The fact that we are into the second weekend of the college football season and still waiting for our first game at Martin Stadium Gesa Field is something I’m definitely not a fan of. However, I’m a fan of playing these games against Power 4 (sigh) opponents because it’s going to be important to maintain our relevance and demonstrate that we still deserve to be thought of as a program on that level.

Like last week, though, I’m struggling with how much I should anticipate reading into the outcome of this one. Players aren’t allowed to have excuses in advance, but I’m not a player, so I can say that the fact that the Cougars are traveling two time zones east on short rest for a kickoff that will be at 9 a.m. by their body clocks … really gives me pause.

Not that they can’t win. Kansas State, historically, has been a program roughly on WSU’s level, save for a really incredible decade under Bill Snyder from the mid-1990s to the mid-2000s. The last decade? Really about the same. This isn’t a powerhouse that the Cougars are traveling to, and they aren’t always dominant at home: The Wildcats lost a non-conference game to Army in the third game of last season.

But in order for that to happen, the offense is going to have to take some major steps forward; it’s not reasonable to expect the defense to hold up with little support and dominate for the majority of the game, as it did last week. The Cougs looked like they found a little something in the fourth quarter, and it wasn’t just taking advantage of soft coverage with the game out of reach.

Like last week, a loss today isn’t a killer. While 0-2 certainly isn’t optimal, it’s also not entirely unexpected, and it’s not going to prevent the Cougs from meeting their primary goal, which is winning the Pac-12 and cementing themselves as one of the leaders of the new conference. It would be a bummer, but really little more than that (barring a truly putrid and embarrassing performance).

Win this game, though … Kirby Moore comes Back Home for his Martin Stadium Gesa Field debut at 1-1 after two road games against Power 4 opponents and feeling pretty great, looking at games in Pullman against Duquesne and Arizona with an opportunity to surge to 3-1 heading into the conference schedule. Do that, and the country can quit pretending we stopped existing and notice that we’ve got a pair of Power 4 wins in our back pocket as we make a push to not only win the Pac-12, but for the non-Power 4 CFP bid.

It’s a huge opportunity today. And while I’m concerned about the off-the-field factors working against the Cougars, I know college players are resilient — and sometimes just ignorant enough to not know they’re supposed to lose.

Consensus via TeamRankings.com.

Aggregate predictive model probabilities: 19% chance for WSU to win, 55% chance to beat the spread

Want to strike terror into the heart of any long-time WSU fan? Simply use these two words:

RUNNING. QUARTERBACK.