Wildcats not taking Vanderbilt lightly

Snyder seeks a run-pass balance that can overcome undefeated Commodores.

Coach Bill Snyder has seen Kansas State throw for 333 yards in one game and run for 315 more in another, so he’s hoping for a little more balance from his 18th-ranked Wildcats in their next one.

“Now it gets really serious, and the significant thing is can we put it all together?” Snyder said. “That is what we are striving for, to be able to package all of that game after game after game and then to try to improve upon it. We will find out, I don’t know. But the competition steps up.”

His Wildcats (2-0) face their biggest challenge yet in a Big 12/Southeastern Conference showdown against Vanderbilt (2-0) Saturday night. Kansas State beat the last SEC team it played, Texas A&M, 33-28 in the Texas Bowl at Houston’s NRG Stadium last December but hasn’t beaten an SEC team on the road since Kentucky in 1982.

“We know the bowl game definitely was not a fluke,” Kansas State safety Brogan Barry said. “If people want to say it is, then we’ll have to go prove it, but I think there is no need to prove it. I think everyone knows we played a great team (Texas A&M) but had a bet- ter day than them. At the end of the day, I think this team will be a great team as well, and it will be a great challenge for us.”

These programs are meeting for just the second time, and Vanderbilt won the first 26-14 in 1984. The Commodores are off to an impressive start in coach Derek Mason’s fourth season, and the Wildcats give Vanderbilt a chance at a second straight upset of a Top 25 opponent after they knocked off in-state rival Tennessee to earn a bowl berth last November.

This is the first of four straight games against ranked opponents, and Mason refuses to look ahead at what a win might mean for his program.

“K-State is in the house — a great program, top-18 football team in the country, and the Commodores will be ready to play,” Mason said.