Looking for an unsung star in the college sports world? How about Kansas State athletic director Gene Taylor, anonymous to the masses like a flight controller at NASA, but who has quietly made a couple of home run hires in recent years. First, on the football side, Taylor was tasked with replacing the legendary Bill Snyder, whose name happens to be on the Wildcats' stadium, and before whom K-State really didn't have a gridiron history. The pressure to find a reasonable facsimile was on Taylor, especially after long-ago predecessor Tim Weiser had missed the hire after Snyder's first "retirement" when Ron Prince proved not up to the task. Taylor, however, would pull a rabbit out of his hat by enlisting Chris Klieman, off of a run of FCS championships at North Dakota State. The Wildcats haven't missed a beat. Klieman has hinted at becoming the second coming of Snyder, capping things with a win in the Big 12 title game last December. 

Then, for an encore, Taylor would do much the same on the basketball side, replacing the long-serving Bruce Weber with Baylor aide Jerome Tang; all Tang would do is lead K-State to the Elite Eight this past March in his first spin at Bramlage Coliseum. We'd say it looks like Taylor knows what he's doing...

Bruce Marshall's full breakdown of Kansas State's 2023 outlook, which includes how he's playing their win total, can be found below as part of SportsLine's preview of the Big 12 season.

Big 12 preview: Conference winner | Baylor | BYU | Cincinnati | Houston | Iowa State | Kansas | Kansas State | Oklahoma | Oklahoma State | Texas | TCU | Texas Tech | UCF | West Virginia

2023 Kansas State at a glance

• Last Year: 10-3 SU, 9-3-1 ATS, 6-7 O/U
• Returning starters: Offense 8; Defense 4
• Win total: 7.5 (Over -165, Under +130)

What do you need to know about Kansas State before locking in your Big 12 futures bets? And which side of their win total makes for the best play? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Big 12 futures betting strategy from a veteran college football expert!