Episode 55: Tulsa World's Bill Haisten

Tulsa World sportswriter Bill Haisten has been doing this job long enough (25+ years, in fact) to know when one team has more talent than another, and he's surely not the only one to make that observation about Oklahoma State relative to Kansas State. The Cowboys have a fast, athletic defense, a great young quarterback, and a whole host of highly capable big play receiver. But Bill has also been covering the Big 12 conference long enough to know few coaches, if any, can close a talent gap more effectively than Bill Snyder, so you won't hear any prediction of a blowout in this podcast.

Instead, you'll hear a fairly glowing review of Mike Gundy's team, despite a somewhat fluky win over Texas last week. Yes, we touched on the officiating and conspiracy theories, and we spoke about the depth of this year's Big 12, including Bill's surprising No. 2 team in his latest power rankings. We even threw in a little local flavor with some discussion of Tulsa Union High School alum Justin Silmon, and you'll like Bill's latest update on Tyler Lockett's 12-year-old twin brothers.

Be sure to read all of Bill's pregame, in-game and postgame stories on the Tulsa World's website, and if you want to hear him talk more, head on over to the Sports Animal, which is 96.1 FM if you live in the Tulsa area, 97.1 FM and 1470 AM in the Grand Lake/Vinita area, where Bill is part of the rotation of journalists who join Al Jerkens and Pat Jones weekdays from 11-2. He also appears frequently during the morning drive on the Oklahoma City Sports Amimal at 98.1 FM. You can also follow him on Twitter @billhaisten.

Episode 54: K-State Collegian Sports Editor Tim Everson

Bracket Cat and I enlisted the help of K-State Collegian sports editor Tim Everson to help us get through the bye week with discussion on some of our biggest concerns, notably dropped passes, an unexpected lack of quarterback depth, and how to effectively use two fullbacks. Afterwards, we turned our attention to the rest of the Big 12, breaking down some of this weekend's matchups and trying to decide which teams are real contenders, and which are destined to eventually falter.

Be sure to read the great work of Tim and his staff at the Collegian's website, and you can follow him on Twitter at @iamtimeverson.

Episode 53: Louisiana Tech Associate Athletic Communications Director Patrick Walsh

Few people know Louisiana Tech better than Associate Athletic Communications Director Patrick Walsh, who graciously joined us this to talk Bulldog football on this week's podcast. He spoke to what makes Kenneth Dixon one of the best running backs not just in Conference USA, but the entire nation, and gave some compelling evidence that Jeff Driskel isn't the same quarterback who struggled through two seasons as a starter at Florida. In fact, Louisiana Tech probably has better skill players than Kansas State, and Patrick says we can expect the Bulldogs secondary to look much better than it did last week, when they gave up 441 yards in a 41-38 loss at Western Kentucky.

Since our guest couldn't stick around for too long, KSUEMAW! joined me for about 20 minutes afterwards to talk about how Kansas State might match up on Saturday and what we'd like to see the 'Cats do.

Episode 52: Wichita Eagle Columnist Bob Lutz

The media picked Kansas State to finish seventh in the Big 12 this season, but they didn't ask Bob Lutz. The Eagle's esteemed longtime sports columnist doesn't have the answers for who will be the breakout stars needed to lead an unproven 'Cats offense, or whether this defense will live up to the hype, but he says Bill Snyder has earned the benefit of the doubt. We also spoke a bit about Bill Snyder's future, as well as how disappointing it is that Kansas State basketball doesn't play Wichita State.

Editor's note: I apologize to our readers, and especially to Bob, for the poor sound quality of this podcast. We do not have the most sophisticated podcast recording/editing tools, and I may have made a mistake in the positioning of the phone as we were talking to Bob and recording on my laptop. Please bear with us this week and we'll try to do better in the future. Thanks.

Episode 51: Ian Boyd

Ian Boyd writes for Inside Texas and SB Nation, and if you haven't read his piece on Bill Snyder throwing the kitchen sink at opponents offensively this season, you should do that before you listen to the podcast. We went in-depth on the possible schemes K-State could run and did our best to evaluate the personnel most likely to play this Saturday vs. South Dakota and beyond. Needless to say, we still have a lot of unanswered questions, particularly when it comes to the passing game, but hopefully you'll learn a few things.

Finally, we talked a little bit about the Longhorns' past, present and future under Charlie Strong, and Ian told us why he thinks Baylor will be better than TCU this season. Don't forget that along with reading Ian's work at the aforementioned websites, you can also follow him on Twitter at @Ian_A_Boyd.

Episode 50: Old Friend Derek Smith Returns

Junction City Daily Union sports editor and former Bring on the Cats writer Derek Smith is the guest for our first podcast of the 2015 football season, and he's fairly optimistic about this year's Wildcats. That's especially true for the quarterbacks and wide receivers, perhaps the two position groups raising the most question marks on offense. There are fewer questions about the legitimacy of the defense, which brings back the majority of starters from a group that was really good for most of last season. But Derek's also honest about the difficulty of a tricky schedule and what it could mean if things go badly.

Really, we're just excited for that first game so we actually have something concrete to discuss, rather than idle speculation based on last spring, last fall, one practice this August, and the carefully crafted messages of coaches and players. But since K-State still won't take the field for another two weeks, go ahead and have a listen, then feel free to join the discussion. We even have a new intro, created by Derek!

Episode 49: K-State's Brian Smoller

The long summer grind continues with 75 days remaining until Kansas State football's home opener vs. South Dakota on Sept. 5. BracketCat and I are here to help with a rare summer edition of Bring on the Podcast, featuring a very special guest. We were joined last Friday for a long conversation with K-State's Director of Video Services, Brian Smoller, whose voice you've probably heard announcing women's basketball, baseball and volleyball.

He shared some of his excitement for the new Vanier Sports Complex, which will put the facilities for Wildcat football on par with its peers and provide Bill Snyder some additional recruiting help to supplement his remarkably effective wizardry. A massive new strength training room, a first-class academic learning center to consolidate student-athlete assistance and a cutting edge hydrotherapy center are only some of the highlights for a building that will have the added bonus of closing off the North endzone to make KSU Stadium even louder on game days. You can see more photos, renderings, construction webcams, and a new video tour with athletic director John Currie at kstatesports.com.

Speaking of cutting edge technology, Brian spoke to K-State's continued efforts to stay ahead of the curve and meet nearly unmatched demand for video of live Wildcat sporting events, coaches shows and more via kstatehd.tv. The upcoming launch of a new site via Sportslabs should greatly enhance the user experience as the video department and its stars such as Preston Koerner, creator of most of those amazing pregame hype videos for football and men's basketball, continue to churn out content.

Finally, we spent some time talking about the launch of women's soccer in 2016, positive momentum for coach Jeff Mittie's women's basketball program, and why K-State football could be in the perfect position to surprise people (again) in 2015.

A huge thanks to Brian Smoller for coming on, and trust us, if you enjoy Wildcat athletics, this podcast will be well worth your time.