Why Chris Klieman has no regrets about K-State’s 4th-down decisions in Ireland game
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State failed on 3 of 4 fourth-down attempts in 24-21 loss to ISU.
- Chris Klieman defended aggressive decisions, citing game flow and field position.
- Cyclones capitalized on turnovers and went 3-for-3 on fourth down to seal win.
Kansas State wide receiver Jerand Bradley was in no mood to give his opponent flowers after the Wildcats suffered a frustrating 24-21 loss against the Iowa State Cyclones on Saturday at Aviva Stadium.
Instead, he followed the lead of his head coach.
Chris Klieman had a telling message for K-State football players in the wake of their season-opening loss. It registered with players.
“He told us we’re capable of more and that we should have come out on top,” Bradley said after catching three passes for 75 yards and a touchdown. “He said, ‘They’re not better than us. We just beat ourselves.’”
Those words have merit.
Even though Matt Campbell and Iowa State have won five of the past six against their Farmageddon rivals, the final score in this game could have been different if not for a myriad of K-State miscues.
The most noticeable of those errors occurred on fourth down. The Wildcats turned the ball over three times on four conversion attempts, while the Cyclones were a perfect 3-for-3 on money downs.
For that reason, Klieman was not a popular man in the aftermath of this. Many fans flocked to social media and asked why the Wildcats were so ineffective on fourth downs. Others wanted to know why the Wildcats were so aggressive in those situations. Perhaps things would have worked out better had K-State opted to punt.
But Klieman was in no mood to second-guess himself. He had no regrets.
“They just made a couple plays on fourth down and we didn’t,” Klieman said. “I would do the same thing again, based on how the game was going, with us struggling to slow those guys down.”
K-State came up short on 3 of 4 conversion attempts.
One was understandable. The Wildcats found themselves in awkward field position at the ISU 33. They were too close to the end zone to punt but too far away to attempt a field goal. So Klieman opted to go for it on fourth-and-9. K-State quarterback Avery Johnson dropped back to pass, scrambled to his left and fired a pass to Bradley on the left side of the field. The ball was on the money, but Bradley was unable to make the grab.
Iowa State quickly took advantage of that miscue by scoring on a 24-yard touchdown pass from Rocco Becht to Brett Eskildsen to take a 14-7 lead. But there was plenty of time left for the Wildcats.
One of the misses that hurt more occurred in the first half, when K-State was in field goal range but turned the ball over on downs when Joe Jackson was stuffed on a run; the Wildcats were facing a fourth-and-short. Coming up empty on that possession was deflating for EMAW nation.
Then the real killer happened in the fourth quarter. The Wildcats faced a fourth-and-1 from their own 30. The Cyclones led 17-14 with 8 minutes, 28 seconds remaining. No one would have blamed Klieman for punting in that situation, but he opted to stay aggressive and tried to move the chains.
This time, Avery Johnson tried to pick up the first down with his feet but came up inches short.
Making matters worse for K-State, Iowa State scored three plays later on a run from Carson Hansen to pull ahead 24-14.
“We were right there,” Johnson said. “I think they made the necessary plays that were needed to be made tonight to win the game. When it’s fourth-and-1, I have got to find a way to get a yard and keep that drive alive and not put our defense in a bad spot. So I take full accountability for that.”
K-State stayed in the game when Johnson connected with Bradley for a long touchdown. But it still left fans wondering what could have been, because the Cyclones never gave the ball back to the Wildcats again. And they converted on a fourth-and-3 attempt with 2:25 remaining to boot.
That spoiled a trip overseas for more than 10,000 K-State fans who flew to Ireland this week. Nobody in purple was happy about that. Some fans pointed the finger at Klieman. Some players pointed the finger at themselves.
Bottom line: It’s hard to win when you can’t convert on fourth down.
“We fought hard, but we beat ourselves,” Bradley said. “Kansas State beat Kansas State. We know who we are. We have just got to come out next week and be better and play harder.”
This story was originally published August 23, 2025 at 5:49 PM with the headline "Why Chris Klieman has no regrets about K-State’s 4th-down decisions in Ireland game."