Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder answers questions during NCAA college football Big 12 Media Days, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, in Dallas.

Jesse Newell: Welcome back to the GameDay Cram Session, as Kansas is taking on Kansas State at Memorial Stadium on Saturday.

Tom, with the season half over, is Kansas State coach Bill Snyder your choice for Big 12 Coach of the Year so far?

Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder answers questions during NCAA college football Big 12 Media Days, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, in Dallas.

Tom Keegan: Let’s go bigger than that. Hands down, Snyder’s the right choice for national Coach of the Year honors at this point. I still can’t believe KSU is undefeated.

JN: Statistically, Kansas State sure doesn’t look the part of an undefeated team. The Wildcats are ninth out of 10 teams in the Big 12 in scoring offense (29.3 points per game) and also have only won one game by more than seven points.

KSU also have thrived on big plays that don’t seem like they can be repeatable each week. Last week, the Wildcats blocked two field goals and returned a kickoff for touchdown to help secure a 41-34 victory over Texas Tech.

Though blocked kicks and kickoff returns probably shouldn’t be relied upon as a strategy for winning games each week, Snyder’s team has made it work so far.

The coach definitely deserves a ton of credit for getting what he does out of his players.

Tom, what aspect of Snyder’s turn-around do you think deserves to be talked about more often?

Several former colleagues, including Bill Snyder, Mike Leach, Bob Stoops and Al Bohl, voiced their support of Mark Mangino, KU football's embattled coach, Monday.

TK: His reliance on transfers, especially junior-college transfers. Less projecting is involved when recruiting jucos, as opposed to high school players. Their physical maturation is closer to complete and the competition they face is better, deeper at the juco level than with high school players. He not only recruits athletes, he recruits athletes who know how to play football.

JN: KU coaches were asked this week why they hadn’t been more reliant on junior-college players. Though most cited that it was a program philosophy to develop high school kids, I also got the sense it might have something to do with academic standards at KU as well.

If ever a team was in need of a quick fix defensively, it’s KU this season. Still, we didn’t see much of an effort to bring in a lot of juco guys to plug holes.

It’ll be a few years before we can evaluate whether sticking with high school players was the best move for KU.

OK, Tom, what’s your prediction?

TK: Kansas State 34, Kansas 24.

photo by: Richard Gwin

Kansas quarterback Jordan Webb is pressured by Kansas State's Kadero Terrell Thursday, Oct. 15, 2010 at Memorial Stadium.

It takes K-State longer to score than it takes the two Oklahoma schools. Strange as it might sound, KU’s confidence grew in the 30-point loss to Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweeping down the plains. KU will play inspired ball if it can get deep into the first half without falling behind. But Kansas State’s conditioning gives the Wildcats the advantage in the second half.

JN: You’re more optimistic about KU’s chances than I am. I’m going with Kansas State 42, Kansas 14.

I learned my lesson last year: I underestimated a Bill Snyder team, picked KU to beat KSU, then watched the 59-7 thrashing thinking that I should have known better.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas State running back Daniel Thomas leaves Kansas safety Olaitan Oguntodu in the dust during the third quarter, Thursday, Oct. 14, 2010 at Kivisto Field.

I’m not making the same mistake this year. Snyder will expose KU’s weaknesses, and even though the teams are probably similar talent-wise, to me, he makes that big of a difference in this game.

In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if K-State went to a hurry-up offense after using a slow pace this whole season. The Wildcats did that in last year’s game against the Jayhawks, and after watching tape of KU’s defense struggling against the hurry-up, I’m thinking Snyder might believe a quick tempo will give his team the best chance to win (and perhaps win easily).

OK Tom, who’s your Hawk to Rock?

TK: Darrian Miller.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas running back Darrian Miller breaks through the Oklahoma defense on a carry during the first quarter on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011 at Kivisto Field.

The guy’s balance is phenomenal. Same goes for his emotional balance. Nothing about the way he conducts himself during an interviews suggests that he’s just a freshman. Really impressive guy.

JN: Give me Toben Opurum.

photo by: Nick Krug

Texas Tech quarterback Seth Doege escapes Kansas defensive end Toben Opurum as he throws for a touchdown during the second quarter on Saturday, Oct. 1, 2011 at Kivisto Field.

He’s been mostly quiet for a few games in a row, and though he hasn’t had a bad season, you get the feeling that he and the coaches were hoping for impact from him this year.

Something tells me that KSU will pass it a little more than we’re expecting, and if that happens, I think we’ll see Opurum’s best game this year.

Predictions tally (through six games)

Tom: 5-1 record.
Jesse: 5-1 record.

Hawk to Rock

Tom Keegan
McNeese State: Toben Opurum (3rd in Keegan ratings)
Northern Illinois: Darrian Miller (7th in Keegan ratings)
Georgia Tech: Bradley McDougald (Not ranked in Keegan ratings)
Texas Tech: Tony Pierson (7th in Keegan ratings)
Oklahoma State: Tim Biere (1st in Keegan ratings)
Oklahoma: Tyler Patmon (9th in Keegan ratings)

Jesse Newell
McNeese State: Brandon Bourbon (Not ranked in Keegan ratings)
Northern Illinois: Darius Willis (Not ranked in Keegan ratings)
Georgia Tech: Kale Pick (Not ranked in Keegan ratings)
Texas Tech: James Sims (3rd in Keegan ratings)
Oklahoma State: Brandon Bourbon (Not ranked in Keegan ratings)
Oklahoma: Steven Johnson (1st in Keegan ratings)