Three questions for Kansas State football before the Wildcats' last shot at beating Texas

MANHATTAN — In what had all the makings of a trap game, sandwiched between an exhilarating victory over TCU and a last chance to beat Texas before the Longhorns depart for the Southeastern Conference, Kansas State football took care of business and much more Saturday during homecoming at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Impressive as the 41-3 blowout of the Horned Frogs was the week before, the Wildcats took their game to another level with a 41-0 shutout of Houston. Combined with Oklahoma's upset loss to Kansas, and K-State now finds itself in an improbable five-way tie for first in the Big 12 at 4-1.

Next up is a trip to Austin Saturday for the nationally-televised 11 a.m. Big Noon game on FOX.

The Wildcats also improved to 6-2 overall to become bowl eligible for the fourth time in five seasons under coach Chris Klieman, while also climbing back into the Associated Press Top 25 at No. 25. They just missed out on a return to the USA Today coaches ranking, topping the list of others receiving votes.

K-State seems to have found a winning formula of complementary football combining a balanced ball control offense with a stubborn red-zone defense that now has kept two straight opponents out of the end zone. The Wildcats possessed the ball for 20 1/2 minutes on the way to a 28-0 halftime lead and put up 394 yards total offense against Houston while limiting the Cougars to 208 total yards, including 95 through the air.

Related: Kansas State football defense unleashes 'Mob mentality' in 41-0 shutout of Houston

As the Wildcats look to extend their winning streak to four and end a six-game skid against Texas, here are three questions to consider heading into the week:

What triggered the Wildcats' resurgence?

A disappointing performance at Oklahoma State in the Big 12 opener forced the entire K-State team, from players to coaches, to do some soul searching and led to the mantra of tuning out the "outside noise."

The 29-21 loss to the Cowboys stung, especially for quarterback Will Howard, who called it his worst game since his true freshman season.

But the Wildcats used that wakeup call as a rallying cry and knocked off Texas Tech on the road the following week, 38-21. They followed that by punishing TCU and Houston at home by a combined score of 82-3.

"Not a whole lot of good things said about that crew after the Oklahoma State game, and they know it, and they remember it, and they felt like they needed to play better — knew that they could play better," coach Chris Klieman said. "And we go on the road against Texas Tech, who's a great team, and played a really good football game, and then come home and back it up against a really good TCU team.

"To come home and back it up against a Houston team, it's a credit to the players, it's a credit to the leadership in that locker room. It's a credit to those guys of holding each other to the standard that they expect every day."

Related: Kansas State football recap: Wildcats roll past Houston, 41-0

What is K-State's path to Big 12 championship game?

The good news for the Wildcats is that they control their own destiny when it comes to reaching the Big 12 championship game. Win out the regular season and they are in.

But getting to Arlington, Texas, on Dec. 2 to defend the conference title will be no easy task for K-State, which still must face two of the three teams sharing the top spot in the standings at 4-1, plus Kansas on the road. The Jayhawks are a game out at 3-2 and just knocked Oklahoma from the ranks of the unbeaten.

The winner of this week's Bedlam finale between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State has the easiest path to Arlington after that. None of OSU's final three opponents have winning league records, while OU's biggest test is 3-2 West Virginia at home.

K-State must get past Texas on the road, Baylor at home, go to Kansas and then close out at home against Iowa State. But make it through that gauntlet and the Wildcats would finish 8-1, which would be good enough since either Oklahoma or Oklahoma State is guaranteed to have two losses.

Related: Kansas State football vs. Houston: Scouting report, prediction

Are the Wildcats ready for their last shot at Texas?

K-State has not beaten Texas in four tries under Klieman and has lost six straight to the Longhorns. A victory would be the first in the series for everybody on the Wildcat roster.

Needless to say, it is a big game for both teams, since the loser is unlikely to reach the Big 12 championship game.

The good news for the Wildcats is that they head to Austin with momentum and confidence, and as has been the case in three of their four league wins, they probably will face a backup quarterback after Longhorns starter Quinn Ewers suffered a shoulder injury two weeks ago at Houston.

The Longhorns needed a late defensive stand to hold off Houston in that game, but they had little trouble last week with redshirt freshman quarterback Maalik Murphy throwing for 170 yards and two touchdowns in a 35-6 victory over Brigham Young.

Texas remains arguably the most talented team in the Big 12.

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: Three questions for Kansas State football before heading to Texas