K-State Q&A: Big 12 football bets, a Mexico bowl game and Jerome Tang’s next transfer

I am back from a nice, relaxing vacation in Europe. It was great trip, thanks for asking.

My wife and I toured old buildings and ate amazing food in Rome. We spent a few days on beautiful beaches on the Spanish island of Mallorca. I also convinced her to squeeze in time for a FC Barcelona soccer match at historic Camp Nou Stadium.

Our vacations aren’t usually that grand. With four kids at home, driving is more our thing. But my wife and I recently both turned 40, I had a stockpile of airline points and, most importantly, we had grandparents who were willing to watch our children. So we went big.

The jet lag was real after we made the long flight home, though. Traveling across seven time zones will wreak havoc on your body clock. I can see why the NFL tries to make sure teams have an open week after they play in London. But I’m re-energized now and ready to get back to the grind with a brand new K-State Q&A.

So let’s get to it. Thanks, as always, for providing so many great questions.

Loyal mailbag readers will remember that I shared some critical thoughts on the idea of Big 12 Mexico a few weeks ago.

I stand by them today.

Asking Big 12 teams to play games in another country for the possibility of a small spike in revenue and/or exposure just doesn’t seem like smart business to me. Why play a much-anticipated basketball game between KU and Houston in Mexico City when Allen Fieldhouse and Fertitta Center are both available? Call me old fashioned, but I’m simply not a fan of moving conference games off campus, especially to an area outside the league’s footprint.

But playing a bowl game in Monterrey is a different story.

Those football exhibitions are always played in neutral venues that require fans to travel. We already have one bowl game in the Bahamas. Another is played in Hawaii. You can find one in New York, too. Many are hosted in California and Florida. The only difference between The Mexico Bowl (working title) and The Pop Tarts Bowl (new name of the Big 12-affiliated bowl that is played in Orlando, look it up) is that fans and players will need passports to get there.

We’ve never had a bowl game in Mexico before. I don’t see any harm in starting one and sending a Big 12 team there each season. Here’s hoping the Big 12 finds a way to cut out the middleman and keeps all the profits for itself. The travel wouldn’t be too bad and the weather would likely be good in December or January. A trip south of the border could be a nice reward for any team that wins six or more games in a season.

My excitement level for covering the game would be somewhere around an eight.

The Big 12 could use some new blood in its bowl lineup, and the Mexico Bowl could provide exactly that. I would much rather cover that game than, say, the Liberty Bowl ... again.

I detested the idea of Big 12 Mexico when it was suggested that Big 12 football teams would have to sacrifice home games to play in Monterrey. But I’m fine with the Big 12 sending a team there each season for a bowl game.

K-State vs. Iowa State in Monterrey? No me gusta!

K-State vs. UCLA in the Mexico Bowl? Si, muy bien!

I would not advise placing a large futures bet on K-State to win the Big 12 in football next season.

At least not right now.

Could the Wildcats defend their title? Sure, there’s a reason BetMGM is currently giving them the third best odds (+500) in the conference to do so behind Texas (+115) and Oklahoma (+300). But there isn’t much value in that bet at the moment.

When you bet on K-State last season I’m guessing you got much better odds than five-to-one.

Under Chris Klieman, the Wildcats have developed a bad habit of losing at least one home game that nobody expects. It happened last year against Tulane, even though the Green Wave turned out to be amazing.

Quick aside: it cracks me up that some people still give K-State grief for losing that game but also celebrate last year’s win at Oklahoma as if it were one of the best victories in program history. Tulane went 12-2 and Oklahoma went 6-7. Prestige isn’t everything!

It also happened in 2020, when K-State lost to Arkansas State. And it happened in 2019 against West Virginia.

Maybe the Wildcats are finally immune to that sort of loss this season. Then again, they will be replacing Deuce Vaughn and Felix Anudike-Uzomah. I think there will be some growing pains.

If you want to bet on K-State to win the Big 12, I suggest waiting until the Wildcats drop a game and their odds fall. Then back them. It’s very unlikely they will go undefeated, and even if they get off to a hot start 5-to-1 odds are probably still going to be there. But if they lose early to Troy or Missouri you will be able to get them at much longer odds.

You can also hope that Oklahoma and Texas both start hot, driving down the odds for the rest of the conference.

My rule of thumb with most futures bets is to only wager on odds that are 10-to-1 or longer, especially before the start of a season. It’s easier to create hedging opportunities with small amounts of cash that way.

Right now, my two favorite Big 12 bets on the board are Texas Tech (+1200) and TCU (+2000).

I have already placed a futures bet on the Red Raiders. I think they are this year’s dark-horse candidate to win the league.

Another bet you might be interested in: Oklahoma and Texas vs. The Field. If you want to fade the Longhorns and Sooners, which many people around these parts like to do, you can get the other 12 teams in the league at +180, per BetMGM.

E-MAIL QUESTION: Is the recruiting honeymoon over for Coach Tang? It seems the portal players don’t want to be at K-State. - Will H.

I have been asked some version of this question several times already, and I’m guessing the queries won’t subside until Jerome Tang finalizes his next K-State basketball roster with 13 scholarship players.

While I don’t think there is any reason for K-State fans to panic about the Wildcats only having 10 scholarship players at the moment, there is certainly reason for concern.

Yes, Tang was in this exact same position last season. Yes, Tang went out and landed Desi Sills and Keyontae Johnson late in the recruiting process. Yes, those two players helped lead K-State to 26 victories and the Elite Eight. Yes, the same thing could happen again.

But, and you knew that word was coming, the Wildcats have whiffed on all their transfer targets since landing North Texas guard Tylor Perry. K-State would much prefer to already be done exploring the transfer portal.

The good news is that the Wildcats have a competitive roster as is. I would project them to make the NCAA Tournament next season, even if they only have 10 dudes. But three more would provide them with some margin for error and give them an opportunity to strike gold by landing another Johnson or Sills.

Landing Creighton transfer Arthur Kaluma would be a nice next step. We will see if it happens.

I am a little surprised that K-State hasn’t found more success with the transfer portal. It seemed like transfers would be lining up to play for the Wildcats after what they accomplished last season. But Tang is very selective when it comes to transfers and he treats this process like a marathon instead of a sprint.

For now, he has earned the benefit of the doubt. I would advise K-State fans to remain patient and judge the roster in October rather than June.

Good question.

There is an abundance of quarterback talent behind Will Howard right now and the Wildcats have options when it comes to a backup.

Jake Rubley and Avery Johnson are the candidates.

At this moment in time, my guess is Rubley would win the job. He is older than Johnson and he has some experience playing in actual games for the Wildcats. I think K-State would turn to him if, for whatever reason, Howard needs a replacement next season.

But Johnson appears to be the more talented quarterback. His upside is obvious, even though he’s only a freshman.

In a perfect world, K-State would probably prefer to redshirt Johnson this season behind Howard and Rubley. Then the Maize product would have an opportunity to start after Howard moves on.

Right now, though, Rubley is probably the guy.

The obvious answer is Will Howard.

He is returning as Kansas State’s quarterback and he is the biggest fan favorite on the team. Anyone looking to sell extra video games would put his mug on the cover.

But if you wanted to reward the best player on the team then Cooper Beebe belongs on the cover. Next spring, he is going to be an early pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. He is one of the best interior offensive linemen in all of college football.

Personally, I would rather see him on the K-State Madden cover.

I don’t think I can pick just one player for an All-Time Edition. Splitting it three ways with Jordy Nelson, Michael Bishop and Darren Sproles is probably the smartest way to go.

Then again, I wouldn’t hate Deuce Vaughn, Collin Klein and Tyler Lockett on there either.

So many options.

We’re working on a robot that will handle the K-State beat the next time I am away. Stay tuned.

Let’s just say there won’t be many open seats inside either Bramlage Coliseum or Bill Snyder Family Stadium next season.

K-State has announced that season ticket sales for football are up 4,000 from where they were at this time last year.

The basketball team has only been selling season tickets for a few days, so it’s hard to track how hot those are just yet. But K-State fans love watching Jerome Tang and his team.

Demand should be high for both sports.

As for my vacation, I will opine a little bit about the FC Barcelona soccer match I was lucky enough to see.

Attending a major sporting event in another country was quite the experience. No offense to Sporting Kansas City or MLS, but this match was American soccer on steroids. I was once in the building for a Mexico/USA friendly in San Antonio, and not even that was comparable to Mallorca at FC Barcelona.

There were 90,000 fans in attendance. The supporter’s section had so much going on with cheers and flags and flares that I’m not sure how they watched the action. Casual fans chanted stuff for 90 straight minutes. Very few people were drinking beer or eating snacks. No one cared about what was being shown on the video board. Fan engagement, apparently, isn’t a thing over there. If you were at this game, you were there to watch soccer. Nothing else seemed to matter.

It was a fun experience and a departure from American sporting events for those reasons. It was also the final game ever played at Camp Nou before they renovate the historic venue over the next two years, which made it even cooler.

There were certainly things I didn’t like about it. Such as:

• No reserved seats. We fortunately ended up with two adjacent seats, but Barca made it very clear that might not happen when we were buying tickets. The only thing they promised was two seats in the same section. I’m glad we weren’t in different rows.

• The wave is still big in Spain. Really big. Outside of Barca winning 3-0, fans seemed most thrilled about taking part in the wave, almost like it was 1995.

• Cheering for 90 straight minutes is exhausting. I don’t know how they do it.

• The concession options were abysmal. They spoil fans with craft beer and creative foods in America. It was nothing but hot dogs and one type of light beer over there.

• Nice as it was to be forced to watch the action, I was missing top-notch videoboards by the end of the match. I need my slow motion replays!

In any case, it’s good to be back.