Kansas State University Athletics
Perseverance Rewarded with One More Opportunity
Dec 01, 2025 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
The murmur of conversation from families and friends, some wearing jerseys of their sons to celebrate Senior Day, sweeps through the door as one-by-one Kansas State players make their way into the team theater room at the Vanier Family Football Complex shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. It's a grand moment, a celebratory moment, for sure, after the Wildcats put their hard work, and their hearts, on display one final time at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with a 24-14 win over Colorado, thus lifting K-State to a bowl game for a fifth-straight season.
It's impossible to wipe the smile from the face of senior defensive tackle Uso Seumalo.
"I get to play one more game with my boys," Seumalo says. "The love we have for each other in this locker room is unmatched, and being able to play with these guys one more time, for the last time, it's exciting."
For seventh-year senior offensive lineman Taylor Poitier, the journey to this point moves him to tears.
"This team is really family," Poitier says. "They took a kid in from Kansas City, Kansas. I had one other offer. They believed in me. When I was hurt, they've always believed in me. That's what this coaching staff and team is about, they believe in one another, and they support you ever single time. We take it one day at a time and live in that moment. That's what we preach about. We all love each other. We'd do anything for any guy in that locker room. That's difference between our team and other teams. We won't quit on each other."
And K-State, which entered the 2025 season as one of just 10 Power 4 teams to win at least nine games each of the past three seasons, showed no quit during this challenging fall, at times a heartbreaking fall, and at times a frustrating fall, where a total of 17 points separated the Wildcats from an 11-1 record. Look it up. They were that close — a 3-point loss to Iowa State, a 3-point loss to Army, a 6-point loss at Arizona, a 1-point loss at Baylor, and a 4-point loss at No. 12 Utah.
But K-State started the season with a 2-4 record and needed to right its course — and fast.
"We were 7-1 last year and won all the one-score games and just played bad football at the end of the year to finish out the season," quarterback Avery Johnson says. "Then there's 6-6 this year and five of our six losses were one-score games. We were in a nine-point game against Texas Tech in the fourth quarter and had a chance to make it a seven-point game with a two-point conversion (in an eventual 43-20 loss). We just couldn't find a way to win those one-score games this year, and I think that's why our record is the way it is.
"I don't think we're a 6-6 team as far as coaching and talent level. When you can't find ways to win games that's just what your record looks like."
K-State is bowl bound for the 14th in the last 16 years. K-State is also one of just 17 Power 4 programs to play in a bowl game at least 14 times in the previous 16 years.
Going 6-6 with a bowl game still to come gives K-State the chance to close out 2025 with five wins in its final seven games. A bowl win would also give the Wildcats three straight bowl victories for the first time in school history.
This marks just the third time in history that K-State has started a season with a 2-4 record and made a bowl game, joining the 2001 team with Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles, and the 2013 team with Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett.
How would K-State head coach Chris Klieman rate the 6-6 mark in the regular season?
"Depends on when you asked me to rate it," Klieman says. "After what we just went through, I'm damn proud that we were able to get to 6-6. If you'd said it before the season, it would've been really disappointing. If you'd have said it when we were 2-4, I was hoping we weren't going to go 3-9. There are programs in the country that did go 3-9 after starting out 2-4. By no means are we satisfied, but in this era of college football, on an off year for K-State and we can go to a lot of bowls in a row, I know we have high expectations — for crying out loud, we won the Big 12 in 2022, and if you don't do that now, it's a poor season. And I get that.
"I can't tell you how proud I am to be 2-4, lose a lot of our best football players, and nobody tanked it in there, and to find a way to come back to 6-6, I'll get a chance to reflect on it. We played well at times and didn't play well at times, but those seniors and coaching staff and myself — we weren't going to let it go down the toilet. We just weren't going to."
Because of the Wildcats' perseverance, they're rewarded with another game together.
Bowl game matchups will be announced on Sunday, December 7.
"I'm excited to see where we get to play," safety Gunner Maldonado says. "It's one more opportunity to display what we can do. It's also three or four more weeks with my brothers. You're never going to have that locker room again. That's huge for a lot of our seniors."
It's plenty big for Poitier, who has spent nearly a third of his life wearing purple and white, and who has about seen it all.
"Amazing," Poitier says. "From where we started out at 2-4, people did have doubts if we're going to play in a bowl game and finish strong the rest of the season. We're worried about the people in the locker room. We're not worried about the people on the outside and those outside noises. We kept it together and got it done.
"I'm so grateful to be a part of this team all these years. It's truly a blessing. I'm glad we get to do it one more time with my boys and go somewhere else and win another game."
The murmur of conversation from families and friends, some wearing jerseys of their sons to celebrate Senior Day, sweeps through the door as one-by-one Kansas State players make their way into the team theater room at the Vanier Family Football Complex shortly after 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. It's a grand moment, a celebratory moment, for sure, after the Wildcats put their hard work, and their hearts, on display one final time at Bill Snyder Family Stadium with a 24-14 win over Colorado, thus lifting K-State to a bowl game for a fifth-straight season.
It's impossible to wipe the smile from the face of senior defensive tackle Uso Seumalo.
"I get to play one more game with my boys," Seumalo says. "The love we have for each other in this locker room is unmatched, and being able to play with these guys one more time, for the last time, it's exciting."
For seventh-year senior offensive lineman Taylor Poitier, the journey to this point moves him to tears.
"This team is really family," Poitier says. "They took a kid in from Kansas City, Kansas. I had one other offer. They believed in me. When I was hurt, they've always believed in me. That's what this coaching staff and team is about, they believe in one another, and they support you ever single time. We take it one day at a time and live in that moment. That's what we preach about. We all love each other. We'd do anything for any guy in that locker room. That's difference between our team and other teams. We won't quit on each other."
And K-State, which entered the 2025 season as one of just 10 Power 4 teams to win at least nine games each of the past three seasons, showed no quit during this challenging fall, at times a heartbreaking fall, and at times a frustrating fall, where a total of 17 points separated the Wildcats from an 11-1 record. Look it up. They were that close — a 3-point loss to Iowa State, a 3-point loss to Army, a 6-point loss at Arizona, a 1-point loss at Baylor, and a 4-point loss at No. 12 Utah.
But K-State started the season with a 2-4 record and needed to right its course — and fast.
"We were 7-1 last year and won all the one-score games and just played bad football at the end of the year to finish out the season," quarterback Avery Johnson says. "Then there's 6-6 this year and five of our six losses were one-score games. We were in a nine-point game against Texas Tech in the fourth quarter and had a chance to make it a seven-point game with a two-point conversion (in an eventual 43-20 loss). We just couldn't find a way to win those one-score games this year, and I think that's why our record is the way it is.
"I don't think we're a 6-6 team as far as coaching and talent level. When you can't find ways to win games that's just what your record looks like."
K-State is bowl bound for the 14th in the last 16 years. K-State is also one of just 17 Power 4 programs to play in a bowl game at least 14 times in the previous 16 years.
Going 6-6 with a bowl game still to come gives K-State the chance to close out 2025 with five wins in its final seven games. A bowl win would also give the Wildcats three straight bowl victories for the first time in school history.
This marks just the third time in history that K-State has started a season with a 2-4 record and made a bowl game, joining the 2001 team with Ell Roberson and Darren Sproles, and the 2013 team with Jake Waters and Tyler Lockett.
How would K-State head coach Chris Klieman rate the 6-6 mark in the regular season?
"Depends on when you asked me to rate it," Klieman says. "After what we just went through, I'm damn proud that we were able to get to 6-6. If you'd said it before the season, it would've been really disappointing. If you'd have said it when we were 2-4, I was hoping we weren't going to go 3-9. There are programs in the country that did go 3-9 after starting out 2-4. By no means are we satisfied, but in this era of college football, on an off year for K-State and we can go to a lot of bowls in a row, I know we have high expectations — for crying out loud, we won the Big 12 in 2022, and if you don't do that now, it's a poor season. And I get that.
"I can't tell you how proud I am to be 2-4, lose a lot of our best football players, and nobody tanked it in there, and to find a way to come back to 6-6, I'll get a chance to reflect on it. We played well at times and didn't play well at times, but those seniors and coaching staff and myself — we weren't going to let it go down the toilet. We just weren't going to."
Because of the Wildcats' perseverance, they're rewarded with another game together.
Bowl game matchups will be announced on Sunday, December 7.
"I'm excited to see where we get to play," safety Gunner Maldonado says. "It's one more opportunity to display what we can do. It's also three or four more weeks with my brothers. You're never going to have that locker room again. That's huge for a lot of our seniors."
It's plenty big for Poitier, who has spent nearly a third of his life wearing purple and white, and who has about seen it all.
"Amazing," Poitier says. "From where we started out at 2-4, people did have doubts if we're going to play in a bowl game and finish strong the rest of the season. We're worried about the people in the locker room. We're not worried about the people on the outside and those outside noises. We kept it together and got it done.
"I'm so grateful to be a part of this team all these years. It's truly a blessing. I'm glad we get to do it one more time with my boys and go somewhere else and win another game."
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