Getty Oklahoma State running back Chuba Hubbard takes a hand off from quarterback Spencer Sanders
Kansas State is undefeated so far this season, but the Wildcats get their toughest test of the season so far on Saturday against an explosive Oklahoma State team that’s hungry for a win after coming up just short against Texas.
The game (7 p.m. ET start time) won’t be on regular TV anywhere, but you can watch it live right here on ESPN+, the digital streaming service from ESPN that has exclusive coverage of dozens of college football games and other live sports every week, all the 30-for-30 documentaries and additional original content (both video and written) all for $4.99 per month.
You can sign up for ESPN+ right here, and you can then watch Kansas State vs Oklahoma State live on your computer via ESPN.com, or on your phone (Android and iPhone compatible), tablet, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, or other streaming device via the ESPN app.
Kansas State vs Oklahoma State Preview
Kansas State is under first year head coach Chris Klieman, won four FCS national championships in five years at North Dakota State. He took the place of Bill Snyder, who retired after 27 seasons. Klieman was glad to get a bye week in before his first Big 12 test.
“It was good for us from a staff’s point of view to evaluate where we are, what we feel we can do with the group of guys we have,” Klieman said. “Where do we see our strengths, where do we see our weaknesses? (We) try to work on all those weaknesses, emphasize the strengths. We try to see where we’re thin at positionally. This is only going to be game four, but we’re still pretty new with our program.”
It won’t be easy for the Wildcats to move to 4-0 on the road to take an the Cowboys. Oklahoma State ranks 11th in the nation in total offense (533.8 yards per game) and 12th in scoring (44.5 points per game).
Kansas State is currently ranked as one of the top defenses in the country, allowing just 256 yards and 12.7 points per game. However, two of the three Wildcat wins have come over Nicholls State and Bowling Green.
“We’re playing a good football team this week,” Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy said. “The defense has played really well. The defense is pressure, lot of man-coverage and blitzing style, so we’ll have our work cut out for us.”
A big part of the Cowboys success will be riding running back Chuba Hubbard, who leads the nation in rushing yards (642) and rushing touchdowns (9). He ran a whopping 37 times last week against Texas in a 36-30 loss, gaining 121 yards but also only averaging 3.3 yards per carry.
“That is five more than I thought was too many before,” Gundy said of Hubbard’s workload. “It has been a conversation and we want to keep him healthy. We want him to be fresh but he is clearly the best runner. We do what we think we need to do to score the most points.”
Oklahoma State is listed as a 4.5-point home favorite for the game, with a total of 60 points. The Cowboys have taken six of the last 10 games.