Filed by Mitch Sherman at 9:56 a.m.

Kansas State defensive end Jeffrey Fitzgerald offers an interesting breakdown on the Nebraska-KSU game set for Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

“It doesn't who really matter who has the best players or what not,” said Fitzgerald, a senior who leads the Wildcats defensively with six sacks and 8 ½ tackles for losses. “It's just who can put the best game together on Saturday. You never know what's going to happen. Underdog or not, it doesn't really matter to me.”

He speaks from experience. There's no other explanation for consecutive October games in which K-State lost 66-14 to Texas Tech and beat Texas A&M 62-14. A week later, by the way, A&M won at Tech, 52-30.

It makes about as much sense as the point spread this week. Nebraska is 16 1/2-point favorite over K-State.

Kansas State center Wade Weibert said the Wildcats appear unaffected by their underdog status or the odds apparently stacked in favor of NU.

“We're all very aware of what's at stake right now,” Weibert said.

The junior said he wondered Monday how the K-State players would respond in practice to their 38-12 loss last week to Missouri. What he saw reminded Weibert of the attitude after the Wildcats Oct. 10 loss to Texas Tech.

“You wouldn't know it at all,” Weibert said. “Everyone went out and was just ready to play football. We have it in the back of our mind, that do-or-die mentality.”