The stage is set for Tulane football’s highly anticipated Week 2 matchup against the Kansas State Wildcats as they seek to become contenders on a national stage.

Intriguingly, the Green Wave and the Wildcats have some parallels on offense. Kansas State kicks off the season Saturday against FCS opponent UT-Martin, much like Tulane opened against Southeastern Louisiana.

Sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson will make his first regular season start, much like redshirt freshman Darian Mensah led Tulane to their 52-0 victory Thursday night. Johnson did appear in eight games as a true freshman and started for the team in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, beating North Carolina State.

However, he did so behind an offensive line that looks nothing like the one that will take the field next Saturday at Yulman Stadium. The Wildcats must replace four of five starters, including third-round draft pick Cooper Beebe. Just as Tulane had to find Vincent Murphy to take over for Sincere Haynesworth.

Though the group of returners isn’t exactly inexperienced, they don’t have any time playing together in concert. The lone starter remaining is right guard Hadley Panzer, who likely is starting this season at left guard. Presumed starting left tackle Easton Kilty is making his first FBS start.

It helps that Kansas State’s offensive line coach, Conor Riley, was promoted to coordinator. He has pieces to work with that have credible game snaps. The challenge is whether they can come together as a unit.

While Avery Johnson has more experience than Darian Mensah, Mensah benefits from a much more stable offensive line. Tulane returned both starting guards and right tackle and brought in key transfers to fill the remaining holes. In their season debut, they gave Mensah time in the pocket, but the run blocking left much to be desired.

Tulane brought in transfers on the defensive line to bolster their pass rush. They got to the quarterback twice with two sacks last Thursday, but the Bandit role was a point of concern. Their three-man front is spaced to spread out their top playmakers, Adin Huntington at defensive end and Patrick Jenkins at tackle.

With Huntington to the field and Jenkins to the boundary, it forces defenses to either focus attention on one side of the line or just shut down the best two players. That awards a lot of one-on-one opportunities for the rusher at Bandit. The players who rotated in the first game didn’t make much of a case.

Terrell Allen didn’t make any standout plays, nor did Matthew Fobbs-White, though the latter showed some disruptive abilities off the line of scrimmage. Frankly, Shi’Keem Laister was the most productive in a packaged role. Laister had a hurry and forced Southeastern to throw quickly, leading to incompletions on the drive.

Tulane doesn’t need the Bandit to be the hero, but they need a player to step up and credibly command attention to open up lanes for Huntington, who only recorded one hurry in his debut for the team.

Importantly, the team likely didn’t show their cards on the ways they might get to the quarterback. It might come from the second level. Linebacker Sam Howard had more pressure snaps than Fobbs-White and Allen, and he recorded a hurry and beat his blocker on another.

Could Tulane rely on blitzing and utilizing defensive backs and linebackers as rushers? Not all season. But creativity and confusion might just be enough to rattle the Wildcats as both teams race to figure out what the other is made of with merely one game of film.

The secondary came together as Tulane’s season opener went on, and should be a point of strength, but the best coverage is a pass rush. Especially with an opponent that has similar turnover and areas to exploit. For the Green Wave to pull off a victory on Sept. 7, the key lies in the lane to the quarterback.

Let’s be clear about what Kansas Republican legislative leaders are doing with their planned overhaul of budgeting: They are launching a personal and political power grab against Gov. Laura Kelly.

They have never accepted or respected her mandate. Despite Kelly winning a second term and having two years left to go, they have continually attempted to usurp the executive branch’s authority. They have tried a constitutional amendment and prohibiting her ability to negotiate Medicaid contracts. Now they’re going after her yearly state budget proposal.

Usually, the Legislature begins its yearly budget process with a proposal from the governor. Her office submits it when lawmakers arrive for the annual session, in January. Now an interim committee wants to start the process earlier, as soon as October of the previous year.

In this new process, the governor’s budget would be a suggestion, not a starting point.

And never mind that it’s a direct attack on Kelly. House Speaker Dan Hawkins, R-Wichita, assured the audience that these changes had nothing to do with the governor.

“This process has nothing to do with the governor,” he said at the meeting earlier this month, according to Kansas Reflector reporter Tim Carpenter. “If you’re going to focus on the governor, probably not the wisest thing to do, because this process has happened over time with many, many different governors.”

He was contradicted by Senate President Ty Masterson, R-Andover, who let the proverbial cat out of the figurative bag.

“You’ll have a Republican governor, for example, or somebody you trust, and you trust the administration to build the budgets, and then you kind of rubber stamp stuff,” Masterson said. “And, then, you switch, and you have (the) opposition party and then there’s all that same power.”

Oh. So it’s like that, then.

All of this might seem like so much partisan mud wrestling, except for the fact that the leaders have also decided to do an end run around Kansas voters.

Did you notice that the proposed new process could start as early as October? While details at the hearing were scarce, leaders appeared to suggest that they would start working on budget without knowing whether they would be elected. What happens if all the folks on the budget committee are voted out of office? Who takes the lead then?

Once again, we see Kansas legislative leaders trying to concentrate power. They don’t want the governor to even have the first say in the budgeting process, and they apparently don’t trust the rest of their colleagues. You know, all the people who drive to Topeka in January to actually make laws.

Sen. Carolyn McGinn, a Sedgwick Republican, raised concerns that these changes would also limit the ability of constituents to speak about budget priorities.

McGinn might have decided to retire, but she has a point. Leaders apparently don’t even trust their constituents when it comes to spending.

In there interest of fairness, I should note that the reform committee considered several worthwhile proposals. Rep. Troy Waymaster, R-Bunker Hill, discussed ending lawmakers’ de facto three-day work week. Yes, they usually take Mondays and Fridays off, at times slowing progress to a crawl. The panel also targeted budget earmarks for favored programs that don’t go through a regular committee process.

In the interest of perspective, however, I’m not falling over myself with gratitude. It’s obvious that legislators should work throughout the week, and it’s obvious they shouldn’t be larding up the budget with unvetted spending.

It’s like going through life without running over someone with your car. I mean, I’m glad that you didn’t, but surely you don’t deserve a plaque.

Lawmakers might still be able to make worthwhile changes to the budgeting process. They could start with increasing transparency, which Carpenter noted wasn’t discussed by members of either party. But until they stop jostling for partisan advantage and making themselves look foolish, don’t expect much.

Clay Wirestone is Kansas Reflector opinion editor. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here.

After learning that they would lose first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino for the rest of the regular season (and possibly the entire postseason), the Kansas City Royals also provided an injury update on reliever Lucas Erceg.

Per Joel Goldberg of the Royals broadcast team:

Lucas Erceg is day to day. Has swelling and soreness in the hand and said he hopes to be back very soon. He’s understandably upset about the play last night. Most upset about the injury to Vinnie Pasquantino. Says his teammates, including Vinnie, supported and consoled him.

Erceg and Pasquantino were injured on the same play Thursday in the loss to the Houston Astros. Erceg was hit by a batted ball, then threw the ball to first base. The throw took Pasquantino into the runner, which is where he suffered his injury.

The 29-year-old Erceg was acquired in a trade deadline deal with the Oakland Athletics. He’s 2-5 this season with a 3.40 ERA. In 51 appearances, he’s struck out 57 batters.

The Royals enter play on Friday at 75-60 overall. They are 1.5 games back of the Cleveland Guardians in the American League Central and they currently hold the second wild card spot in the American League.

Kansas City hasn’t made the playoffs since 2015, which is the last year they won the World Series.

The Royals and Astros will play each other again on Friday night. It will be a battle of aces as Seth Lugo (Kansas City) pitches against veteran lefty Framber Valdez for Houston.

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