Kansas State Wildcats tend to play their best after a loss under coach Chris Klieman
How long has it been since Kansas State lost consecutive football games during the Chris Klieman era?
That would make for a good trivia question.
You have to go all the way back to November 2021 to find the answer, when Will Howard stepped in for an injured Skylar Thompson and the Wildcats dropped a tough road contest to the Texas Longhorns 22-17 a week after they lost a hard-fought game against Baylor.
Ever since then, K-State has played some of its best football when it is coming off a loss. That is worth noting this week as the Wildcats are looking to bounce back from a demoralizing 38-9 loss against BYU when Oklahoma State comes to town Saturday.
Klieman can’t predict whether the trend will continue, but he is willing to explain how he handles things after his team suffers a loss.
“It’s got to come from within,” Klieman said. “It has to. Coaches are one thing, but it’s got to come from within with our leadership and with our guys of taking ownership and raising their level of play and raising their level of preparation. You bet us as coaches have to continue to push the right buttons.
“But that’s going to be the interesting thing of how we respond. I’ve never been one to say this game is so much more important than that game, or we can’t wait to play a game in November. You can never get ahead of yourself and talk about those things. You have got to work on the task at hand, and for us it’s a big task this week.”
Before we go any further, here is a rundown of K-State’s last nine games after a loss:
- 42-20 victory over LSU at the Texas Bowl
- 41-34 win at Oklahoma
- 48-0 blowout over Oklahoma State
- 31-3 win at Baylor
- 45-0 win over Southeast Missouri State
- 44-31 victory over UCF
- 38-21 win at Texas Tech
- 59-25 win over Baylor
- 28-19 win against North Carolina State at the Pop-Tarts Bowl
Add it all up and the Wildcats won those games by an average score of 41.8-17.
K-State players are hoping for another positive result against the Cowboys, but they aren’t taking anything for granted.
“The biggest thing is we just can’t lose confidence in ourselves,” K-State quarterback Avery Johnson said. “There is going to be a lot of outside noise and be a lot of people saying that we’re not worth anything and we’re not very good and we’re not as good of a team as we think we are.
“Ultimately, we just have got to block all that outside noise out and really come together and lean on one another.
Players also understand there is still much to play for this season.
Because of the expanded playoff, one loss no longer ruins a team’s dream of competing for a national championship.
“A lot of guys on this team have dreams and aspirations of what we want to do later on, like win the Big 12 and make the playoffs,” offensive lineman Taylor Poitier said. “One loss is not going to affect us.”
Much like previous teams, K-State has not lost any confidence from its most recent loss.
“We’re a really good football team,” Johnson said. “We just didn’t play to the best of our ability last week.”
This story was originally published September 25, 2024 at 12:34 PM with the headline "Kansas State Wildcats tend to play their best after a loss under coach Chris Klieman."