The Cats played host to University of Massachusetts Minutemen last night for their last non-conference game (and last home game for a few weeks). UMass was supposed to lose this game; they fought hard at first, and despite a couple of nice drives, they only got 7 points for the whole game.

K-State, after 2 previous weeks of virtually no rushing offense, seemed to use the game as practice for all of their running plays. There was almost no passing in this game. Hubert finally got some big yards running – and even had a 43-yd reception for a touchdown. There was also a pick-6 by Daly (one of is 2 interceptions). Sams got to play a lot more snaps and we got to see even more of his amazing athleticism.

The weather was gorgeous – 80 degrees, instead of the 100+ that we’d had for the past two weeks.

The Cats head off next weekend to start Big XII play at Texas and then the following week at Oklahoma State. Texas is struggling, but OSU isn’t. It would sure be nice to be 4-1 when they return one to play Baylor. Go Cats.

So, K-State notched the first win of the season with a win over University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Louisiana was billed as a good team (maybe not as good as North Dakota State) that should give the Cats another run for the money. However, the Wildcats played a much better game and ended up winning 48-27.

Jake Waters passed with the accuracy and efficiency of a star quarterback, but still lacked the ability to establish a run game. Daniel Sams electrified the stadium with his runs. They are developing into a great duo-quarterback team. I wonder how it’ll continue to play out over the season.

There was much better improvement all around – especially compared to the pitiful play of last weeks game. However, there were still some costly mistakes – including a couple interceptions. Most fun was the kickoff return by Thompson for a touchdown to start the second half. He then followed it up with a punt return to the 1 yard line (thanks to a facemask tackle).

This was a fun game and I’m glad all 4 of us were able to be there. It was 2 weeks in a row with game temperatures over 100 degrees. Looking forward to cooler days.

Next week – University of Massachusetts. This one is supposed to be an easy win. Go Cats!

Kansas State got beat at their own style of football Friday night. It was a taste of our own medicine, watching North Dakota State University Bison methodically march down the field in the final quarter and taking the final 8 minutes off the clock. They were down by 4 points – and when they had reached our 20-yard line, I turned to Linda and said “They’re gonna win this game”. We were outplayed and, I hate to admit it, outcoached. Bill Snyder even admitted as much.

The thing to remember is that NDSU wasn’t just any cupcake team that often gets scheduled for our home opener. This is a team that beat Minnesota last year and is the Division 1 FCS Champions for the past 2 years. This is a very good football team.

The goal of our team is to get better each day. We had signs of being good, but we obviously showed we have room to improve. Given Snyder’s history, I firmly believe we will come out even better next week against Louisiana.

Go Cats.