Kansas State walked into Nippert Stadium for its first real road test of the season and left with more questions than answers after a 31-26 loss to Cincinnati on Saturday.
The Wildcats had to deal with a charged-up crowd of 37,562, and the environment was too much for them to overcome. Cincinnati leaned on a dominant ground game to hand K-State its first setback and send the Wildcats back home with the defense taking the biggest hit.
That was the clearest theme of the day. The Bearcats didn’t need much from their passing attack because the run game kept slicing up K-State over and over again.
Cole Tabb was the biggest problem, piling up 124 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries. He averaged 11.3 yards and 1.6 points per touch.
Gi’Bran Payne added 126 yards of his own, and together the two backs gave the Wildcats no real answers.
“The story of the game starts on defense,” K-State football coach Collin Klein said. “We’re not going to win many games giving up (271) yards rushing. We have got to get that fixed.”
The turning point came early in the third quarter when Derrick Salley lost a fumble after a contested catch and a hard fall to the turf. K-State was up 17-10 at the time, and the turnover swung the momentum back to Cincinnati.
The play was reviewed and upheld, though the officials easily could have ruled it an incomplete pass. Either way, the Wildcats still had a chance to respond, and they didn’t get enough done on defense after that moment.
The numbers on the ground tell the story even more clearly. Cincinnati ripped off nine runs of 10 or more yards, finding explosive plays without having to throw much at all.
There were bright spots for Kansas State on offense. Avery Johnson passed for 292 yards, and the Wildcats actually finished with more total offense than Cincinnati, 447 yards to 436.
Salley was the standout target, breaking through with seven catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. But the red-zone issues lingered, Garrett Oakley had some costly drops, and K-State managed only three touchdown drives.
The grades reflect the split personality of the day.
Offense earned a B for moving the ball well enough to stay in it, even if the finishing touch wasn’t there. Defense got an F after being run over for most of the afternoon.
Special teams came away with a B thanks to solid punting from Simon McClannan and made field goals from Luis Rodriguez, though there were no major return-game sparks. Coaching landed at a C, with Klein making the right moves to give his team one last crack at a winning drive in the final minute, even if the night ultimately ended with bad throws and drops.
Execution, in other words, was a problem from start to finish.
K-State now turns to Houston, and the timing of the lone idle week of the season may help. The Wildcats will certainly welcome the extra prep time because the Cougars arrive as one of the best teams in the Big 12. Houston’s only loss came by two points on the road against Texas Tech.
There’s also a familiar face on the other sideline. Willie Fritz has already given Klein and Kansas State trouble before, leading Tulane to an upset over the Wildcats in 2022 and then beating them again after taking over at Houston in 2024.
The next one comes on October 10 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and it shapes up as another major test for a Kansas State team trying to steady itself after the first crack in what began as a 3-0 start.
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 🡒]