Kansas State vs. Texas point spread: Picking Wildcats vs. Longhorns

The Big 12 picture is beginning to take shape, with a couple of huge matchups occurring on Saturday. One of those will take place in Austin, with Texas playing host to Kansas State. There might be some different quarterbacks primarily playing but both Steve Sarkisian and Chris Kleiman have had to adapt.

Heading into the game, Texas is a 4.5-point favorite at home. On3’s Andy Staples was joined by Dan Rubenstein to discuss both teams and make their predictions. Rubenstein began with Kansas State, talking about freshman quarterback Avery Johnson and his ability to resurge the offense.

“From day one, I’ve seen Avery Johnson as a folk hero in waiting,” Rubenstein said during Monday’s episode of Andy Staples On3. “The hair is great but confidence out of nowhere is great. He takes care of the ball, he runs super well, and Will Howard has been a little sloppy with the interceptions.”

Johnson has primarily been a threat on the ground, averaging 5.2 yards per carry with six touchdowns. Will Howard has still been the main guy, with Johnson being used in running situations. But it’s still a facet of the game Texas will have to prepare for, no matter how good the defense has been.

As for Texas, Rubenstein is scared of the situational football Sarkisian’s team has been playing of late. Drives have not been finished off in the red zone over the past few weeks. Kansas State does not have to be at its best offensively to at least cover the 4.5 in Rubenstein’s eyes.

“Texas has struggled situationally,” Rubenstein said. “They haven’t been a great red zone team. Kansas State gets off the field. They’ve been good on third down, good in the red zone. So, even if they don’t have the pop on offense, I think they can be limiting enough that they can cover this spread.”

Staples feels a similar way but is more confident in Kansas State. He has felt like Texas was going to stumble against them for quite a few weeks and is going to stick to his guns.

“I’ve been thinking since two weeks ago that Kansas State was going to come in and win outright,” Staples said. “And that’s what I am going with. Not just Kansas State covers but Kansas State wins this game.”

Both teams are sitting at one conference loss, with a five-way tie at the top. For tiebreaker purposes alone, getting a win over the other is important. But more than anything, keeping a winning pace on a path to Arlington is what Kansas State and Texas are most interested in.