Survive and Advance

Klein threw the ball Saturday to ... yes, you're reading this right ... 9 different recievers.

Not going to spend a ton of time reflecting back on ISU.  You all watched it.  And you can watch the highlights again here.

• Lack of focus (check): Everyone plays ISU half asleep, remember? Impossible to get excited about playing them and it shows with every team they play because, well, no one cares about them.  And that's how teams with less resolve than the Cats find themselves with a loss.  Thankfully Klein cared enough to dominant the Cyclones pretty much by himself.
• Stingy LB play (check):  Klein and Knott were dominant throughout. Playing much like what we've come to expect from the Predator, the two of them, Knott especially, were all over the field.  Klein finished the day with 11 total tackles (5 solo) but was disruptive on a number of plays, and Knott finished with 13 total tackles, (9 solo).  Between the two of them, 24 total tackles is a pretty efficient afternoon.  To put that in perspective, The Predator finished with only 6 (4 solo).
• Crappy weather (check):  While the torrential downpour never hit Ames, the overcast skies and rain prior to kickoff made the field wetter than usual.  The impact was miminal.
• Close, low scoring affair (check):  Everyone who knows these two team predicted a close, hard fought game.  We got that in spades.  With Klein basically killing the crowd softly with a crushing 8 min. drive in the fourth, the Cats were able to out gut, out manage, and out play the Cyclones to move to 6-0.  More on how well this strategy can, and will, serve us the rest of the year ... later.

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So the nation is chiming in on the Cats being #4 in the BCS.  As you can probably imagine, there has been quite a bit of weeping and gnashing of teeth seeing the Wildcats ranked so high.

Sure, most of it is SEC bias.  Some of it disbelief.  Most preaching our demise is coming in 6 days in Morgantown.

The Bleacher Report Twitter Reaction covers some of the more general comments out there, but there's one from the Kansas City Star I happen to really like:

And this one, is even better.  Thank you for recognizing greatness in the BigXII BigTime Sports Media!

Lastly, from stat machine and GoPowercat writer D. Scott Fritchen --

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Stewart Mandel of SI.com weighs in on flaws of the BCS, yet is surprisingly kind to KSU, saying:

As for Kansas State, the Wildcats currently sit alone in first place atop this year's toughest conference (according to Jeff Sagarin's ratings), and their Sept. 22 win at Oklahoma looks even more impressive following the Sooners' Red River beatdown of Texas. Next week's trip to Morgantown lost some luster after West Virginia's blowout loss at Texas Tech, but a victory would give the Wildcats two wins over current top-15 foes -- two more than either Alabama or Oregon can count.

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The Rant Sports puts out their Super 6 Heisman candidates this week, and of course Klein is listed.

It would be hard for me to not give Klein the Heisman, especially if the Wildcats continue to win. He's a really special player, a workhorse for his team, and truly outstanding. If he were the starting quarterback for a high profile program, he'd be on everyone's list

News flash Curt:  He's on everyone's list regardless.
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This is a very entertaining video from the Bleacher Report on the Week 8 Heisman race, and it's a great mix of analysis, shots of the candidates, and insight.  Very well done overall and well produced -- and says that the gap between Geno and Klein has shrunk considerably and of course, much of the race boils down to next Saturday @ West Virginia.

No, I didn't photoshop #Optimus in there.  

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Say hello to my newest follower on Twitter.

This was the icing on my KSU Weekend cake.

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We may not be #1 in the UPS Team Performance Index Poll anymore (damn penalties, but look at that Special Teams score!), but there is one poll out there that still has at #1, and that's Peter Wolfe.

Damn you Colley Matrix Top 50!

Oh, you're interested in how he calculates the rankings?  Well I've read this three times and my comprehension stops at "... maximum likelihood estimate ..."  I'm not sure we can trust a football formula that is using pi in its equations, but I'm not questioning anyone who has the Cats this high.

And neither should you.
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