No. 19 Kansas State (7-2, 4-2) has had an extra week to prepare for Arizona State (7-2, 4-2).

After suffering a stunning 24-19 loss to Houston on Nov. 2, the Wildcats have used their bye week to get healthy and to put together a plan to try to stop the surging Sun Devils.

“Anybody can beat anybody in this league. We all know that,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said during his weekly press conference. “We’re playing a really good Arizona State team that’s a hot team, that’s playing well and finding ways to win. So we’ve got to put play our best football.”

ASU coach Kenny Dillingham said that Heisman Trophy candidate Cam Skattebo will be back in the lineup Saturday after missing ASU’s win over UCF with a shoulder injury. Despite Skattebo’s return, the Sun Devils enter the game as 7.5-point underdogs.

Here are the highlights from Klieman’s press conference:

Klieman on his team’s mindset after losing to Houston:

“It sometimes gets forgotten we are a seven and two football team that has a lot of things in front of us to play for. We don’t know and we can’t control what other teams are going to do. I think everybody knows this. A lot of things can still happen. But for us we’ve got to play and practice and prepare mentally and physically each day to give ourselves a chance to be successful.”

Klieman on ASU running back Cam Skattebo

“He’s a stud. He’s a downhill guy, but he’s got enough quickness. He’s got great hands out of the back field. He’ll pass protect. He’s an every down back. Fun kid to watch. He breaks tackles. You’re not going to arm tackle him. You know he’s had a tremendous year, one of the best years in the Big 12 and deserves all the accolades that he’s receiving. He’s a terrific player.”

Klieman on what ASU is building under coach Dillingham:

“I think coach Dillingham’s done a phenomenal job. They’ve had some success in the transfer portal for sure. Second year in the system, those guys are are playing with a lot of confidence. A wide receiver [Jordyn Tyson] that is as good as we’ve seen in the league. He’s making play after play. And I know a lot of the defensive guys. I know the D coordinator and the linebackers coach, Brian Ward and AJ Cooper. They’re great coaches, they’re great human beings. They’re playing at a high level.”

Klieman on Arizona State’s offense:

get it to the tailback you know I mean scabo is a great player and that’s they they focused their offense around him which they should because if they do that then they’re opening up all their play action passes their rpos um you know they they force you sometimes to put more people in the box which gives them one-on-one coverage um you know I I they’ve done really good job of staying balanced I’m I’m running and passing it uh what do you want to see from the wide receiver room over these last three games of the year just same as we want to see from every group consistency um continuing to improve um you know everybody I think all every position you could bring Austin Austin Moore and Brenan ma in here Hadley Panzer Maris seagull some of our captains a and stuff and say okay what do we got to do we all can play a little

Klieman on ASU quarterback Sam Leavitt:

“I don’t think a lot of people knew about [Sam Leavitt] coming into the season, and I know that they had gone through the transfer portal and had found some other transfers I believe. But he beat him out and obviously you see why now. He really makes them go because he can beat you with his legs and he’s got really good arm talent. But he’s just hard to sack. I mean he’s smart enough to know ‘okay I can’t take this hit, can’t take the sack’ and throwing it away. … I know he got banged up. I can’t remember what game it was, so he’s probably a little bit more disciplined in running, of saying it’s okay to slide or get out of bounds. But when I’ve got to make the play, I’ll make the play and run for the first down. But I just think the fact that he can do it throwing and running is what is so impressive.”

More Arizona State & Big 12 Analysis

Just over 1,000 tickets are still available for sale to watch no. 6 BYU host Kansas. As of late Thursday evening, 1,120 tickets were still available, mostly in the north endzone.

Seats Available by Section

West: 154
North: 771
East: 163
South: 32

BYU has sold out all four home games so far this season. BYU-Kansas is the first home game at risk of not selling out. The kickoff time and the weather are likely contributing to the ticket sales. The game isn’t scheduled to kickoff until 8:15 PM Mountain Time and the temperatures are forecasted to be around 30 degrees.

Additionally, there is a section in the north endzone that is almost entirely availalble. It’s the same section that is typically reserved for visiting fans. It’s most likely that Kansas gave back some tickets to BYU, and those recently became available on the BYU tickets website.

This is a critical game both for BYU’s conference championship and College Football Playoff hopes. A win in this game would put BYU one win away from securing a spot in the Big 12 championship game. A win in this game would also increase BYU’s chances to earn an at-large bid if they don’t win the Big 12 championship game.

Kansas is much better than their 3-6 record suggests. The Jayhawks have won two out of their last three and they have been competitive in nearly every game this season. Five out of their six losses have been one-score losses.

It’s not an exaggeration to say these next three weeks are the most important games for the BYU football program since 1984.

The Kansas State Wildcats’ brief winning streak to begin the season was snapped by the LSU Tigers Thursday night, 76-65.

The Wildcats played against a familiar face, guard Cam Carter. Carter spent the previous two seasons in Manhattan, but silenced the Wildcats with 20 points on 50 percent shooting from three-point range.

The Tigers jumped out to a 39-26 lead midway through the first half, which included a hellacious effort from guard Jordan Sears. In a three-minute span, Sears accounted for two free-throws, a steal, and two assists.

The Wildcats played from behind for much of the game, giving up a 19-18 lead at the 10:09 mark of the half and trailed by as many as 17 at the 2:05 mark before halftime.

While the Wildcats played a slower pace in the second half, they could only cut the deficit to nine before LSU regained a consistent cushion. The Wildcats had two players carry the offense. Guard David N’Guessan and Dug McDaniel, who combined for 32 points. Forward Coleman Hawkins was held to eight points while guard Max Jones was held to two points, finishing scoreless from the field.

The Wildcats’ woes were shown brightest in two areas, as they were out-rebounded 41-22 and finished just 23.8 percent from three-point range.

Kansas State gets a brief break before hosting Mississippi Valley State next Tuesday in the fourth of a six-game home-stand. The game tips off at 8 p.m. ET.

Zain Bando is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached atzainbando99@gmail.comand on Instagram/’X’ @zainbando99.

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