SE: The Scene is Set for the Final Chapter

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Since August, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman has talked about one thing: The Story. After the season-opening 24-7 win over Stanford, he talked about The Story, and after the come-from-behind win at Texas Tech, he talked about The Story. After four straight Big 12 Conference wins, he talked about The Story. And after two straight losses to eventual Big 12 Champion Baylor and at Texas to end the regular season, you guess it, Klieman was talking about The Story.

Immediately after K-State, 7-5, accepted its invitation to the TaxAct Texas Bowl at NRG Stadium in Houston to face LSU, 6-6, at 8 p.m. Tuesday, January 4, 2022, Klieman stressed the importance of The Story again.

"The story of the 2021 Wildcats," he said, "still has one chapter to write."

The Story was far, far different a year ago during the COVID pandemic-riddled campaign in which the Wildcats hardly had enough healthy bodies to finish their 4-6 campaign. When Klieman led K-State to the Liberty Bowl during his first season in 2019, optimism was through the roof regarding the prospects for his second season. Then came the pandemic, the injuries, and the ups and downs of The Story that incurred the wrong ending.

This story in 2021 is vastly different. There was the 3-0 nonconference record followed by the 0-3 start in the Big 12, which was then followed by a remarkable four-game winning streak. At one point, the Wildcats owned the longest active winning streak in the Big 12. Then arrived disappointing losses to eventual Big 12 Champion Baylor (20-17) and at Texas (22-17).

And now the Wildcats get a chance to issue their final statement of the 2021 season on January 4.

"It's got one more chapter, an exciting chapter," Klieman said. "The story (of the season) is a long story and you're going to have some bumps in the road. We had our leadership meeting today. The last time we had a leadership council meeting we were 3-3 and 0-3 in the league. I challenged those guys to have an impact and challenged them to be accountable. Lo and behold, we got it to seven wins.

"Although we're disappointed that we lost the last two games, I'm a firm believer that you're not judged by a moment but by an entire body of work. We have one more opportunity with these seniors to truly finish the story. I know our guys are excited about that. We're going to get after it with our prep and hopefully have a really good game."

Prior to this season, K-State instituted four core values to steer the direction of their campaign, which included "Discipline," "Commitment," "Toughness" and "Be Selfless" — pillars that bonded together a squad eager for a better ending in 2021. All season, K-State seniors haven't missed an opportunity to share that this is the tightest, most fun group they've ever been a part of during their careers, and there has seemed to be a genuine love between players and their head coach, who asked his players go to 1-0 every day.

"Our guys have been really disciplined throughout the year," Klieman said. "We haven't had troubles off the field and guys have challenged each other on the field and have the discipline to come to work every day and to be committed to your teammates and to your brother and to be committed to K-State football is important.

"Toughness — you play seven games in a row after our bye week like we did and that's a grind. We have a lot of guys who fought through a lot of injuries. We had a lot of guys who played really banged up just like everybody else in the country, but I just know how tough those guys have been.

"Selfless — for 18 to 22 years olds, that's tough to ask. But there were a lot of selfless acts of guys moving around and playing different spots so we could put the best outfit out there every Saturday.

"We've got a tremendous locker room, a really close-knit group of guys. I know they're excited to be together for another month."

Things don't always work out, adversity hits, points get left on the table, and the work continues. So, it becomes paramount for the Wildcats to move past the 22-17 loss at Texas on November 26.

The TaxAct Texas Bowl will arrive 39 days after the end of the regular season.

This final chapter is intriguing:

- K-State averages 26.3 points. LSU allows 25.3 points.

- LSU averages 27.1 points. K-State allows 21.1 points.

- K-State averages 355.7 total yards. LSU allows 372.2 total yards.

- LSU averages 373.5 total yards. K-State allows 347.8 total yards.

- Skylar Thompson has completed 68.8% of his passes for 1,854 yards and 9 touchdowns and 4 interceptions.

- LSU sophomore quarterback Max Johnson has completed 60.3% of his passes for 2,815 yards and 27 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

- Deuce Vaughn has 1,258 rushing yards on 214 carries and 15 touchdowns.

- LSU junior running back Tyrion Davis-Price has 1,003 yards on 211 carries and 6 touchdowns.

- Phillip Brooks has 38 catches for 474 yards and 2 touchdowns.

- LSU freshman Jack Bech has 43 catches for 489 yards and 3 touchdowns.

K-State featured four players who were selected as First Team All-Big 12 selections, including Big 12 co-Defensive Lineman of the Year Felix Anudike-Uzomah, offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, kick returner Malik Knowles and defensive back Russ Yeast. Vaughn and fullback Jax Dineen earned second-team honors.

LSU and head coach Ed Orgeron agreed to a mutual separation earlier this season, and he will not coach in the TaxAct Texas Bowl two years after leading the Tigers to the 2019 National Championship. The Tigers went 5-5 during the COVID pandemic season and this season has lost five of their last eight games heading into the bowl game. Three of their losses this season have been by single digits.

"They're not far removed from the national championship," Klieman said. "There's so much prestige and history behind LSU football and it excites me. I know it's going to excite our staff and team to play a high-caliber SEC team who everybody's talked about and heard about. It'll be a big challenge because they have tremendous players. They have a coaching change going on, but they have a bunch of kids who have a lot of pride and want to finish out with a win just like we do."

K-State has one key change as well as fifth-year quarterbacks coach C0llin Klein will take over as interim offensive coordinator for the bowl game. Klein, who served as co-offensive coordinator in 2018, will head an offense that had trouble scoring down the stretch of the season.

"I know we're not going to reinvent the wheel in three weeks, and I don't want (Klein) to think that he's judged solely on what happens here in this three-week prep and one game," Klieman said. "For me, it's more the leadership, the organization, how he interacts with the coaches and players. I'm going to be a fly on the wall a lot with those offensive coaches to see the plan that they come up with.

"I know that we had a meeting this morning with the offensive staff, and they're excited about the challenge. We didn't know the opponent or where we were playing. We'll be on the road this week again (recruiting) and then we'll start that preparation next weekend."

K-State football practice, April 1, 2019

One key question facing the Wildcats is whether Thompson, their sixth-year senior quarterback and only player in school history to record 6,000 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in a career, will be available for the bowl game.

"I don't think Skylar would practice if we practiced today," Klieman said. "We'll have everybody ready, and I don't know if that's going to be Will (Howard) and Jaren (Lewis) and Jake (Rubley), who are practicing this weekend, or by next week we can have Skylar. I'll have to give an update at another time. It's everybody all-hands-on-deck this week at the quarterback position for this game."

Klieman, who won four FCS national titles in five years as head coach at North Dakota State, is no stranger to postseason football. Now the Wildcats are playing in the final bowl game prior to the FBS National Championship.

"I know how unique and special bowl games are and postseason football, especially for seniors in getting their last opportunity to play at K-State, so it's our job as coaches to make sure we come up with terrific game plans so those guys can just cut it lose and play," Klieman said. "I'm excited about spending a month with these guys."

These Wildcats are eager to write an appropriate ending to The Story.

Kansas State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Felix Anudike-Uzomah

Cooper Beebe

Phillip Brooks

Jax Dineen

Malik Knowles

Skylar Thompson

Deuce Vaughn

Russ Yeast

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