Earning the Opportunity
Nov 28, 2022 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
He doesn't remember who he was talking to as he left the field at Amon G. Stadium, but Kansas State junior quarterback Will Howard remembers how he felt after the Wildcats' 38-28 loss to TCU on October 22 in a meeting that put the Horned Frogs over the Wildcats in the Big 12 Conference standings.
Howard remembers how K-State led, 28-10, in the second quarter. He remembers how TCU roared back and scored the final 28 points. He remembers the crowd. He remembers the gloom-filled nighttime air in Fort Worth, Texas.
And Howard remembers what he said.
"Walking off the field after the game, I forget who I told, but I said, 'We're going to get a chance at these guys again,'" Howard says.
"Here we are."
Seven games into his tenure as K-State head coach, Chris Klieman guided the Wildcats to an upset win against No. 5 Oklahoma (48-41) — a feat the Wildcats repeated against the third-ranked Sooners in 2020 (38-25), and again against No. 6 OU on September 24 (41-34).
This season, K-State also outlasted Iowa State (10-9) on October 8. After the loss to TCU, the 22nd-ranked Wildcats bounced back to thump No. 9 Oklahoma State, 48-0, which marked the largest ever shutout win by a lower-ranked team against an AP Top-10 team.
Klieman has won many big games over his four seasons at K-State.
Saturday's 47-27 win over Kansas deserves mention on the list. Understand Kansas is improved, and it entered the final game of the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2008, and the Jayhawks seemingly hung with the Wildcats much of the contest in front of 51,861 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
"There was a lot at stake," Klieman says in his postgame news conference.
The victory gave No. 12 K-State 14-straight wins in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, the longest winning streak by either team in a rivalry that dates to 1902, but most importantly, it punched the Wildcats' ticket to the Big 12 Championship Game against No. 3 TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
"So happy for the guys in that locker room that found a way," Klieman says. "People doubted these guys all season long and doubted our guys in that locker room. Not many people thought we'd be in the position we're in. The guys downstairs did.
"This is a total body of work. That's not just this football game. It's a total body of work that these guys believed in each other and believed in the plan and they took ownership in their program. We had great player ownership and we rose up when people doubted those guys down there."
Howard grins at the question in the aftermath of one of the biggest games of his career. Howard, a native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, who torched West Virginia in a 48-31 win in front of his family and friends, never envisioned his college career going quite like this. Time and time again, he's been called upon to take the reins of the Wildcats' offense. This season, he has thrown 13 touchdowns and two interceptions in five games. He completed 11-of-21 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns against the Jayhawks.
What was his favorite moment of the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday night?
"I'd say at the end of the game, running around the field and getting to shake a lot of the Cat fans' hands, that was really cool," he says. "That's something I'll remember for a while. I was able to see my brother in the locker room and got a picture with him and the Governor's Cup trophy, so that was pretty cool being able to share that with him.
"My whole family was here. I was lucky enough to get them out here for Thanksgiving. My sister was able to make it. That was big time."
Deuce Vaughn, the pride of Round Rock, Texas, ranks second all-time at K-State with 3,341 rushing yards, including 1,295 yards this season. Tied for the fastest FBS player to reach 3,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards since 1996, the 5-foot-6, 176-pound Vaughn, a junior, is one of the most dangerous players in the nation.
His favorite part of K-State's victory over Kansas wasn't the fact that he rushed for 147 yards and one touchdown.
"To me, it was probably in the locker room after the game," Vaughn says. "There were a lot of big-time moments in the game, but to get in there and have the captains come up and speak and to have everybody come together — this is what we've been working for, man, so to go in here and celebrate as a team, and as a family, that was big time.
"That was utmost, 100%, my favorite thing of the night."
Howard felt the teamwide love, too.
"The way this team has persevered through this year and fought through a lot of adversity, it shows the culture (Klieman) has built, a culture of player-led team and a culture of just family," he says. "You can feel it. There's true love in that locker room. Everybody just truly cares about each other and wants to do it for each other. There's no individuality. Everybody just wants to go get the win for the program and for those guys.
"There's true love there and that's the big thing Coach has inspired and credit to him for that."
K-State is 9-3 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12. The Wildcats have reached nine victories in a regular season for the first time since 2014 and while they won the 2012 Big 12 Championship in 2012, this Saturday will mark the program's first appearance in a Big 12 title game since 2003. That season, the Wildcats toppled unbeaten Oklahoma, 35-7, in one of the greatest upsets in championship history.
K-State simply belongs in this Big 12 title game. The Wildcats could've clinched a spot in the title game had Texas lost to Baylor on Friday. Didn't happen. That meant the fate of the league title game was in the hands of the Wildcats. Exactly how Klieman wanted it.
"We didn't want to back in by having Texas lose," Klieman says. "We needed to earn this and the guys needed to earn this. We're smart enough to realize there was a lot of pressure on us as a coaching staff and us as the players to finish this deal.
"We had one more chapter in the regular season and they finished the chapter the right way and earned the opportunity."
K-State, which was picked fifth in the Big 12, has been quite a story in 2022.
The Wildcats' three losses have been to teams currently ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25. They have won four of their last five. They have scored 40-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2013. They have their best scoring defense since 2003.
They have gobs of players who should be in consideration for All-Big 12 honors.
Now these Wildcats have an opportunity to take down undefeated TCU in what some are predicting could be the best league title game this season.
"I'm really excited because I feel like we have some unfinished business to get these guys," Howard says. "They're a really good team. They're undefeated. It's about as big of an opportunity as you can want at this level.
"I'm fired up. I'm ready."
Today, K-State is preparing for No. 3 TCU, 12-0 and 9-0, which is absolutely on a roll under first-year head coach Sonny Dykes, and which comes off a 62-14 shellacking of Iowa State in Fort Worth — one week after a 29-28 thriller over Baylor. TCU's 12-0 record is the first in the Big 12 since Texas in 2009.
"I think people who really study the game know how good the league is," Dykes told ESPN. "To get through this thing undefeated, to be able to win road games, grind through some of the tough moments we had to grind through, I think shows we have a good football team."
Klieman says: "They're playing lights out right now."
K-State figures itself to have a good team as well.
"Just to be able to represent the K-State Nation in this and to be able to go down there and have a chance to do something that every team that comes through here wants to do — this is always our goal every year," Howard says. "Our first goal is 'Big 12 Championship.' We said that in January. That was the goal we set. To be able to be here and to have that in front of us, it means the world.
"The job isn't finished. We have one more and we have to finish it out. This is a very big game coming up, obviously, but we're going to be ready. I'm excited."
He doesn't remember who he was talking to as he left the field at Amon G. Stadium, but Kansas State junior quarterback Will Howard remembers how he felt after the Wildcats' 38-28 loss to TCU on October 22 in a meeting that put the Horned Frogs over the Wildcats in the Big 12 Conference standings.
Howard remembers how K-State led, 28-10, in the second quarter. He remembers how TCU roared back and scored the final 28 points. He remembers the crowd. He remembers the gloom-filled nighttime air in Fort Worth, Texas.
And Howard remembers what he said.
"Walking off the field after the game, I forget who I told, but I said, 'We're going to get a chance at these guys again,'" Howard says.
"Here we are."
Seven games into his tenure as K-State head coach, Chris Klieman guided the Wildcats to an upset win against No. 5 Oklahoma (48-41) — a feat the Wildcats repeated against the third-ranked Sooners in 2020 (38-25), and again against No. 6 OU on September 24 (41-34).
This season, K-State also outlasted Iowa State (10-9) on October 8. After the loss to TCU, the 22nd-ranked Wildcats bounced back to thump No. 9 Oklahoma State, 48-0, which marked the largest ever shutout win by a lower-ranked team against an AP Top-10 team.
Klieman has won many big games over his four seasons at K-State.
Saturday's 47-27 win over Kansas deserves mention on the list. Understand Kansas is improved, and it entered the final game of the regular season with a winning record for the first time since 2008, and the Jayhawks seemingly hung with the Wildcats much of the contest in front of 51,861 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
"There was a lot at stake," Klieman says in his postgame news conference.
The victory gave No. 12 K-State 14-straight wins in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown, the longest winning streak by either team in a rivalry that dates to 1902, but most importantly, it punched the Wildcats' ticket to the Big 12 Championship Game against No. 3 TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
"So happy for the guys in that locker room that found a way," Klieman says. "People doubted these guys all season long and doubted our guys in that locker room. Not many people thought we'd be in the position we're in. The guys downstairs did.
"This is a total body of work. That's not just this football game. It's a total body of work that these guys believed in each other and believed in the plan and they took ownership in their program. We had great player ownership and we rose up when people doubted those guys down there."
How good does that feel?! pic.twitter.com/aZ8kHrp8dW
— K-State Football (@KStateFB) November 27, 2022
Howard grins at the question in the aftermath of one of the biggest games of his career. Howard, a native of Downingtown, Pennsylvania, who torched West Virginia in a 48-31 win in front of his family and friends, never envisioned his college career going quite like this. Time and time again, he's been called upon to take the reins of the Wildcats' offense. This season, he has thrown 13 touchdowns and two interceptions in five games. He completed 11-of-21 passes for 213 yards and two touchdowns against the Jayhawks.
What was his favorite moment of the Sunflower Showdown on Saturday night?
"I'd say at the end of the game, running around the field and getting to shake a lot of the Cat fans' hands, that was really cool," he says. "That's something I'll remember for a while. I was able to see my brother in the locker room and got a picture with him and the Governor's Cup trophy, so that was pretty cool being able to share that with him.
"My whole family was here. I was lucky enough to get them out here for Thanksgiving. My sister was able to make it. That was big time."
Deuce Vaughn, the pride of Round Rock, Texas, ranks second all-time at K-State with 3,341 rushing yards, including 1,295 yards this season. Tied for the fastest FBS player to reach 3,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards since 1996, the 5-foot-6, 176-pound Vaughn, a junior, is one of the most dangerous players in the nation.
His favorite part of K-State's victory over Kansas wasn't the fact that he rushed for 147 yards and one touchdown.
"To me, it was probably in the locker room after the game," Vaughn says. "There were a lot of big-time moments in the game, but to get in there and have the captains come up and speak and to have everybody come together — this is what we've been working for, man, so to go in here and celebrate as a team, and as a family, that was big time.
"That was utmost, 100%, my favorite thing of the night."
Howard felt the teamwide love, too.
"The way this team has persevered through this year and fought through a lot of adversity, it shows the culture (Klieman) has built, a culture of player-led team and a culture of just family," he says. "You can feel it. There's true love in that locker room. Everybody just truly cares about each other and wants to do it for each other. There's no individuality. Everybody just wants to go get the win for the program and for those guys.
"There's true love there and that's the big thing Coach has inspired and credit to him for that."
K-State is 9-3 overall and 7-2 in the Big 12. The Wildcats have reached nine victories in a regular season for the first time since 2014 and while they won the 2012 Big 12 Championship in 2012, this Saturday will mark the program's first appearance in a Big 12 title game since 2003. That season, the Wildcats toppled unbeaten Oklahoma, 35-7, in one of the greatest upsets in championship history.
K-State simply belongs in this Big 12 title game. The Wildcats could've clinched a spot in the title game had Texas lost to Baylor on Friday. Didn't happen. That meant the fate of the league title game was in the hands of the Wildcats. Exactly how Klieman wanted it.
"We didn't want to back in by having Texas lose," Klieman says. "We needed to earn this and the guys needed to earn this. We're smart enough to realize there was a lot of pressure on us as a coaching staff and us as the players to finish this deal.
"We had one more chapter in the regular season and they finished the chapter the right way and earned the opportunity."
K-State, which was picked fifth in the Big 12, has been quite a story in 2022.
The Wildcats' three losses have been to teams currently ranked in the College Football Playoff Top 25. They have won four of their last five. They have scored 40-plus points in back-to-back games for the first time since 2013. They have their best scoring defense since 2003.
They have gobs of players who should be in consideration for All-Big 12 honors.
Now these Wildcats have an opportunity to take down undefeated TCU in what some are predicting could be the best league title game this season.
"I'm really excited because I feel like we have some unfinished business to get these guys," Howard says. "They're a really good team. They're undefeated. It's about as big of an opportunity as you can want at this level.
"I'm fired up. I'm ready."
Today, K-State is preparing for No. 3 TCU, 12-0 and 9-0, which is absolutely on a roll under first-year head coach Sonny Dykes, and which comes off a 62-14 shellacking of Iowa State in Fort Worth — one week after a 29-28 thriller over Baylor. TCU's 12-0 record is the first in the Big 12 since Texas in 2009.
"I think people who really study the game know how good the league is," Dykes told ESPN. "To get through this thing undefeated, to be able to win road games, grind through some of the tough moments we had to grind through, I think shows we have a good football team."
Klieman says: "They're playing lights out right now."
K-State figures itself to have a good team as well.
"Just to be able to represent the K-State Nation in this and to be able to go down there and have a chance to do something that every team that comes through here wants to do — this is always our goal every year," Howard says. "Our first goal is 'Big 12 Championship.' We said that in January. That was the goal we set. To be able to be here and to have that in front of us, it means the world.
"The job isn't finished. We have one more and we have to finish it out. This is a very big game coming up, obviously, but we're going to be ready. I'm excited."
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