‘Season is not over’: Why K-State Wildcats expect to bounce back after ugly start
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State starts season 1-2, dropping three close games by slim margins.
- Coach Klieman emphasizes player resilience and avoids harsh criticism post-loss.
- Veteran players recall 2022 turnaround as team eyes rebound against Arizona.
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman did not paint a pretty picture when he was asked how the Wildcats were holding up mentally amid a disappointing 1-2 start to the season.
“Frustrated, obviously,” Klieman said. “Not a great mental state when you have three one-score games and you don’t find a way to win two of them. I think they realize — and I think we all do — when you go back and look at the film of the three games, how close we are. But close doesn’t count.”
Perhaps that is why Klieman chose to take a gentle approach with his players after they suffered a 24-21 loss to Army on Saturday.
Rather than put his roster on blast for an ugly performance, he said he was “dang proud” of the way they competed. To his point, K-State is only a few plays away from being undefeated right now. Even though the Wildcats have a negative point differential (-3) this season, all three of their games have come down to the final moments.
Klieman sees no need to coach angry.
He trusts his oldest players, the ones who were around three years ago when K-State lost early to Tulane and then won a Big 12 championship, to lead the way as this team tries to bounce back against Arizona on Friday.
“We’re going to reset as a team,” K-State defensive tackle Damian Ilalio said. “We’re going to come together. I’ve been in tough spots before with this team. In 2022, people didn’t think we were going to win a Big 12 championship after the first couple games. The season is not over yet. There’s definitely a long way to go, and we got a lot of things to fix, but it’s not over at all.”
K-State tight end Brayden Loftin remembers how the Wildcats held a team meeting after that Tulane loss. One by one, players aired their grievances and talked openly about what everyone on the roster could do to help the team moving forward.
A week later, the Wildcats pulled off an upset at Oklahoma and went on to win the league title.
“We’ve had that meeting again,” Loftin said. “Our leaders are stepping up, and I think that we can turn the season around.”
His confidence remains the same as it did back then.
“This team is talented enough to play for a Big 12 championship,” Loftin said. “We just haven’t shown it yet.”
Technically speaking, there still is much for K-State to play for. If the Wildcats put together a winning streak in Big 12 play they will contend for both a spot in the conference championship game and an automatic berth in the College Football Playoff.
But K-State will need to start playing better football for that to happen.
While it’s true the Wildcats are only a few plays away from an undefeated record, they are also one play away from 0-3. If not for a last-minute touchdown drive from Avery Johnson against North Dakota, K-State would be staring at a winless record.
That has led to a great deal of criticism from within the fanbase. Blocking that out can be a challenge.
“We’re just staying together in the locker room,” K-State wide receiver Jaron Tibbs said. “You know, we spent a lot of time together in the off season, so it’s kind of easy to not let all the outside noise get in. When you see stuff like that it’s usually coming from people who don’t know what is really going on.”
K-State players might not be in an ideal mental state at the moment. But they are doing their best to change that.
A win Friday would certainly help.
This story was originally published September 9, 2025 at 5:30 AM with the headline "‘Season is not over’: Why K-State Wildcats expect to bounce back after ugly start."