements, Notre Dame is using current technology to take over the world.

First, Notre Dame announced that they would team up with Facebook to distribute live video content.

“Distributing live original programming on Facebook connects us to a global population in a way that’s simply not possible on our own. This allows us to meet fans where they are already consuming content and grow our fanbase through the networking effect.”

Next, Notre Dame announced an agreement with Bleacher Report.

“Bleacher Report, has reached an agreement with University of Notre Dame football for an exclusive social content partnership throughout the season. The B/R social team will be embedded with the football program in South Bend and travel with the team to road games during the entire season to create custom content for the program’s national fan base.”

Notre Dame is still feeling a lot of warm fuzzies as a result of their partnership with Showtime last year and its “A Season With Notre Dame,” and obviously wants to capitalize on that momentum moving forward.

What does all of this mean? In an age of CONTENT IS KING on the internet, Notre Dame is finding a way to make CONTENT EVERYWHERE not just for its fanbase, but for possible future fans as well.

The Notre Dame brand has always been one of the most well-known and visible brands on the internet, but these moves suggest that they look to cover just about any space available on the internet to help promote the school and its athletic department.

I suppose that normally, I might say someething like “stay tuned” to suggest that there is more to this story, but if you add the space that Notre Dame has already occupied with the space that they just took over, there is no way on this planet that you will miss it.

For 29 years the Florida Gators have claimed victory over the Wildcats. The last two years, Kentucky has made it difficult but unsuccessful in coming out with a win. Florida has beaten Kentucky 49 times in its history which is the most wins it has against an opponent. This year Kentucky will have to go to the Swamp to try to take down the streak and help reverse this one-sided match-up.

Luke Del Rio should be the starting quarterback for the Gators when Kentucky rolls in to Gainesville. Del Rio is the son of NFL coach Jack Del Rio and was an Oregon State transfer. He led the Blue team to a 44-6 beat-down against the Orange team in the spring game. He threw for 176 yards on 10 of 11 passes completed. All of this to say, he still isn’t proven as a college quarterback. He is a third-year sophomore has yet to start a game in college. That’s huge coming into this season. I’m sure the coaches are impressed by what they’ve seen in practice and scrimmages but game day is a lot different, especially at that position. Austin Appleby a Purdue transfer is in contention and would likely be the 2nd string quarterback at the beginning of the season.As for the running attack that Florida has enjoyed over the last decade or so, it will be in the hands of two names most people outside Gainesville have heard of. Mark Thompson a JUCO transfer and Sophomore Jordan Scarlett will likely be the “thunder and lightening” combo this season. Whether they will be effective will be a key point for the Gators season. They do have experience at wideout with Antonio Callaway who averaged 17.6 yards per catch and snatched up 6 touchdowns last year. That will be a big help for whoever the quarterback is on September 10th.

Defensively, Florida lost two All-Americans (cornerback Vernon Hargreaves III and tackle Jonathan Bullard) and a physical stalwart at safety (Keanu Neal) to the NFL Draft along with Antonio Morrison and Alex McCalister. All these departures do not mean that Florida will weak on that side of the ball though. Jalen Tabor will be one of the nation’s top cornerbacks and Senior Bryan Cox Jr. will be a force to be reckoned with this year. One young player they will look to count on is Cece Jefferson at defensive end/tackle, he will provide Florida with a strong pass rush.

Drew Barker will be in a similar situation as the Florida starter under center. He has started two games and played some in other games. Experience is not a strong point with Drew though and his play will be a key factor in our upcoming season. Boom Williams has had pretty decent success against Florida and even had one play that will go down as a top-10 play in the Stoops era. The screen play the had Boom going right to only be surrounded and the cutback to the left to score in overtime was one of the best touchdowns in Kentucky history.

Last year, the story was Florida’s defensive pressure and the lack thereof from Kentucky. There’s not too much telling me that this year’s story will be different. I think the biggest difference will be a consistent offense. Drew Barker is our only real significant question mark. Well, maybe that and receivers catching balls. I don’t see the score being much different than last year’s 14-9 mark.

Quarterback – Kentucky

Luke Del Rio is highly touted and could be amazing. The only problem is he has zero experience playing in real games in college. Drew has more experience and I think more weapons.

Running Back – Kentucky

Boom is better.

Wide Receivers – Kentucky

Antonio Callaway might be the best receiver on the field during this game. That is if he even plays for Florida this season. I’ve learned that Callaway’s attorney has said that he is under investigation for a code of conduct issue. So, our boys get the nod here!

Tight End – Kentucky

Conrad will be a big target for Barker all season long. The Gators have had the edge here almost every match-up. I think this year we have the advantage at tight end.

O-Line – Florida

I can’t imagine that our line play will be drastically more stable and the Gators line talent will fall that much.

D-Line – Florida

If you are a believer of “you win in the trenches” you may be able to predict where I am going with this games prediction.

Linebackers – Florida

Lack of experience hurts here for the Cats

Defensive Backs – Kentucky

This will be the one bright spot all year I believe. I just hope they can stay healthy and consistent.

Special Teams – Kentucky

This is always the x-factor and Kentucky may have to settle for some field goals in this game.

Today’s edition of the WRNL position previews covers one of the most talented positions on the roster — running backs.

Talent

One of the most exciting and talented players to put on a Cyclone uniform last season was redshirt freshman Mike Warren. The now-sophomore didn’t really emerge until the third game of the season against, interestingly enough, Matt Campbell’s Toledo squad. Over the final 10 games of the 2015 season, Warren rushed for 1,311 yards and found the endzone five times, averaging 5.9 yards per carry.

Outside a handful of standouts, Iowa State doesn’t exactly have a rich history with running backs. If Warren were to repeat his 2015 statline, he would already be seventh in school history in rushing yards with two remaining years of eligibility. Warren’s great season didn’t go unnoticed; he was named to this year’s preseason All-Big 12 team alongside WR Allen Lazard. Simply put, Mike Warren had a hell of a freshman campaign a year ago and that was with a… uh… questionable O-line and offensive coordinator(s).

Luckily for Warren, a new staff is in place this year and there are good pieces elsewhere on offense, headlined by Lazard and Joel Lanning. Assuming new offensive coordinator Tom Manning is a halfway-capable playcaller and the offensive line isn’t crippled by injuries, a healthy Mike Warren (with a full season as the starter) should reach 1,300 yards again and could climb above 1,500 if things go well.

Depth

As is nearly always the case at Iowa State, there aren’t any proven commodities behind the starter. Last year’s backup, Joshua Thomas, transferred after the season. In addition to returning players Mitchell Harger and Sheldon Croney Jr., there are two true freshmen who figure to be the most likely candidates to replace Thomas: Kene Nwangwu and David Montgomery.

Nwangwu might not have a Big 12 body yet (6-foot-1, 188 pounds), but he certainly has Big 12 athleticism. He won the Texas class 5A state title in the high jump with a mark of 6’10” and ran the 100 meter dash in 10.71 seconds, a record at his high school.

Montgomery is the thunder to Nwangwu’s lightning. At 5-foot-11, 222-pounds, he can immediately fill the short-yardage void left by Thomas’ departure. Harger and Croney have a chance to get a few carries as well, but neither of them have the size of Montgomery, and a big back is what Iowa State needs to complement Warren. If I had to guess, I would say Montgomery gets the most carries besides Warren simply due to his size and strength.

Stacking Up Against the Big 12

There are some really, really good running backs in the Big 12. Oklahoma’s Samaje Perine has rushed for over 3,000 yards along with 37 touchdowns in his first two years. As if the Sooners weren’t scary enough already, they also have Joe Mixon, who rushed for 753 yards on 6-point-freaking-7 yards per carry in 2015.

Baylor’s Shock Linwood leads the Big 12 in rushing yards since 2013 (along with being a strong candidate for Best Name Award) and he’s back for his senior year. Down in Stillwater, Oklahoma State will likely be led by Barry J. Sanders, whose name should sound familiar to football fans everywhere. Even though he won’t win the Heisman like his dad did back in 1988, Sanders should still have a productive season as the Cowboys’ primary back.

Running back is probably one of the only units in which Iowa State is among the best in the Big 12, and that’s all due to Mike Warren. If Warren has a good year, Lanning should have more chances to throw deep against defenses that creep forward to slow down Warren. A good running game opens up the deep game, and Allen Lazard is exactly the type of receiver you want going for a deep ball.

I’d say Iowa State’s running backs corps ranks in the top three of the Big 12 along with Oklahoma and Baylor. Texas could be in that mix as well, but they lack a go-to RB — last season, the Longhorns had five players rush for over 400 yards, but not one of them reached 700.

Outlook

Running back is an obvious unit of strength for the Cyclones as the 2016 season approaches. The two big worries for ISU fans in regards to the running game should be 1) Mike Warren’s health, and 2) the offensive line’s ability to stay healthy and give Warren running lanes.

Warren still has room to improve, of course. TRIGGER WARNING: remember the game against Kansas State in Manhattan last year? Iowa State lost four (!!) fumbles that game, including two by Warren. While I wouldn’t necessarily call Warren fumble-prone, ball security is an area where he could improve. Additionally, he only scored five times last season. Some of that was due to Joshua Thomas’ role as the goal-line back, but Warren needs to develop into a guy who can finish the job at the 1-yard line or on 3rd-and-inches.

If Warren plays like he did in 2015, Iowa State’s offense should be in a great spot this year. Running back isn’t a position with a ton of depth, but nobody can deny the talent in the Cyclone backfield.

Dear East Coast Heisman Voters,

Since the end of December, many have suppressed feelings about a notable college football travesty: your snub of Christian McCaffrey as the 2015 Heisman Trophy winner. However, as diehard fans of Stanford football, we have been silent long enough. It has come time for us to air our grievances.

In all seriousness, Alabama’s Derrick Henry was a good choice to win the most prestigious award a collegiate football player can receive after his 395-carry performance last fall. Nevertheless, most of us wish you would be more flexible with your sleeping schedule.

Let us explain.

Because of the time zone in which they are located, eight of the twelve Pac-12 member institutions play most of their primetime football games into the wee hours of the night, with kickoff usually coming around 10 or 10:30 p.m. Eastern time, which guarantees them little exposure on the East Coast.

For example, the Cardinal kicked off seven 2015 matchups after 10 p.m. Eastern time, with only three of them beginning precisely inside the East Coast prime-time television window. We sincerely hope this will not deter you from noticing the level of elite talent and effort our team exhibits on the field at Stanford Stadium.

However, there are more reasons which explain why we have become increasingly incensed. One is this: a snub like this has happened before. Actually, it has happened three times before 2015.

Toby Gerhart lost out to another prominent Crimson Tide running back (Mark Ingram) in 2009 and Andrew Luck, who was the nation’s best quarterback based on stats and record, lost twice in consecutive years (2010 and 2011) to two other quarterbacks in Cam Newton and Robert Griffin. Both Gerhart and Luck, like McCaffrey, also finished second.

And we haven’t even discussed McCaffrey’s skills on the field yet.

Seriously, we are talking about a rising junior who stole the single season mark for most all-purpose yards away from the great Barry Sanders, who was also a Heisman Trophy winner in 1988. Barry. Sanders. McCaffrey’s mix of speed, hands and vision, along with an unmatched athletic pedigree all combine to create the most versatile college football player the sport has seen in years.

Yes, the Cardinal have other exciting offensive players as well, but McCaffrey’s explosiveness and unpredictability are what fans and media types alike continue to salivate over. It is also why the workhorse running back should finish second to none in the Heisman race this year.

You can babble on about Leonard Fournette and Deshaun Watson, Dalvin Cook and Baker Mayfield, but never (save for a very ill-timed injury) forget about McCaffrey.

In closing, we charge you all with this: in this grueling yet exciting twelve-game regular season, make a concerted effort to give a game featuring Stanford a shot. If we were you, we’d make it easy on ourselves and choose the Cardinal’s season opener against Kansas State. Kickoff is an early one, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 2 at 8 p.m. Central time on Fox Sports 1, which means 9 P.M. Eastern time. That way, even with overtime, your hotel room is quiet by midnight…Eastern.

Soon enough, you may find yourself gobbling up Stanford football just like Christian McCaffrey devours his steady diet of PAC-12 defenses week after week.

We hope you fully consider adopting our point of view, and wish you all good luck at your respective media outlets.

Thank you and Go Card,

#NerdNation

Clear bag policy to be implemented at Davis Wade Stadium for 2016 season. #HailState https://t.co/0phCpN4uwi pic.twitter.com/cCKiqU2ZsJ

— MSU Football (@HailStateFB) August 4, 2016

KU’s 2017 recruiting class just got a little weaker, but not because of a decommit.  Remember that four-star CB recruit we got two months ago?  Turns out he just couldn’t wait to become a Jayhawk and has reclassified to the Class of 2016.

Michael Lee, the four-star and top-rated athlete in the state of Louisiana per Rivals, is on campus and listed on the official KU Football roster.  He chose the Jayhawks over an impressive list of offers that included Texas, Georgia, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Missouruh, Miami FL, and several Pac-12 schools.  No doubt Lee came to campus early expecting to compete for a playing spot this year.  (I for one love the confidence.)

Likewise, Denzell Evans, the RB graduate transfer from Arkansas, is also in camp and listed on the official roster.  Evans was a three-star prospect coming out of high school, choosing Arkansas over Arizona State, Colorado, Kansas State, Michigan State, Minnesota, and others.

According to Benton Smith over at KUSports.com, neither Lee nor Evans has been officially cleared by the NCAA, but they are both expected to be eligible for the 2016 campaign.

Evans should slide right into the #2 RB spot behind Ke’aun Kinner, while Lee will compete with Brandon Stewart, Derrick Neal, Marnez Ogletree and fellow incoming freshman Kyle Mayberry (who, if you’ll recall, was featured here on RCT as the top-rated CB in Oklahoma after signing day).  In case you were wondering, KU looks pretty set at Safety this fall with Fish Smithson, Bazie Bates, and Tevin Shaw and returning upperclassmen.

This is great news for a Kansas football program that has been short on bodies ever since Beaty took over.  Whether or not these guys can make significant contributions (especially when Big 12 play rolls around) remains to be seen, but I say it’s a step in the right direction.

One thing about the Arizona Wildcats defense that hurt it last year is that the formations and packages go repetitive and stale, allowing opponents to kind of know what was coming their way.

With the new defensive staff, things are changing, and so are the packages Arizona will use, particularly up front.

“(Coach Amey)’s bringing a lot more styles in, and I’m very excited for it,” defensive lineman Luca Bruno said on Wednesday. “We’re more of an attack defense now.”

Bruno also explained that the Wildcats’ strategy will change pre-snap this year.

“We’re always moving,” he said. “A lot more moving, and I like that. And I like the whole attack strategy so we can get off the ball as fast as we can.”

This is a far cry from what was going on before Marcel Yates took over as defensive coordinator.

“I think it was easy to predict what we were going to do,” Bruno said about the past defensive scheme. “I think stemming and the stuff we’re talking about, I’m really loving that. It’s going to start confusing people and I love that.”

“For the past few years, we were running basically the same things,” senior linebacker Cody Ippolito added. “This new defense has a lot of new packages and a lot of new things we can do. I feel we’ll be able to surprise more people with everything we can do.”

As far as where he’ll be playing on the line this year, Bruno will probably play more interior, but says he will be able to play all three positions.

“From my knowledge, I’m still a D tackle right now,” the redshirt junior continued. “We want a lot more rotation this year, and I think we can get that, so everyone’s going to try and as many positions as possible.”

He also said that Sani Fuimaono projects to be the primary weak side player.

As far as newcomers go, one young guy has really caught the eye of the seasoned Bruno.

“Justin Belknap,” Bruno stated. “I think he’s done really good and he’s coming up. He’s done a lot in the weight room to get his weight up and his strength up. Also we saw in the spring that he was a contender. Also Finton (Connolly). I think he’ll be playing good at the nose as well as the tackle position.”

Another (sort of) new body out there will be Ippolito, who says that he is 100% after tearing his ACL during last year’s fall camp.

“I’m definitely excited to get to that first game and start hitting people again,” Ippolito said.

It took him a bit to gain full confidence in his knee, but he has reached that point now with fall camp starting Thursday.

“In that first couple months, there’s definitely that thought of if your knee’s going to hold up,” he explained. “But now I’ve come so far, and all my trainers have gotten me to the point where I don’t even think about it anymore.”

“I’d like to do everything hitting-wise,” he added about what he wants to do in camp. “I lost about 10-15 pounds to get back in shape and take some pressure off my knee.”

The Wake Forest football program’s top target has named his top three schools, and set his announcement date. Michael Allen, a 4-star defensive lineman out of Georgia, is down to Wake Forest, Southern California, and Tennesssee. The highly regarded prospect will announce his decision on Monday, August 8th.

Wake Forest has received the last 3 Crystal Ball picks for Michael Allen, and all three analysts making the prediction are very legitimate. Wake Forest’s recruiting class is currently ranked 47th nationally according to 247 Composite. The addition of Allen, would propel the Deacs to 43rd nationally,

Allen would definitely be a game-charger for Wake’s defense and program. He is a 4-star recruit on Rivals, and ranked as their 169th best player overall in the 2017 class. I would expect Allen to come in and immediately start at defensive end. He has the versatility to rush the passer, but can also provide excellent coverage in the run game. If need be, he even has the athleticism to drop into coverage in certain situations.

Monday could be a massive day for Wake’s program. Huge credit to defensive line coach Dave Cohen for establishing an early relationship and continuing to build it. Dave Clawson and his staff are definitely building something, and I am very excited about the future of the program.