Kansas State’s weekend came with a familiar sting, and the football loss on Saturday set the tone. The Wildcats fell 31-26 to Cincinnati, undone by a brutal third quarter they never fully climbed out of before the clock hit zero. As Jon Morse pointed out in the official BotC recap, that stretch did most of the damage.
Afterward, Collin Klein didn’t sugarcoat anything. He was clearly frustrated and said, “[w]e didn’t play well enough tonight.
There are no excuses. There’s nothing that makes it feel any better for myself, our staff or our players.”
The Wildcats had too many issues to pin it on one thing, but the biggest problem was easy to see: they lost their poise and couldn’t execute once the game started slipping away.
Even so, the loss may look worse in the moment than it really is. A five-point road defeat to a determined and much-improved conference opponent is not some season-wrecking blow in the bigger picture.
Kansas State is an above-average team in 2026, led by a first-year head coach, breaking in a mostly new offensive line and trying to navigate a thin quarterback room. Smooth was never really on the menu.
For now, the bye week offers a chance to catch its breath and try to get healthy before whatever comes next.
The frustration carried into soccer, where Kansas State dropped to 0-2 in Big 12 play after a 2-0 loss to Arizona State at Buser Family Park. The Sun Devils struck early, scoring in the ninth and 23rd minutes, and the Wildcats never found a response.
K-State managed just four shots on goal in the match. The one encouraging note came from goalkeeper Maddie Sibbing, who turned in a strong second half and also saved the second penalty kick of the season in this contest.
The Wildcats are back on the road Friday for a Big 12 matchup with BYU at 8 PM CT. The match will be streamed on ESPN+.
The rough stretch continued on the volleyball side Sunday, when Kansas State saw its nine-match winning streak snapped in a 3-1 loss to Houston at Morgan Family Arena. The set scores were 25-23, 25-21, 15-25, 25-20, and the defeat left the Wildcats 1-1 in Big 12 play with the tougher part of the schedule still ahead.
There were still a couple of individual bright spots for the VolleyCats. Addison Massie put down 18 kills, marking the sixth straight match in which she has reached double figures this season. And Fuka Sekita made a little history, recording the 500th dig of her collegiate career.
In Other News...
Kansas State Suddenly Has A Big 12 Problem It Can't Ignore
The loss to Cincinnati left Kansas State with more than just a mark in the standings. Collin Klein made it clear afterward that the Wildcats have a run-defense issue to clean up, after the Bearcats rolled up 271 rushing yards on 38 carries and controlled enough of the game to leave Manhattan with a 31-26 win. Gi'Bran and Cole Tabb fueled that ground attack, giving Kansas State a long afternoon trying to slow things down at the line of scrimmage.
Klein also pointed to the offense's stalled drives as part of why the Wildcats came up short, which only adds to the pressure heading into the stretch ahead. For a team with Big 12 aspirations, getting pushed around on the ground is the kind of problem that can follow you if it is not corrected quickly, especially when the margin for error is already getting thinner. [Read more 🡒]
Cincinnati Just Made The Kind Of Big 12 Statement Fans Needed
Cincinnatis first Big 12 game of the season delivered exactly the kind of message the league tends to notice, and Kansas State was on the wrong side of it. The Bearcats pushed through an early deficit, leaned on their run blocking and got important production on the ground from GiBran Payne and Cole Tabb. For a team trying to show it can handle life in this conference, the win mattered plenty, and it lifted Cincinnati to 4-0 for the first time since 2021.
For Kansas State, the loss serves as an early reminder that Big 12 openers can turn fast when the other side starts controlling the line of scrimmage. Cincinnatis second-half response was the difference, and it left the Wildcats having to sort through how a game they led early slipped away. In a league where every road test can turn into a statement opportunity, this one belonged to the Bearcats. [Read more 🡒]
Kansas State Wasted A Huge Day With One Crushing Mistake
Derrick Salley Jr. gave Kansas State plenty to build on with a huge afternoon against Cincinnati, piling up seven catches for 140 yards and a touchdown in a game that had the Wildcats in position to make a statement. For most of the day, he looked like the kind of difference-maker who can tilt a close Big 12 matchup, giving the passing game a needed spark and keeping Kansas State within reach.
Collin Klein, though, knows the Wildcats were left to rue one costly sequence. Salleys fumble on the first play of the second half swung the momentum toward Cincinnati and helped turn a promising spot into a 31-26 loss. It was the kind of mistake that can erase a big individual performance in a hurry, and Kansas State now has to sort out how to pair production with cleaner execution when the margin is this thin. [Read more 🡒]