Kansas State Football: Chris Klieman gets first real test vs Bulldogs

By Leigh Oleszczak | Sep 14, 2019

MANHATTAN, KS - AUGUST 31: Head coach Chris Klieman of the Kansas State Wildcats celebrates with offensive lineman Tyler Mitchell #62 after a touchdown, during the first half against the Nicholls State Colonels at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium on August 31, 2019 in Manhattan, Kansas. (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

Kansas State football is 2-0 on the young season, but a much tougher match-up is on the schedule for this weekend, as the Wildcats head to Starkville for a date with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

For Kansas State football fans, the Chris Klieman era couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. They thrashed Nicholls State in the season opener and then dominated and shut out Bowling Green in week two. The Wildcats looked fantastic in every aspect in those two games, but getting to 3-0 could be tough.

That’s because in week three, the Kansas State Wildcats will head to Starkville, Mississippi to take on the Bulldogs of Mississippi State. This is the second straight year these two will square off, with the Bulldogs winning in Manhattan last year by a score of 31-10.

There wasn’t much good to talk about in that one, not going to lie. The Wildcats were outplayed in nearly every facet of the game, but this is when fans really want to see something out of Chris Klieman. It’s easy to go out there and demolish the likes of Nicholls State and Bowling Green, those are two non-Power 5 opponents and the Wildcats should be dominating those programs.

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Mississippi State, however, is the first Power-5 team Klieman and his K-State team will face and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares in his first go-of-it against an SEC school.

After KSU won last week, I wrote about how they needed to continue to pound the rock in order to have a shot at winning when the games get tougher. That most definitely applies to this week, as the Bulldogs were gashed on the ground last week by Southern Mississippi. They allowed the Golden Eagles to run for 110 yards, but did keep them out of the end zone.

So far, Kansas State has 694 rushing yards through two games and that’ll have to be their bread and butter if they want to have a legitimate shot at winning this game.

While it’ll be important for the passing game to show up too, Kansas State needs to lean on James Gilbert and Jordon Brown and really control the clock. We know Klieman prefers to run it and with the Bulldogs being vulnerable against the run (and against a non-Power 5 team, to boot), that makes it even more important for the Wildcats to fixate on really running the ball down MSU’s throat.

While K-State fans won’t be disappointed by a loss this week, it’d certainly be a huge positive if Klieman, in his first year at the helm, could keep his team in this game and go toe-to-toe with a good SEC program.

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