Kansas State junior quarterback Josh Freeman is expected to play this weekend after getting pulled out in the third quarter during a rough game against Nebraska.

Freeman, however, is the leader of the No. 21-scoring offense in the nation. He has scored 16 passing touchdowns and 14 rushing touchdowns so far this season.

Although Freeman doesn’t usually run for a lot of yards in every game, he is a mountain of a man who is difficult to bring down.

“He is 6-4, 250 [pounds] and he’s a beast of an athlete,” said defensive end Rashawn Parker. “You got to get back there and wrap him up. You can’t just go for the kill shot. You actually have to wrap this guy up and get him down.”

Chizik said he felt Freeman is a similar quarterback to a quarterback he saw a lot of when he coached at Central Florida.

“You know, he reminds me of Daunte Culpepper when we had him at Central Florida when I was there,” Chizik said. “He is that big, he is that strong, you know, he is just a great quarterback … I’ve seen guys come free on blitzes and they hit him in the back and they slide down. I mean, he is that big and strong.”

Pillow fight

The Wildcats and Cyclones have both struggled mightily this season. Neither team can become eligible for a bowl, and they are eleventh and twelfth in the Big 12 respectively.

Both teams will just be trying to gain some momentum going into next season.

“I think it would be a great start for next year,” Chizik said. “I think it would be a great monkey off our back so to speak, about a road win period, much less a Big 12 road win.”

Quarterback shuffle

If Austen Arnaud were to get injured in this game, Chizik said the team would not pull the redshirt off freshman Jerome Tiller. Instead, the Cyclones would turn to other skill positions on the team to fill the void.

“We’ve got a plan,” Chizik said. “You know Darius Darks has been taking snaps at quarterback for us. You know, he played that in high school. So if we have to get out of a game, we have a plan with Darius. We’ve got some direct snaps to the running back, we can get out of a game that way.”

Ron’s last hurrah

Kansas State head coach Ron Prince will be coaching his last game for the Wildcats on Saturday.

After three seasons at Kansas State, the school announced earlier this season he will not be returning as coach next year.

As Cyclone fans have recently seen, with Dan McCarney’s improbable 21-16 victory over Missouri on his way out of Ames, teams are more unpredictable in a coaches final game.

“You know that team can be very wide open,” Chizik said. “… They are going to take chances — they are going to do anything they can to win the game. Not that they haven’t already this year, but I think that certainly increases with the circumstance.”