Team Total Opportunity For Rutgers Vs Kansas State

Rutgers vs. Kansas State, 5:30 ET

I hope everyone had a really nice Christmas and Santa gave you all you wanted. Though, knowing the majority of the Outkick readers, their present came earlier in November as Trump was reelected to office. I suppose getting socks from your kid doesn't really compare to that. Either way, I hope you all enjoyed a bit of time off and the Christmas Day football games. Now we go back to the collegiate level for the Guaranteed Rate Bowl between Rutgers and Kansas State.

Rutgers started their season looking like they had a nice campaign ahead of themselves. They opened the year with a dominating win over Howard and rolled that over to a big win over Akron. The next two games were against tough enough opponents, Virginia Tech on the road, and Washington at home. Both of them were wins, but both were also closer than Rutgers probably would've liked with the Scarlet Knights escaping with 3-point victories in both. Then the other show dropped a bit as they suffered through four straight losses. All of the teams they lost to were at least decent. They lost at Nebraska in a game that they couldn't muster virtually any offense. They were embarrassed at home by Wisconsin, again not doing much on offense and showing no resistance on defense. The next game against UCLA they showed a bit of fight at least, losing by three. Then they got demolished again by USC, but at least that was a road game and a little more explainable. They closed out the year on a strong note beating Minnesota, Maryland, and Michigan State. They did have one more loss, a close battle against #25 Illinois. I can't get a clear read based on reports if anyone important is missing this game for either team. It is possible that star running back Kyle Monangai sits out and that would be a devastating blow for Rutgers.

Kansas State put together a nice campaign, but probably fell short of expectations overall. They started the season 3-0, including a win over Arizona who was ranked at the time. They then ran into BYU wo stomped them to the tune of  a 38-9 loss. The next four games were a good rebound and showed signs of life for the Wildcats as they won all of them over Oklahoma State, Colorado, West Virginia, and Kansas. Some of the games were close and others were cakewalk games, but either way, they walked out as winners which is the most important part. For whatever reason, they dropped three of their final four games, falling to Houston, Arizona State, and Iowa State. This was a team that expected to compete for the Big 12 Championship, but instead is playing in a bit of a meaningless Bowl game. 

Avery Johnson played fairly well, and I assume he will play here, but I also am guessing there will be a number of players missing from this game, which really isn't a surprise considering it isn't a huge accomplishment to play in this one for either team. I do think the offenses will both be good and lean toward the over, but I think Rutgers will struggle to slow down Kansas State and am going to take the over 29.5 for their team total. 

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