Kansas State football embraces underdog role heading into Big 12 championship game
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kansas State historically has loved the underdog role, and sure enough, that's where the Wildcats find themselves again heading into their biggest game of the season.
No. 3-ranked and unbeaten TCU is a 2 1/2-point favorite heading into Saturday's 11 a.m. Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium.
"I think K-State kind of has that image I guess, as long as I've been here and long before I've been here, and I think this year we've really embraced it," said super-senior nose guard Eli Huggins. Every game, it's just been us against the world.
"And especially away games, we've had a mindset of it's going to be 100 of us versus 50, 60, 70,000. So we've just tried to embrace that and use that to motivate us this year."
The No. 10 Wildcats made it to the championship with a 9-3 record and second-place league finish at 7-2. Not bad for a team that was picked fifth in the conference preseason poll.
Of course, TCU (12-0, 9-0) has been an even bigger surprise, going from No. 7 in those same preseason rankings to the cusp of a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
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"You talk about a team that has overcome an awful lot of adversity as well," K-State coach Chris Klieman said of the Horned Frogs, who beat the Wildcats, 38-28, in their regular-season meeting on Oct. 22 in Fort Worth. "They've had a number of games where it came down to the last possession or two, and they found a way, whether it was on offense or on defense."
Still, that doesn't change that fact that TCU is the favorite this week.
"Just go back to the preseason, and I don't think anybody thought we'd be here, and I don't know if a ton of people believe in us going into this weekend," said senior center Hayden Gillum. "I think it's something that we've come to embrace. It's part of who we are.
"We don't think about it too much, what people think of us. We know the work that we put in together as a team and the guys that are around us."
While Klieman might not buy into the idea of proving others wrong, he has no problem with his players using it as motivation.
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"I think the guys would talk about it more than we do as coaches," he said. "They know they've been doubted quite a bit this year.
"(But) our guys have really risen up, especially when people have doubted them. They've risen to the top, and I can't say enough about our team leaders and about our captains, because they control that locker room and this player-led team. They've taken ownership, and I think that's really cool."
K-State's second chance against TCU this season
In the first meeting between the teams, K-State led 28-17 at halftime, but were shutout after intermission as TCU stormed back to win.
"They came back and beat us," Klieman said. "We can say all we want about we didn't do this or didn't do that, but give TCU credit. They came back from being down and stayed the course and stayed in the fight and found a way to go ahead and win the ballgame."
Quarterback Will Howard made his first appearance of the season in the first TCU game, coming on when starter Adrian Martinez went down after the opening series. He led the Wildcats to four first-half touchdowns, but they sputtered in the second half.
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Howard has played in all but one game since then and taken over as the leader of the Wildcats offense. Now he gets a second shot at the Horned Frogs.
"We made this opportunity for ourselves, and we're blessed to be in this position," Howard said. "I kind of like being the underdog.
"We don't really have anything to lose, going in there just to try and achieve our goal and win the Big 12."
For Huggins, who decided to return for a sixth year, that would be the ultimate prize.
"That's been a dream of mine since I've been here," Huggins said. "That's one of the main reasons I came back. I felt like I had more to prove, that we had more to prove, like we were capable of winning the Big 12 championship.
"That would mean everything to me. I love this university, love this team, and to be able to do that for them would be incredible."
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: K-State football relishes underdog role vs TCU in big 12 championship
