Kansas State Preview: Cowboys Bring Road Streak into Wildcats Homecoming

STILLWATER — With as much as the Cowboys’ home struggles have been called into question, Oklahoma State has been outstanding on the road.

OSU has won its past seven road games, which includes five Big 12 games. The Cowboys’ last road loss was against Oklahoma in 2016. OSU will have a chance to add to that impressive mark Saturday when they travel to Manhattan to take on Kansas State in its homecoming game.

“I guess it’s just the fact that we just wanna go home,” offensive lineman Larry Williams said. “Like get the game over with and go home.”

Quarterback Taylor Cornelius said how close the team is helps when traveling into hostile territory.

“I think it’s just the chemistry with the group of guys,” Cornelius said. “We’ve got a tight locker room. It’s us 70 vs. 40-50,000 on their side. I feel like that togetherness of the team has always brought us together.”

OSU’s impressive road record is somewhat nullified in the Cowboys’ game against Kansas State. The Cowboys have won six of the teams’ past 10 meetings, but K-State has outscored OSU 366-340 during that time.

The Wildcats’ 2-4 record might not be impressive, but they’ve played No. 24 Mississippi State, No. 6 West Virginia and No. 9 Texas to get there. With that said, K-State’s only two victories this season have come against UTSA and FCS South Dakota.

“Kansas State, it’s tricky, because they always have disciplined guys,” Williams said. “If their D-lineman is supposed to be in that gap, he’s going to be in that gap. He’s going to hold it off as long as he can.”

The Cowboys have struggled with running quarterbacks at time this season. K-State’s likely starter will be Skylar Thompson, who OSU fans will remember from having four total touchdowns in Boone Pickens Stadium last season. Alex Delton has split time with Thompson this season, but Delton is dealing with an injury and wasn’t in pads last week in K-State’s 37-34 loss to Baylor.

Thompson and Delton have combined for more rushing attempts (98) than completed passes (65) this season. Rushing touchdowns have been harder to come by for K-State this season, though, having only scored four. Thompson accounted for two of those.

The Wildcats’ grind-it-out style has been a staple in the team’s history. OSU safety Kenneth Edison-McGruder said the Cowboys likely won’t be surprised this weekend. It’s just a matter of stopping it.

“They’ve been the same for years,” McGruder said. “Same quarterback run. Nothing that you don’t already know about it. They do the same thing.”