Kansas State’s season has hit a rough patch fast, and first-year coach Collin Klein isn’t pointing fingers at one side of the ball. After back-to-back losses, including a 35-16 defeat to Houston, Klein said the Wildcats need sharper play across the board.
“I think it's probably just getting used to the load of managing it all," Klein said. "All of us need to be better, period. I need to be better for our guys, for our team, on both sides of the football."
That message comes after six straight poor quarters from Kansas State. The Wildcats were up 17-10 at halftime against Cincinnati two weeks ago before fading in a 31-25 loss at Nippert Stadium, then followed it with a flat showing against the Cougars. Now at 3-2 and 0-2 in the Big 12, Kansas State has work to do if it wants to stay in the hunt for the conference championship and a College Football Playoff berth.
The early weeks gave plenty of reason for optimism. Kansas State opened with wins over Nicholls, Washington State and Tulane, a team that played in last year’s College Football Playoffs. Since then, though, the Wildcats have sputtered, and the loss to Cincinnati - a game they were expected to handle - only made the slide feel steeper.
Next up is Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and this one carries more tension than usual. Kansas State has won the last 17 meetings, but that streak could be in real danger.
The Jayhawks are 3-3, and two of their three losses came against ranked teams. They fell to Missouri earlier this season and lost 41-24 to Utah last week, though that score doesn’t tell the whole story about how close the game was.
For Klein, this week could say a lot about where his first Kansas State team is headed. A third straight loss - especially against the rival Jayhawks - would hit hard in Manhattan.
In Other News...
Kansas State Is Chasing Early Help In One Crucial Future Spot
Kansas State has been active on the recruiting trail, casting a wide net across multiple classes as it looks to build depth for the future. Among the recent offers is Texas offensive lineman Xander Fisher, part of a group that also includes Drew Langford, Cortez Jones and Noah Gigger, all of whom have attracted attention from other college football programs as well.
For the Wildcats, the bigger picture is less about any one name than the position group they are targeting and the competition that comes with it. Early offers can matter in a hurry, especially when a program is trying to get in front of prospects before the rest of the country makes the chase even tighter. [Read more 🡒]
K-State Needs This Sunflower Showdown Far More Than Fans Wanted
The Sunflower Showdown arrives Saturday morning at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with a different kind of urgency around it for Kansas State. The Wildcats have owned this rivalry for a long time, winning 17 straight, but the bigger storyline now is less about the past and more about a Big 12 start that has not gone the way K-State wanted. A game like this can still carry all the usual bragging rights, but for the Wildcats it also carries the pressure of getting back on track.
Kansas brings its own reasons to believe the matchup can be more competitive than the record in the series suggests. Former K-State running back Dylan Edwards is now on the other sideline, and quarterback Isaiah Marshall has shown improvement lately as the Jayhawks look to snap the losing streak against their in-state rival. For K-State, that makes this more than just another chapter in the series. It is a chance to steady the season before the conference picture gets any harder to manage. [Read more 🡒]
K-State Needs This Kansas Rivalry Game More Than Ever
Avery Johnson and Collin Klein both sounded locked in this week as Kansas State turned its attention to the Sunflower Showdown, a rivalry game that now carries even more weight because of where the Wildcats stand. At 3-2 overall and still looking for their first Big 12 win, Kansas State needs a clean response after back-to-back setbacks, and the staff has made a point of narrowing the focus to fundamentals while preparing for the specific problems Kansas can create.
The Wildcats also know this matchup has become its own kind of standard in the series, with Kansas State carrying a 17-game winning streak into the meeting. Rivalry games tend to cut through record and momentum, but there is no hiding from the fact that this one feels especially important for a team trying to steady itself and avoid letting an early conference hole get any deeper. [Read more 🡒]