MANHATTAN - The post-Kansas high is real around Kansas State, and so is the crash that can follow it.
After the Wildcats beat the Jayhawks, videos circulated over the weekend from Aggieville showing students and Kansas State fans chanting "bleep KU" in the Manhattan bar district, the kind of scene that comes with an emotional win in this rivalry. It was celebration time after 18 straight victories in the Sunflower Showdown. Then came the part that matters next: getting back to work.
That has not gone especially well for Kansas State in recent years. The Wildcats head to Arizona State this weekend still looking for their first win the week after beating Kansas since 2022. Since that 18-game rivalry run began, K-State is 8-9 the following week.
Coach Collin Klein said the pattern makes sense.
"I appreciate you saying that because I didn't know that," Klein said, who wasn't at K-State for the previous two post-KU losses. "It's a human response and human nature. A lot of investment was poured into that game by staff and players, and emotions were very, very high."
The next test comes Saturday, Oct. 24, in Tempe, where Kansas State plays Arizona State at 2:45 p.m. CT. The Wildcats are 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12, and they enter as favorites against a Sun Devils team that is 3-3, also 1-2 in league play, and has questions at quarterback.
Kansas State needs more than a nice win to keep its season moving in the right direction. The Jayhawks victory snapped a two-game losing streak to open Big 12 play, but the Wildcats already have one road loss on the books, 31-26 at Cincinnati on Sept.
- Another road trip follows immediately after this one, with Colorado waiting next week on Halloween afternoon.
Center Dylan Villarouel framed the challenge simply.
"We just have to be competitors," Villarouel said. "We gotta come back and realize that the job's not finished. You have another team to play, so you just have to stay hungry and go back to work."
There’s more on the line here than just keeping a good feeling alive. A win would put Kansas State one step from bowl eligibility, something it didn’t secure until the final week of the regular season a year ago.
Last season at this point, the Wildcats were 2-4 before closing with five wins in their final seven games, including the victory over Kansas. Big 12 title talk is hard to make much of after two early losses, but another defeat could shut the door on those hopes even sooner.
And it would add another unwanted number to the post-Kansas ledger: a fourth straight loss the week after beating the Jayhawks.
"The natural tendency when you accomplish something and do something well and spend a lot of energy like that is to relax and kinda take a deep breath," Klein said. "We have to fight tooth and nail because it's a one-week season and that's how we gotta look at it.
Nothing in the past is gonna affect that. But that's a real thing, for sure, and we have to respond."
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Former K State Coach Bob Huggins Faces A Serious New Reality
Bob Huggins is being recognized this week by the University of Cincinnati with induction into its Athletics Hall of Fame, a fitting honor for one of the sports most accomplished coaches and a man with 863 career wins. But the celebration around the former Kansas State coach comes with a sobering backdrop, after his family shared that he is living with a progressive cognitive condition that has begun affecting his memory and daily life.
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The early message from Alexander was centered on culture, leadership and the idea that Kansas State can still move past low preseason expectations. He did not try to hide the challenge in front of him, but he also made it plain that the Wildcats are aiming higher than the outside projections, with an NCAA Tournament appearance part of the standard he is trying to set from the start. [Read more 🡒]