Travis Hunter's Heroics Against Oklahoma State Push K-State Closer To Elimination
The Kansas State Wildcats already faced a difficult route to the Big 12 championship before the Colorado-Oklahoma State game.
Now that the Buffaloes took down the Cowboys 52-0 on Friday afternoon, the road is near impossible. The Wildcats need to defeat the Iowa State on Saturday while having three of the following four teams lose their finale: Cyclones, BYU, Colorado and Arizona State. With coach Deion Sanders and company advancing to 7-2 on the season, Iowa State, BYU, and Arizona State must all lose.
BYU faces the unranked Houston Cougars (4-7) at 10:15 PM ET Saturday while Arizona State takes on the Arizona Wildcats (4-7) at 3:30 PM ET. Both teams the Wildcats are rooting against are heavily favored in their matchups.
K-State faces a tall task even if all goes their way, as the Buffaloes are full of star power. However, the talent of quarterback Shedeur Sanders and two-way standout Travis Hunter can only take them so far. But the star tandem can haul them quite far, as Hunter finished Friday's game with a hat-trick of touchdowns and an interception while Sanders finished with five passing touchdowns.
Despite the dominant win over Oklahoma State, Colorado fell 37-21 against the Kansas Jayhawks just a week ago.
Jayhawks running back Devin Neal exposed their defense by rushing for 207 yards and three touchdowns. This means a Kansas State-Colorado title game would come down to the legs of Avery Johnson and DJ Giddens.
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Anthony Pasciolla is a contributing writer to K-State On SI. He can be reached at ampasciolla@gmail.com or followed on X @AnthonyPasci.
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Anthony Pasciolla is a sports journalist who began covering the NBA in June 2023. A Philadelphia native, Anthony has experience covering the Philadelphia 76ers as a credentialed reporter. He has written for Miami Heat, Back In The Day Hoops, Kansas State Wildcats, and Illinois Fighting Illini on Sports Illustrated. His work also includes 76ers coverage for The Sporting News and previous stories for Athlon Sports and BasketballNews. When he’s not covering the NBA, you can find him spending time with friends and family or diving into the world of fantasy football. Follow him on X @AnthonyPasci or reach him via email at ampasciolla@gmail.com