Michigan vs. Kansas State, 2013 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl: Wildcats dominate

Tyler Lockett’s listed weight. The Kansas State junior receiver might be, pound for pound, the best player in college football, and if he returns for his senior season (and one assumes he will), KSU fans have only his minimal pounds to thank for it.

Lockett is in no way of typical NFL size, and his name doesn’t exactly come up in mock-Draft discussions, but he might be the strongest combination of speed and route-running in college football right now.

Kansas State moved methodically down the field on its opening possession and that drive turned out to be a sign of things to come with the Wildcats knocking off Michigan 31-14 in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.

The Wildcats used 14 plays to drive 75 yards for a touchdown to open the game, eating up more than half of the first quarter. KSU added another first quarter touchdown to go up 14-3. The Wildcats held the ball for more than 10:30 in the opening quarter.

Michigan and Kansas State are capping off the final Saturday of college football in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, and you’d think any local Buffalo Wild Wings would be proudly airing the game the company sponsors. Not so much.

The Buffalo Wild Wings bowl happens to share the same time slot as UFC 168, and the company appears to be prioritizing televising the fights instead of its own bowl. Seriously:

This time last year, Kansas State and Michigan were preparing for big time bowl games in January. The Wildcats were headed to the Fiesta Bowl, while the Wolverines were set to play in the Outback Bowl.

Things didn’t go quite as well for either program in 2013. That being said, there will still be plenty of talent on the field when they meet in the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl at Sun Devils Stadium. And with two passionate fan bases behind them, there should be a great crowd in attendance in Tempe.

If you’re either Kansas State or from the Big Ten, you’ve grown accustomed to punching above your weight class in bowl games. Bill Snyder’s Wildcats went 21-3 in the regular season the last two years but encountered superior teams in both the Cotton (a 29-16 loss to Arkansas in 2011) and Fiesta (a 35-17 loss to Oregon in 2012). Meanwhile, the Big Ten’s bowl ties are a bit too good, reeling in the money but creating B1G underdogs more often than not.

It almost feels strange, then, that this bowl feels so ... right. Kansas State and Michigan have the same record and are nearly identical from an advanced-stats perspective. Both offenses hold decent-sized advantages despite inconsistency, and in the end, the only separation is that KSU’s special teams unit is better (this is a Snyder team, after all).

Oddsmakers monitored by Odds Shark had the Wildcats as 3.5-point favorites in mid-December, with a total hovering near 55.5. There are a few intriguing OVER trends on the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl betting menu (formerly the Insight Bowl). Eleven of the past 15 editions of this game have played OVER and Michigan has been a reliable OVER bet at 11-2 in their past 13 bowl games.

Michigan started the season on a five-game tear, including a 41-30 victory over then-No. 15 Notre Dame as a 4.5-point home favorite, but the wheels came off from there, with just two SU victories in its final seven games. The Wolverines (Big Ten, 7-5 SU, 7-5 ATS, 6-6 OU) did cover in their final three contests, and the total stayed UNDER in four of their last five games.

Update, Dec. 26: Michigan’s announced true freshman Shane Morris will start at quarterback due to Devin Gardner’s injury.

Michigan will be playing Kansas State in the upcoming Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl, but will be without the services of kicker Brendan Gibbons, who did not travel with the team due to family reasons. Head coach Brady Hoke made the announcement Monday.

Also, our Syracuse site is trying to raise money to send 1,000 kids to the game. Pitch in!

Michigan started the season 4-0, with tight wins over suspect opponents like Akron and Connecticut balancing out a win over a ranked Notre Dame. A four-overtime loss to Penn State ruined the team’s perfect record, and Michigan would end up losing to Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio State. The Wolverines will hope to get more consistent play on both sides of the ball against Kansas State.

Michigan started the season 4-0, with tight wins over suspect opponents like Akron and Connecticut balancing out a win over a ranked Notre Dame. A four-overtime loss to Penn State ruined the team’s perfect record, and Michigan would end up losing to Michigan State, Nebraska, Iowa and Ohio State. The Wolverines will hope to get more consistent play on both sides of the ball against Kansas State.

Well, this isn’t exactly where either of these teams wanted to end up, is it? This is one of those situations where you have to decide whether you want to judge a bowl by its reputation or its matchup, because this is certainly a fun matchup.

Few things go together better than college football and a healthy helping of fried chicken -- and since 2012, the Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl has helped take things to the next level by literally combining the two. This year will also be the 25th edition of the Buffalo Wild Wings bowl -- even though it is only the second one under that name. Still, this sacred partnership deserves to be celebrated right.

The representatives for this one will come from the Big 12 and the Big Ten. Since this tradition began in 2006, the Big XII has won five games to the Big Ten’s two.