Welcome back, Wildcats. You’ve survived another long summer—although not as long as usual, thanks to the BatCats playing into June for the first time since 2013. The countdown is over, the previews are over. It’s time for Kansas State Wildcats football.

The 2023 season was a bit of a disappointment after many players returned from a team that won the Big 12 championship in 2022. But the Cats closed out an 8-4 regular season with an impressive 28-19 win over NC State in the Pop Tarts Bowl.

Perhaps most impressively, the Wildcats won that bowl game while essentially hampering themselves by refusing to let Avery Johnson, K-State’s first true freshman QB to win a bowl game, use his running skills for fear of him getting injured with no real backup options. But with a new season comes a new depth chart. Everyone is healthy, everyone is available. There will be no limits placed on Johnson, or DJ Giddens, or anyone else on the Wildcats offense.

2024 also brings something else weird and new. For the first time since 1988, the Wildcats will enter a season without anyone on the roster or on-field coaching staff with any ties to Bill Snyder. Collin Klein left Manhattan for Texas A&M before the bowl game, and was replaced by Matt Wells. Wells has been coaching college football since the late 90s and had a successful stint as head coach at Utah State from 2013-2018, including mentoring Green Bay Packers starting QB Jordan Love, before heading to the big leagues and taking the job at Texas Tech for the 2019 season (he was also considered a candidate for the K-State job that season). Wells was never a good fit in West Texas and was fired eight games into the 2021 season despite a 5-3 record (following a 1-point home loss to K-State).

And so after a few years as an analyst in Norman, Wells brings his offensive prowess to Manhattan, and has already earned rave reviews from the players in spring training. He’s joined in the charge by Conor Riley, who has earned his stripes leading one of the best offensive line units in college football in recent years.

This is the start of a big year for K-State. With so many new starters, expect some tough times. Johnson is entering his first season as a full-time starter. There is essentially an entirely new offensive line (although it brings back a lot of starts and snaps, but not as much this starting 5). There are new options at receiver and running back, though stars from last year return. So either way, it will be different this year at K-State.

And that’s without even getting into the defense. But there are a lot more returns on that side of the ball, all the coaches are back, many of the starters return to a defense that is finally hitting its stride heading into Joe Klanderman’s 4th season as defensive coordinator. There are still new faces and new starters, but the Mob defense should keep rolling in 2024.

The Wildcats open the 2024 season against the Skyhawks of UT Martin. The Skyhawks, an FCS program, finished the 2023 season with an 8-3 overall record and a 5-1 league record, which earned them a share of the Big South-OVC conference crown, but they lost the automatic playoff bid to Garder-Webb. They’re a solid program, having won at least a share of the conference crown each of the past three seasons and moving two games into the FCS playoffs in 2021. Head coach Jason Simpson enters his 19th season as head coach, all at UT-Martin, with a 115-87 overall record and only two Covid-free seasons below .500. They’re not one of the Dakota schools, but they’re not exactly going to be pushovers either. Expect a fight, at least early on, and a team that won’t back down when the going gets tough.

Either way, this is a game that K-State should win, and win easily. But don’t be surprised if the score doesn’t show that until later in the game.

We have kickoff for the 2024 season opener from Bill Snyder Family Stadium at 6:00 p.m. CT. It will be streamed on ESPN+ with Mark Neely (Play-by-Play) and Ahman Green (Analyst) reporting.

If you don’t have ESPN+, you can tune in to the game on the 28-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst) and Matt Walters (sideline) calling the action. The game will also be on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 160 or 198 and available online at K-Statesports.com. Live stats will also be available on k-statesports.com and social media updates (@KStateFB) will be part of the coverage.

Come on, cats!