Why K-State was ‘(ticked) off’ & loaded with extra motivation for KU rivalry win
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- K-State used doubt and local talent to fuel a 42-17 rivalry victory Saturday.
- Senior leaders and in-state recruits amplified motivation, preserving a 17-game streak.
- Quarterback Avery Johnson sparked the offense with two passing and two rushing scores.
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman spoke as if he was Michael Jordan after his Wildcats demolished the Jayhawks 42-17 on Saturday at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Some experts thought KU was finally going to win and end a long losing streak in this rivalry. The Jayhawks were even betting favorites against the Wildcats for the first time since 2009.
Klieman didn’t care for that. In fact, he took it personally.
“Our guys had tremendous focus this week,” Klieman said afterward. “They know all about the streak. They know all about everything. Our guys felt a little bit, not necessarily disrespected, but they heard people say, ‘This is the year (the streak ends),’ for sure. And it kind of pissed off a lot of our older Kansas kids.”
The Wildcats used the doubters as motivation, and that fueled them to their 17th consecutive win over the Jayhawks.
To be fair, there were valid reasons for outsiders to like KU in this matchup. The Jayhawks entered the weekend with a better record, and they pushed the Wildcats to the final whistle in each of their past two meetings. K-State won those games by a combined six points.
But this was a throwback to many of the beatdowns that K-State used to enjoy before Lance Leipold took over at KU.
“Sooner or later, it’s going to happen, and they’re going to beat us,” Klieman said. “It just couldn’t have been today. I say that right now. It couldn’t have been today, because of the pressure that those seniors carry.”
There are 33 players from the Sunflower State listed on the K-State football roster. They did not want the streak to end on their watch.
“We have been hearing it the past three years, ever since I’ve been in college,” K-State quarterback Avery Johnson said. “Whenever we play KU, it’s always going to be their year. I think maybe our record might have reflected that it was going to be their year, because our record hasn’t been what it’s been in the past leading up to this game. But as far as the team we are, I think we’re still the more talented team. We went out and played like it today.”
Johnson, who grew up in Wichita and used to play for Maize High, led the Wildcats with 231 yards and two touchdowns passing. But he also rushed for two scores.
After his second running touchdown, he spotted some KU fans behind the end zone. So he waved goodbye to them to announce that the game was out of reach with K-State ahead by 25.
But he was far from the only in-state product who helped the Wildcats continue their domination in this series.
Desmond Purnell led the game with nine tackles to go along with a pass breakup and a forced fumble. Those all felt like big plays, given that he was brave enough to start talking about K-State’s superiority before the game even started.
The K-State linebacker from Topeka said the Wildcats would dominate the game, and that is exactly what happened.
“This was huge, especially with it being my senior year,” Purnell said. “That’s all I wanted to do was go out there and win. So we definitely won. I’m very pleased and very happy.”
As a seventh-year senior, offensive lineman Taylor Poitier was particularly giddy about the result.
So much so, that the Kansas City product ended his interview session with reporters by wishing KU luck during basketball season.
“I saw this whole week that they were favored to win,” Poitier said. “And I was just like, ‘What makes you guys think that we’re going to let them roll over us?’ We’ve been talking about every week: We have to be elite. And that’s what we showed out there. I’m really happy how we handled it out there. We didn’t really talk too much smack, we just handled our business.”
Klieman encouraged K-State’s “local” recruits to celebrate the victory.
“Those guys are the fiber of what K State football is,” Klieman said. “It’s why K State football, in my opinion, has been as dominant as we have been in this series. It’s because it just means so much to those kids. Then they get the transfers and they get the young kids to buy in.”
The Wildcats dominated this game so thoroughly that KU football fans have to be wondering when (or even if) the streak will come to an end.
K-State (4-4, 3-2 Big 12) got off to a 1-3 start this season and many gave up on the Wildcats. KU (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) started hot and some thought they were heading toward a big year.
It’s been a total reversal since.
The Wildcats have won three of their past four, and their only loss came by a single point at Baylor. With Texas Tech up next, they have a chance to disrupt the Big 12 championship race as they push for bowl eligibility.
Time will tell what K-State can do from here.
But there dominance in the Sunflower Showdown has never felt more certain.
This story was originally published October 25, 2025 at 5:36 PM with the headline "Why K-State was ‘(ticked) off’ & loaded with extra motivation for KU rivalry win."