Kansas State Football: Chris Klieman takes Wildcats bowling in year one
By Cullen Jekel
November: at Kansas, at Texas, West Virginia, at Texas Tech, Iowa State
Entering November 2018, the Kansas State Wildcats were 3-5 (1-4) following a 51-14 whooping against the Sooners. K-State then suffered a one-point loss to TCU before rattling off two conference wins to put them one win away from bowl eligibility.
In the final game of the season, the Wildcats went up against 38-21 against their opponent with 12:32 left in the fourth quarter before completely melting down, losing 42-38, and watching bowl season from the comfy confines of home.
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Things look similar in November of 2019, except the Wildcats are 3-4 (1-3). Still, the team needs to win three of their final five games to make a bowl game. Three of their five opponents this November are rematches from last November.
Starting with their in-state rival, the Kansas Jayhawks.
Entering this game, I’ve got the Jayhawks with the better record of these two, at 5-3 (2-3). But if you’ve read my article on Kansas, you know how I’ve got the season ending for them, and it isn’t pretty: going 0-4 in November.
Yet, this first Sunflower Showdown between Les Miles and Chris Klieman will be an entertaining one, and one that sets up what is hopefully a fruitful rivalry for years to come between the two programs under those same head coaches.
Next up for the Wildcats is traveling to Austin in the Lone Star State to take on the Texas Longhorns. In an upset, I’m taking Kansas State on the road, putting a damper on the TEXAS IS BACK talk for the time being.
This one is a bit of a trap game for the Longhorns considering their opponent on the road the following week. Chalk up the Wildcats sneaking away with a dubya.
That win puts the Wildcats at 5-4 (3-3) with three games left, two of them in Manhattan. The first of those two home matches is against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Under new head coach Neal Brown, the Mountaineers will mightily struggle in 2019, and that includes losing this game. This victory makes Kansas State bowl eligible in Klieman’s first year on a campus.*
*Ron Prince also accomplished this feat, so maybe it’s not that impressive.
And that’s good for the Wildcats, as I have them dropping the final two games of their season. The penultimate game takes place in Lubbock, Texas, against the Texas Tech Red Raiders, another program with a new head coach. But much like the Kansas State-Texas match-up, this is a trap game the Wildcats will lose as they look forward to a more formidable opponent on the horizon.
Oddly enough, that opponent is the same for both the Longhorns in the loss to the Wildcats as it is for the Wildcats in their loss to the Red Raiders: the Iowa State Cyclones. The same team that upended Kansas State’s 2018 season and sent out Bill Snyder not with a bang, but with a whimper, for thine is the Kingdom.
And yet, the Cyclones will again defeat the Wildcats. Definitely not in as dramatic fashion as last year (is that even possible?) but in fashion nonetheless. The loss drops Kansas State to 6-6 (4-5) and sixth in the final Big 12 standings.