‘We’re Going to Keep Fighting’
Nov 10, 2023 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Fourteen points. That's all that separates No. 25 Kansas State from an undefeated record. It was a source of discussion earlier this week as the Wildcats reflected on where they've been — and pondered where they can still go with three games remaining in the regular season.
K-State, 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference, comes off a 33-30 overtime loss at No. 7 Texas. It also suffered a 29-21 loss at Oklahoma State (ranked 15th in the latest CFP poll) and a 30-27 loss at Missouri (ranked 14th in the CFP poll).
"Guys, we're 6-3, and we lost on a 61-yard field goal (at Missouri), we lost against Oklahoma State when we all know we played a really poor football game and Oklahoma State is obviously really, really good, and we got the ball at the 30-yard line with a chance to tie it at the end," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "Texas is one of the best teams in the country, and we get beat on the last play of the game.
"Our program is in pretty good shape right now. We're going to be OK, and we're going to keep battling because we have the right guys in the locker room that believe in what we're doing. It's fun to be around these guys because they're such competitors."
Close games. All of them.
"I think we have a really good football team still," Klieman said. "We have a lot of great things to play for."
Seven Big 12 teams have two or fewer losses in the league standings. Texas and Oklahoma State lead the pack as each owns a 5-1 record.
It would require some help, but K-State mathematically still has a chance to return to Arlington to defend its Big 12 title.
"There's no quit in this team," quarterback Will Howard said. "Even if there's that little shadow of a chance that we might have a chance, we're going to keep fighting."
One thing is certain.
"The great thing about the game of football," Klieman said, "is you're always in a one-week season."
K-State's task this week? To defeat Baylor, 3-6 and 2-4, in Saturday's 2 p.m. kickoff at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Bears come off back-to-back losses, including a heartbreaking 25-24 overtime setback against Houston in Waco, Texas.
However, Baylor is 2-0 in Big 12 road games with a 36-35 win at UCF and a 32-29 win at Cincinnati.
"I think we all know how difficult the Big 12 is, at least we do as coaches," Klieman said. "We're going to get Baylor's best. They haven't lost on the road. They got two Big 12 wins (on the road). I have so much respect from Dave Aranda. They're two years removed from the Big 12 Championship. We're going to have to play our best in order to have an opportunity to be successful."
K-State is 5-0 at home and has outscored its opponents 213-47 in Manhattan. It has scored at least 41 points in every home game this season.
The Wildcats beat the Bears, 31-3, last season in Waco.
"You go back to our game last year and it wasn't a very good performance by us. We got choked out a lot in their tight coverage, and I'm sure they're seeing that as a way moving forward on Saturday," Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. "There are a lot of great challenges. I like our attitude and the guys we got that are returning, and I like the mindset that we got and the chip on the shoulder that we have.
"(We're) working toward a really good performance on Saturday. There've been things that've gotten better the couple weeks. I wish they would've finished with wins. We have to be able to put it together versus K-State."
Baylor must contend with Howard, who has hit stride down the stretch of his senior season. Howard has thrown nine touchdowns to just one interception in the last three games. He comes off one of his best games as a Wildcat — a career-high 327-yard, school record-tying four-touchdown effort against the Longhorns.
"I'm telling you, the kid's a winner and he's a competitor," Klieman said. "He made plays, made big-time plays."
Howard has 42 touchdown passes and needs three more to set the school's all-time record for passing touchdowns in a career.
"Just like we've seen the past few years and on a smaller scale this year, to go from the bench to balling out last week like he did," center Hayden Gillum said, "he just continues to prove people wrong."
Since Collin Klein started calling plays for the 2021 Texas Bowl, K-State's offense has averaged 34.3 points per game. The Wildcats currently rank 17th nationally and second in the Big 12 with 36.6 points per game this season, a figure that ranks seventh in school history. Additionally, the Wildcats average 452.7 yards per game, which ranks 22nd nationally and seventh in school history.
Baylor has experienced its ups and downs in slowing opponents this season. It ranks 98th in scoring defense in giving up 29.4 points per game, and it ranks 88th in surrendering 395.0 yards per contest.
Klein is optimistic that the offense will respond after the Wildcats' disappointment in Austin, Texas.
"Our guys, you don't get down and fight back in that ballgame if you don't have a lot of guts and mental fortitude," Klein said. "Obviously, that's what it's going to take for us in this situation, but I know they'll do that for sure."
The Wildcats come armed with a defense that has also shown mental fortitude all season and rebounded from a tough start against the Longhorns to allow just three fourth-quarter points to aid in the achievement of reaching an overtime period.
K-State ranks 18th nationally in allowing just 17.8 points per game and possesses a red-zone defense that ranks second in the country in allowing touchdowns just 29.17% (7-of-24) of the time.
The Wildcats must slow a Baylor offense that ranks 97th in averaging 22.7 points per game and ranks 67th in averaging 391.2 yards per game.
After facing the likes of Brady Cook (Missouri), Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State), Josh Hoover (TCU), Donovan Smith (Houston) and Maalik Murphy (Texas), the Wildcats prepare for Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen, a junior who's thrown for 5,124 yards with 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his 25-game career. He's also rushed for 148 yards and five scores on the ground.
"He's really athletic," K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "Him running the football and scrambling with the football is as scary as anything that they do. He throws the ball accurately and is one of the better quarterbacks in the league. He's played a lot of football."
K-State has played a lot of football at home this season and looks to continue its winning ways at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Klieman and the Wildcats look forward to it.
"We've got the greatest fans in college football," Klieman said. "They come out in droves for these guys, and they love their Wildcats. The hair on the back of your heck stands up just thinking about that tunnel opening up and seeing the great fans out there as you're running out of the tunnel. It's cranked up. It's important.
"That's something that doesn't happen at a lot of places in college football, and it happens here for sure."
Fourteen points. That's all that separates No. 25 Kansas State from an undefeated record. It was a source of discussion earlier this week as the Wildcats reflected on where they've been — and pondered where they can still go with three games remaining in the regular season.
K-State, 6-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 Conference, comes off a 33-30 overtime loss at No. 7 Texas. It also suffered a 29-21 loss at Oklahoma State (ranked 15th in the latest CFP poll) and a 30-27 loss at Missouri (ranked 14th in the CFP poll).
"Guys, we're 6-3, and we lost on a 61-yard field goal (at Missouri), we lost against Oklahoma State when we all know we played a really poor football game and Oklahoma State is obviously really, really good, and we got the ball at the 30-yard line with a chance to tie it at the end," K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. "Texas is one of the best teams in the country, and we get beat on the last play of the game.
"Our program is in pretty good shape right now. We're going to be OK, and we're going to keep battling because we have the right guys in the locker room that believe in what we're doing. It's fun to be around these guys because they're such competitors."
Close games. All of them.
"I think we have a really good football team still," Klieman said. "We have a lot of great things to play for."
Seven Big 12 teams have two or fewer losses in the league standings. Texas and Oklahoma State lead the pack as each owns a 5-1 record.
It would require some help, but K-State mathematically still has a chance to return to Arlington to defend its Big 12 title.
"There's no quit in this team," quarterback Will Howard said. "Even if there's that little shadow of a chance that we might have a chance, we're going to keep fighting."
One thing is certain.
"The great thing about the game of football," Klieman said, "is you're always in a one-week season."
K-State's task this week? To defeat Baylor, 3-6 and 2-4, in Saturday's 2 p.m. kickoff at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The Bears come off back-to-back losses, including a heartbreaking 25-24 overtime setback against Houston in Waco, Texas.
However, Baylor is 2-0 in Big 12 road games with a 36-35 win at UCF and a 32-29 win at Cincinnati.
"I think we all know how difficult the Big 12 is, at least we do as coaches," Klieman said. "We're going to get Baylor's best. They haven't lost on the road. They got two Big 12 wins (on the road). I have so much respect from Dave Aranda. They're two years removed from the Big 12 Championship. We're going to have to play our best in order to have an opportunity to be successful."
K-State is 5-0 at home and has outscored its opponents 213-47 in Manhattan. It has scored at least 41 points in every home game this season.
The Wildcats beat the Bears, 31-3, last season in Waco.
"You go back to our game last year and it wasn't a very good performance by us. We got choked out a lot in their tight coverage, and I'm sure they're seeing that as a way moving forward on Saturday," Baylor head coach Dave Aranda said. "There are a lot of great challenges. I like our attitude and the guys we got that are returning, and I like the mindset that we got and the chip on the shoulder that we have.
"(We're) working toward a really good performance on Saturday. There've been things that've gotten better the couple weeks. I wish they would've finished with wins. We have to be able to put it together versus K-State."
Baylor must contend with Howard, who has hit stride down the stretch of his senior season. Howard has thrown nine touchdowns to just one interception in the last three games. He comes off one of his best games as a Wildcat — a career-high 327-yard, school record-tying four-touchdown effort against the Longhorns.
"I'm telling you, the kid's a winner and he's a competitor," Klieman said. "He made plays, made big-time plays."
Howard has 42 touchdown passes and needs three more to set the school's all-time record for passing touchdowns in a career.
"Just like we've seen the past few years and on a smaller scale this year, to go from the bench to balling out last week like he did," center Hayden Gillum said, "he just continues to prove people wrong."
Since Collin Klein started calling plays for the 2021 Texas Bowl, K-State's offense has averaged 34.3 points per game. The Wildcats currently rank 17th nationally and second in the Big 12 with 36.6 points per game this season, a figure that ranks seventh in school history. Additionally, the Wildcats average 452.7 yards per game, which ranks 22nd nationally and seventh in school history.
Baylor has experienced its ups and downs in slowing opponents this season. It ranks 98th in scoring defense in giving up 29.4 points per game, and it ranks 88th in surrendering 395.0 yards per contest.
Klein is optimistic that the offense will respond after the Wildcats' disappointment in Austin, Texas.
"Our guys, you don't get down and fight back in that ballgame if you don't have a lot of guts and mental fortitude," Klein said. "Obviously, that's what it's going to take for us in this situation, but I know they'll do that for sure."
The Wildcats come armed with a defense that has also shown mental fortitude all season and rebounded from a tough start against the Longhorns to allow just three fourth-quarter points to aid in the achievement of reaching an overtime period.
K-State ranks 18th nationally in allowing just 17.8 points per game and possesses a red-zone defense that ranks second in the country in allowing touchdowns just 29.17% (7-of-24) of the time.
The Wildcats must slow a Baylor offense that ranks 97th in averaging 22.7 points per game and ranks 67th in averaging 391.2 yards per game.
After facing the likes of Brady Cook (Missouri), Alan Bowman (Oklahoma State), Josh Hoover (TCU), Donovan Smith (Houston) and Maalik Murphy (Texas), the Wildcats prepare for Baylor quarterback Blake Shapen, a junior who's thrown for 5,124 yards with 31 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in his 25-game career. He's also rushed for 148 yards and five scores on the ground.
"He's really athletic," K-State defensive coordinator Joe Klanderman said. "Him running the football and scrambling with the football is as scary as anything that they do. He throws the ball accurately and is one of the better quarterbacks in the league. He's played a lot of football."
K-State has played a lot of football at home this season and looks to continue its winning ways at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Klieman and the Wildcats look forward to it.
"We've got the greatest fans in college football," Klieman said. "They come out in droves for these guys, and they love their Wildcats. The hair on the back of your heck stands up just thinking about that tunnel opening up and seeing the great fans out there as you're running out of the tunnel. It's cranked up. It's important.
"That's something that doesn't happen at a lot of places in college football, and it happens here for sure."
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