Things to know about Kansas State.

THE OFFENSE

Base formation: Pro set

2006 per-game averages:

Points: 22

Total yards: 308.9

Rushing yards: 116.2

Passing yards: 192.7

Turnovers lost: 2

Time of possession: 26:35

THE DEFENSE

Base formation: 4-3

2006 per-game averages:

Points: 16.3

Total yards: 288.7

Rushing yards: 106.9

Passing yards: 181.8

Turnovers gained: 2.3

THE COACH

Ron Prince

Year at Kansas State: first

Record: 4-2

Worth noting: Prince is the first coach at Kansas State to win four of his first six games. At 37, he’s the third-youngest head coach in NCAA Division I-A. He was born in Omaha but raised in Junction City, Kan., just 20 miles from Manhattan.

THE GAMERS

Marcus Watts

Position: FS Year: Jr.

Height: 6-2

Weight: 180

Worth noting: You think you’re tough? In last week’s game against Oklahoma State, Watts injured his right wrist while blocking a second-quarter punt the Wildcats returned for a TD. He came back, playing with a plastic cast, and, on the final series,  put a hit on Adarius Bowman to prevent a touchdown reception, then intercepted a tipped pass in the end zone as time ran out.

Josh Freeman

Position: QB Year: Fr.

Height: 6-6

Weight: 238

Worth noting: It hasn’t taken Freeman long to make his coach look wise for elevating him above Dylan Meier a game-and-a-half ago. Of course, he’s played like a rookie, but during two late fourth-quarter drives against Oklahoma State last week, Freeman was 6-for-9 passing for 138 yards while leading the Wildcats to touchdowns that let them overcome a 10-point deficit.

Leon Patton

Position: RB Year: Fr.

Height: 5-7

Weight: 184

Worth noting: Patton was one of seven Wildcats who got their first start last week, but nobody had a bigger debut than the little man from Cedar Hill, Texas. In addition to rushing for 151 yards and a score, he returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown and finished with 301 all-purpose yards — the most by a K-State freshman.

QUARTERBACKS

Josh Freeman capped his first start by directing two touchdown drives in the final 4:25. Before those, the Wildcats’ offense had reached the end zone just once in the previous two games. Freeman ran 21 yards for the decisive score. He was sacked three times for a loss of 25 yards, but on his four real runs gained 41 yards. Freeman is completing just 38.7 percent of his passes, but against Oklahoma State was 10-for-15 for 177 yards. In other words, the light might have come on.

RUNNING BACKS

Leon Patton injected some much-needed life to the K-State ground attack last week. After five games, the Wildcats were averaging just 103.4 rushing yards. But with Patton getting 151 (on 21 carries) in his first start,  against Oklahoma State, they finished with a season-high 180. Patton replaced the team’s leading rusher, Thomas Clayton, who’s not on the current three-deep depth chart. Junior-college transfer James Johnson (21 yards in three games) and walk-on Terry Petrie (54 in four) are listed behind Patton. To complement their run-first game plan last week, the Wildcats used a lot of double-tight end sets.

RECEIVERS

If you don’t think K-State is having to make many adjustments from Bill Snyder’s spread attack to the West Coast version being implemented by Ron Prince, consider that tight end Rashaad Norwood leads the team with 20 receptions. It’s a new feature for the Cats, as tight ends have 29 catches (more than double last year’s season total of 14). Against Oklahoma State, wide receiver Jordy Nelson had no receptions for the first time in the 17 games he’s played in. Nelson, Jermaine Moreira and Yamon Figurs do have a combined 47 catches, with Moreira (only the eighth Wildcat to have 100) being the home-run threat of the bunch at 20.5 yards per catch.

O-LINE

The Wildcats either have a lot of depth here or a lot of uncertainty. Four of the five linemen who opened the game against Oklahoma State weren’t at their respective starting spots the previous week against Baylor. Right tackle Nick Stringer was the exception. After K-State produced a season-best rushing total, it’d be a surprise if left tackle Greg Wafford (who was the left guard for the first five games), guards Caleb Handy and Brock Unruh and center Brad Rooker aren’t the mainstays again this week.

D-LINE

Sophomore left end Ian Campbell, who walked on, is a surprising anchor of this unit that goes after the quarterback first and asks questions later. He has a Big 12-leading 10 tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Campbell’s 30 stops rank No. 2 among Big 12 linemen. There’s plenty of quality depth up front, too. Two players listed No. 2 on the depth chart, right end Eric Childs and tackle Alphonso Moran, started last week. No wonder K-State ranks ninth nationally in tackles for loss (46) and 17th in sacks (18). Nose tackle Quintin Echols, a three-year regular, is tied for the team lead with two forced fumbles.

LINEBACKERS

Weakside starter Brandon Archer, who’s made 26 straight starts, is in position to lead the Cats in tackling for the third straight season. His 49 stops rank seventh-best in the Big 12. Middle linebacker Zach Diles, whose fourth-quarter hit knocked Zac Taylor out of last year’s game, is second on the team with 40 tackles. Strongside starter Reggie Walker was the only true freshman to play for K-State last season.

SECONDARY

Kansas State ranks 13th nationally with 14 takeaways, thanks largely to a secondary that has seven interceptions. Free safety Marcus Watts has a pick in each of the past three games. In the same time, he’s forced two fumbles and made 15 tackles. Cornerback Byron Garvin (second on the team with four tackles for loss and third with 35 total stops) and strong safety Kyle Williams each have a fumble recovery and interception. Williams, the only player in the secondary to start every game, also has a team-best five pass breakups. Garvin has replaced Bryan Baldwin, who suffered a season-ending injury in the fourth game.

SPECIALISTS

A really special group here. The Wildcats have scored five special-teams touchdowns — two kickoff returns, two blocked punts and one punt return — to rank second nationally behind Indiana (which has six). Jeff Snodgrass is second in the Big 12 with nine field goals (he’s hit six of his last seven), but his .692 success rate (9-for-13) is second-worst in the league. Wide receiver Yamon Figurs, who’s been timed at 4.29 seconds in the 40-yard dash, is fifth in the Big 12, averaging 11.2 yards per punt return. While the Cats have plenty of big-play weapons, against Oklahoma State last week they gave up a 63-yard punt return and an 89-yard kickoff return. The week before, Baylor had a 47-yard punt return with the game in the balance. Punter Tim Reyer was recently added to the Ray Guy Award watch list. He’s averaged 44.6 yards the past two games.

SCOUTING REPORT

From Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy, whose team gave up two touchdowns drives in the final 4:25 and lost 31-27 at Manhattan last Saturday. Before those possessions, the Cowboys had done an admirable job of bottling up first-time starting quarterback Josh Freeman. Earlier this week, when asked about young quarterbacks, Gundy said they’re all different. “Some of them get it earlier in their career, some of them get it later. Sometimes, very highly recruited players come in and they never get it.” As for Freeman?

“He made three really good plays late in the game, and those plays were made on natural instincts. The guy has a really strong arm, he can chuck it. And he can run around. They did a good job of protecting him. It’d be hard to actually say he ‘got it,’ but I do know he made some very athletic plays. He’s at least 6-6, now.

“Our coaches just game-planned for what they’d seen, and they hadn’t done as much as what they ran against us. There was a lot more two-tight end stuff. But that’s not the reason we lost. We lost because we didn’t tackle late.

“(Running back Leon Patton) does a nice job of (tucking in behind his linemen) running the zone play. He’s got some ability in the future, but he’s not there (with former K-State darter Darren Sproles) right now.

“(On Patton’s 95-yard kickoff return), we had a player that had him wrapped up, he was just about down and everybody was standing around watching. … I hate that he’s a freshman, wish he’s a senior.

“We executed a lot better (offensively) in the second half. They did some things differently, with blitzes and schemes, and there was a lot of adjusting at halftime. … They run to the ball well, tackle well in space.

“(Free safety Marcus Watts), I don’t know much about him, his background, where he came from. I know he plays hard every down, he makes plays on special teams. In my opinion, you want 100 guys like that. You have to give the guy credit for saying ‘OK, I like playing college football. I’m going to give it my all and that’s what I’m going to do the rest of my life.’ I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He got hurt and came back and played, and made plays.”