Time is of the essence for No. 10 Kansas State football with morning kickoff against No. 3 TCU
MANHATTAN — It has been over two months now since Kansas State played an early-bird special.
The No. 10 Wildcats also have yet to play an 11 a.m. game outside the comforts of Bill Snyder Family Stadium, with four of their five road games kicking off under the lights.
That all changes when K-State takes on No. 3 TCU in the Big 12 championship game at 11 this Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. And with it comes a change in routine throughout the week.
"I wish we played a few more 11 o'clock games," K-State coach Chris Klieman quipped Tuesday during his weekly news conference. "I wouldn't look so tired up here all the time because we played so many night games.
"But we've adjusted some things this week through some of our treatment times and lifting times to make sure that we get enough rest early in the week. And then later in the week, on Friday in particular, we're going to have to get up pretty early anyway to get the day rolling."
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For senior center Hayden Gillum, that's welcome news. He's not too keen on sitting in a hotel room all day.
"Honestly, we prefer getting up and going rather than the night games, just sitting around," he said. "It's hard to relax when you've got a night game, so we'd rather get up and get going and start the day."
Not so fast, said running back Deuce Vaughn, who likes the adrenaline rush that comes with playing in prime time.
"Personally, I like playing at night," he said. "I can deal with the waiting around because you get to watch some football games throughout the day.
"It kind of gets you amped up a little bit more if the anticipation grows, the more that you wait around. I'd go with the night games."
Regardless of personal preferences, the Wildcats are attacking the week a little differently than usual. Time management becomes critical.
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"I think it just means you've got to prepare more earlier on in the week," said senior nose guard Eli Huggins. "Because I think when you have a 7 p.m. game, you have all day Friday to prepare (and) all Saturday morning to get any last-minute stuff in.
"So when you have an 11 a.m. game, you just don't have as much time. You pretty much lose half a day of prep, so you've got to do a little more prep as the week goes on."
Finding time to keep his body fresh is another point of emphasis, Huggins added. Saturday's game will be the Wildcats' seventh straight since their bye week midway through the regular season.
"I've already done more recovery this week than I do in a normal week," Huggins said. "Especially going on seven weeks straight of playing.
"It's the longest stretch we've done this season, so a big emphasis this week is recovery."
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Will Howard, who will make his third straight start at quarterback, is fine with starting the day early.
"It has been a while," he said. "I feel like playing 11 o'clock games is almost better in a way because you get up and you just go.
"It's not a lot of thinking about it, but we definitely have to make sure that we're going to get enough sleep this week."
That, Vaughn said, is the biggest adjustment.
"Sleep is going to be a big thing throughout the week," he said. "Just understanding that 8 o'clock, 9 o'clock wakeup time on Saturday all of a sudden turns into a 6:30, so you can get to your walkthrough by 7 and eat for the game at 11."
K-State has played anywhere from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. this season, so when it comes to laying out plans for the week, the coaches, strength and nutrition staff leave nothing to chance.
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"We try to prepare them for it early in the week," Klieman said. "To talk about here it is, it's a night game. Here it is, it's supposed to be wet. It's supposed to be cold, all that stuff.
"We go through those things over and over again, and most of these guys have played at all times now. They've played at 11 in the morning to 1, to 2:30 to 6 and 7. So the routine is the routine and our guys have done a really good job of handling the differences."
When it comes right down to it, everyone will adapt. For the record, the Wildcats are 2-0 in morning kickoffs this year, beating Missouri, 40-12 in the rain on Sept. 10, and handling Texas Tech, 37-28, on Oct. 1.
"In years past we've played a ton of 11 a.m. games," Huggins said. "We'll be ready to play."
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football gearing up for early kickoff against TCU
