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Christopher Boan is a lead writer at BetKansas.com specializing in covering state issues. He covered sports and sports betting in Arizona for more than seven years.
How Do #18 Preseason AP Poll Teams Play? Kansas State’s Potential Trends
For the first time in program history, Chris Klieman and the Kansas State Wildcats enter the college football season ranked 18th overall in the AP preseason top 25 poll, a year after the Manhattan program was slotted in at No. 16 in the annual late-summer collective.
The 2024 season marks the 14th time in K-State history that the program’s been included in the AP’s preseason poll, with the Wildcats previously being slotted in as high as No. 6 in the 1998 poll and as low as No. 23 in 1997.
This season, the Wildcats prepare for their season opener against FCS program UT Martin as one of the top teams in the country, with solid odds of winning the Big 12 title again and perhaps making that debut trip to the expanded CFP in 2024.
With that in mind, BetKansas.com broke down how the last three teams ranked 18th in the AP preseason top 25 wound up faring at season’s end, with a mixed bag of success overall for those programs.
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Trends of # 18 Seed In College Football Preseason AP Poll
Situation | Result |
Average Record | 8-5* |
Average Winning Percentage | .623* |
Bowl Game Appearance | 3 of 3 |
Final AP Poll Top 25 Appearance | 1 of 3 |
*Rounded to nearest whole number
How Have Teams in K-State’s Shoes Fared Of Late?
Since 2021, the three teams ranked 18th in the preseason poll wound up posting an average year-end win percentage of .623, with the 2021 Iowa Hawkeyes being the success story of the bunch, going 10-4 and losing the Citrus Bowl to Kentucky, 20-17.
Conversely, Wisconsin in 2022 and Oregon State in 2023 went 15-11 between them, with each team finishing the season unranked and losing their bowl games in each season, with the Badgers falling to LSU in the ReliaQuest Bowl by a 35-31 margin while the Beavers was on the wrong end of a 40-8 Sun Bowl shellacking at the hands of Notre Dame.
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What Oddsmakers Expect From K-State in 2024
This fall, it looks like Wildcats fans should be in for a season to remember, with oddsmakers from Caesars Sportsbook Kansas giving Klieman’s bunch +6000 title odds to go with +195 odds of making the 12-team CFP for the first time.
Throw in the school’s +350 Big 12 championship odds (good for second overall behind Utah at +275) and a preseason win total over/under of eight and you have a decent synopsis of the good vibes that emanate from Bill Snyder Stadium in 2024.
Now, it’s up to this year’s Wildcats team to put those vibes to good use, beginning with K-State’s opener in the Little Apple against UT Martin in late August.
Also of interest: Kansas State 2024 Win Total.
USA Today photo by Evert Nelson.
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