MORGANTOWN-No. 4 Kansas State has faced adversity at a lot of different venues during head coach Bill Snyder's tenure as head coach.
But, playing at night time at Milan Puskar Stadium can leave opposing teams pondering if they should ever return to the Mountain State.
"It (playing at night) is special," junior linebacker Doug Rigg said. "The fans are really loud and that can be a little bit intimidating for visiting teams."
No. 13 West Virginia (5-1, 2-1 Big 12) will need every advantage it can get to upend the unbeaten (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) Wildcats after dropping from the ranks of the unbeaten with a 49-14 setback at Texas Tech last weekend.
"I've been to several (night games)," said redshirt freshman fullback Cody Clay. "I've never played in one here so I'm pretty excited to be in one. Everybody gets so fired up. There is a lot of built up energy when you have to sit around all day waiting, but that crowd really helps you when you run out onto the field."
Kansas State is no stranger to playing in tough places, however. The Wildcats traveled to Norman, Okla., earlier in the season and handed the then-No. 4 ranked Sooners a 24-19 setback.
"They (KSU) are a very physical team," continued Clay. "We are just going to have to execute our game plan better than we did at Texas Tech last weekend."
WVU, then ranked No. 5 nationally, fell behind early against the Red Raiders and never recovered as senior quarterback Geno Smith and his offensive teammates were held in check by the Tech defense.
"I don't feel like we will change much from what we do," said the former-George Washington High School all-stater. "We haven't changed much since the first week of the season. But, what we will have to do is execute what we do better."
And, that means getting the running game established with sophomores Andrew Buie (104-504, 5 TDs) and Dustin Garrison (17-84, 1 TD) and taking some of the pressure off of Smith, who has completed 75.2 percent of his passes (195-of-259) for 25 touchdowns and no interceptions, but was held to 30-of-56 (53.4 percent) for 278 yards and one score in the loss in Lubbock, Texas.
"We have faced adversity before," said Clay. "We faced it at Texas the week before, so we knew what to expect at Tech. We, mentally, just have to execute our offense better. And, take advantage of what the defense is giving us."
That may be a problem, however, against a Kansas State prevent unit that is allowing only 339.7 yards per game-101.2 on the ground.
"Defensively, they (KSU) are really solid," said head coach Dana Holgorsen. "Much of the same guys are there from last year. They are great against the run. Arthur Brown is a special football player and is as good as I have seen at linebacker from an effort standpoint, a playmaking standpoint, and a physicality standpoint.
"They don't have many holes in their secondary. There is not going to be a whole bunch of space to get a ball in there, and we have to do a good job of blocking up front and fitting the ball into tight spaces.
"They don't miss any tackles, and they play with great effort. A tremendous football team is coming in, and we are going to have to improve on all three sides of the ball to compete."
Words that seem eerily similar to those to describe another WVU opponent-Clemson in the Orange Bowl-and fans across the nation remember the final score of that contest.
* The game will be televised nationally at 7 p.m. on Fox with Gus Johnson doing the play-by-play, Charles Davis with the analysis and Julie Alexandria walking the sidelines of the two teams.
* This marks the third meeting between WVU and Kansas State. The series is tied at 1-1 with WVU winning 23-7 in 1930 and KSU coming away with a 19-0 victory the following year. Both games were played in Morgantown.
* Eleven true freshmen have seen action for the Mountaineers in 2012: Christian Brown (DL), John DePalma (LS), K.J. Dillon (S), Korey Harris (DL), Garrett Hope (LB), Karl Joseph (S), Eric Kinsey (DL), Nana Kyeremeh (CB), Ricky Rumph (CB), Jordan Thompson (WR) and Travares Copeland (WR).
* There are 22 Mountaineers who have seen their first WVU action this season and eight first time starters: Tyler Anderson (LB), Isaiah Bruce (LB), Campell, Cody Clay (FB), Joseph, Kinsey, Shaq Rowell (DL) and Thompson.
* West Virginia has played 136 games against nationally ranked teams. Of those, 41 have been Mountaineer victories. Since 2001, WVU has posted 17 wins over ranked opponents. WVU has won its last four straight games against ranked opponents.
* West Virginia has scored on 89.3 percent (25-of-28) of its trips to the red zone in 2012. The Mountaineers are tied for No. 23 nationally in red zone offense. Of its three misses all came on downs-one against Marshall and two in the loss at Texas Tech.
* WVU is No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference and is No. 32 nationally for sacks by a defense in 2012. The Mountaineers have collected 15 sacks in six games-a season-high five in the win over James Madison.
