K CORNER: Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein (right) hugs teammate Roman Fields after Saturday’s 27-21 triumph over Iowa State. (AP)
If we had told you before the start of the season that Kansas State would play in the BCS National Championship game, every college football fan in Manhattan would have laughed his or her head off.
Heck, every one in Manhattan, Kan., would have cracked up.
But K-State, the program best known for, well, not being known, has a very real chance of getting to the title game.
The first BCS ratings were released yesterday and the undefeated Wildcats are fourth, behind Alabama, Florida and Oregon, and ahead of Notre Dame. K-State also has the best chance of running the table.
Kansas State’s biggest challenge comes Saturday when it plays at West Virginia. The Mountaineers, no doubt, will be in a fine mood after having their pride and musket stripped away in a 49-14 loss at Texas Tech.
But if the workingman Wildcats can upset West Virginia, they’ll be favored in every game the rest of the way. Their road is as smooth as the Kansas plains:
They host Texas Tech and Oklahoma State, play at TCU (which has lost quarterback Casey Pachall, who has left school to enter a substance abuse center), at Baylor (whose defense is worse than West Virginia’s), and home to Texas, which got branded by Oklahoma 63-21 — which already lost to Kansas State.
Unlike the Pac 12 and SEC, there is no conference title game this year in the Big 12.
Consider this very possible scenario: While Alabama and Florida knock heads in the SEC title game, Oregon and USC short out the scoreboard in the Pac 12 title game. K-State can go window shopping in the Little Apple, as they call their Manhattan.
“There is no situation in which a one-loss team would finish ahead of them,’’ BCS expert Jerry Palm told The Post. “An unbeaten team from the nation’s second-best conference would be treated as such.’’
The team with the hardest road to the title game also is the nation’s best team. Alabama, seeking to repeat and win a third title in four years, still has games remaining at Tennessee, vs. undefeated Mississippi State, at LSU, vs. Texas A&M. Then comes the blood war game vs. Auburn and the SEC title game.
No wonder Nick Saban is content — he has so much to worry about.
USC has the easiest road. It’s two toughest games — against Oregon and Notre Dame — are both at home.
Florida and Oregon have similar roads of difficulty.
The Gators host South Carolina, play Georgia in Jacksonville, Fla., and finish at rival FSU before the SEC title game.
The Ducks are at USC, vs. Stanford and at undefeated rival Oregon State before the Pac 12 title game.
The Irish’s road is daunting: They have road games at Oklahoma and USC.
Don’t expect any timely whistles from the crowd, which Stanford coach David Shaw said occurred on a pivotal fourth-quarter drive of Saturday’s 20-13 OT loss in which the Irish stoned the Cardinal twice on the goal line.
Notre Dame has the nation’s top scoring defense and has not allowed a rushing touchdown, but the Irish offense is impotent. Everett Golson, who suffered blurred vision after a fourth-quarter hit that drew a penalty and didn’t return, was diagnosed with a mild concussion but is expected to be cleared to play in Saturday’s home game against BYU.
The West Virginia fans will be well lubricated for Saturday’s showdown. You just wonder if they know who the heck Kansas State is.