New Week, Same Mentality
Oct 20, 2026 | Football, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
After its emotional win over Kansas to extend the nation's longest winning streak by a team in a rivalry game, it's back to business for Kansas State, which prepares to visit Arizona State at 2:45 p.m. (CT) Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
But first-year K-State head coach Collin Klein kicked off this week hammering home to his players the significance of the Wildcats' 35-24 win over Kansas — and not only because it marked their 18th-consecutive win over the Jayhawks.
"We definitely had a moment of celebration," Klein said at his weekly news conference. "It's hard to win. It's hard to win in college football, and it always has been. Doesn't take much watching of college football on Saturday afternoons to see all the ups and downs of everybody across the country. It's hard to win — period."
Klein was a part of many big wins as starting quarterback on K-State teams that won 10 and 11 games. He found himself channeling some of the postgame vibes once used by Hall of Famer Bill Snyder as the Wildcats move into another week of the season.
"One thing I always appreciated with Coach was he would take a step back and take a 10,000-foot perspective of 'OK, in this moment we're really excited, and deservedly so, but what are the facts of where we're at, what really happened out there, and what do we need to work on moving forward?'" Klein said. "I told our them, 'I'm proud as heck of all of us for being able to overcome everything that happened in that football game, but we better pay attention, because we have to stop making mistakes in certain situations, because otherwise the payment of that gets harder and higher the longer you don't learn it.'
"That was the message, that we just have to keep building, but I was so proud of the belief and trust that they had in each other."
At the midway point of the season, Klein lauds the toughness of his team, which seems to be hitting its groove while living in physicality. Klein likes that.
"It's a war out there," Klein said. "I was walking through the stretch lines this morning talking to some of the guys, and Gabe Powers had some bruises all over and I said, 'Now we're starting to play some football.' We got some guys bruised up a little bit and it's good."
K-State, 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference, now heads to face Arizona State, 3-3 and 1-2, in what will mark the Wildcats' first meeting against the Sun Devils in Mountain America Stadium since the 1989 season opener, which was Snyder's first game as K-State head coach.
K-State trails the all-time series 1-6 and is 0-5 against ASU in Tempe, Arizona.
Klein said that he had not been inside Mountain America Stadium before. Asked if he looked forward to visiting the stadium, he replied, "Absolutely." Asked what he had heard about the stadium, Klein replied, "Not much except it's 100 yards like every other field."
An opportunity for K-State to capture its first road win of the Klein era seemingly couldn't come at a better time. Arizona State hasn't beaten a Power 4 team at home this season with a 55-19 loss against Baylor on October 3 and a 53-25 loss to No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday.
Meanwhile, K-State's lone road game this season resulted in a 31-26 loss at Cincinnati to open the Big 12 season.
Klein was pleased with how the Wildcats, who began the league season with losses to the Bearcats and to then-No. 22 Houston, persevered and fought the Jayhawks for their first league win.
"Looking at the film was very motivating in a lot of ways," Klein said. "The potential and opportunity to build off and improve a lot of the positive things that happened are definitely there in all three phases. Our guys' ability to push through the ebbs and flows of the game was something we hadn't done to date. That's one thing I was very, very proud and excited about, was just the resiliency and the ability to continue to battle, and to play with passion and energy no matter if things were going well or bad.
"We started fast, and there was a mentality and attack mode at every position, which was good. We were able to get explosive plays to get us going. The big thing is 3-of-8 touchdowns in the red zone is not nearly good enough. If we're able to do that, you know. But winning the game at halftime is a credit to our guys' fight and resiliency through a lot of self-inflicted wounds."
K-State averages 35.5 points and ranks 16th in the FBS with 464.6 total yards of offense per game while boasting a rushing attack that ranks sixth nationally with 239.8 yards per contest. K-State also ranks second nationally with a 59.3% conversion rate on third downs.
K-State comes off a 568-yard outburst against Kansas, which included 359 rushing yards. The Wildcats' total offensive output was the fifth most in a Big 12 game in school history and the ninth most by a Power 4 team in a conference game this season. K-State's rushing total marked its fifth most ever in a Big 12 game.
Klein applauded the efforts of Joe Jackson, in particular, after the junior running back rushed for 159 yards on a career-high 27 carries and one touchdown — at one point carrying the ball on 11-straight plays between two series.
Jackson ranks eighth all-time at K-State with 5.33 yards per rushing attempt in his career and needs just seven yards to reach 1,500 rushing yards in his career.
"Joe is a workhorse," Klein said. "If he ever gets tired, he doesn't admit it. I respect the heck out of that. He cares so much. He's one of the best leaders on our team, hands down. His mentality is right, his perspective is right, and his priorities are right, and it shows in how he plays, and I love him to death."
Avery Johnson also seems to be hitting his stride at just the right time. The senior quarterback ranks 14th nationally in averaging 293.8 total yards per game, and his 9.1 yards per rushing attempt leads all quarterbacks in the nation. His seven runs of 20-plus yards rank fourth among quarterbacks and his 63.1% completion percentage ranks eighth in school history.
Johnson completed 14-of-24 passes for 209 yards and one touchdown, and he added 12 carries for 132 yards against Kansas, joining Michael Bishop, Jake Waters and Klein as just the fourth K-State quarterback to post 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards twice in a single season in the Big 12 era.
"There's a couple plays (against Kansas) that stick out to me that point really in a good direction for rhythm, timing and continuity," Klein said. "You look at the 29-yard pass to Jaron Tibbs. That's a base mid-range scheme that Avery throws with perfect timing and rhythm from a footwork standpoint, and they both feel the window and Tibbs bends into it and spits out the backside for 29 yards. If you're not on time, if you're not accurate, if you're not on the same page, it's a 10-yard play. That was a great sign.
"Third-and-13, the dig to Derrick Salley Jr., you see him rip that dig route into the boundary and he completes it one yard outside the hash with really good timing and his feet and anticipation. He puts it right on the front number. He throws those things from a trust, timing standpoint and that's really exciting and something he's growing into."
Johnson is apparently also growing into becoming a fierier leader as well.
"The thing that I told him and was so excited about was to see him as the competitor and leader that he is," Klein said. "He's so steady all the time, which is an incredible quality, and he was in attack mode, and you can see how he ran the ball and how he ran things out there, and played efficient, and knew exactly what he was doing, and knew what was going on around him. I think there's even more in him, and that's a credit to who he is and the player he is. I told him after the game that I love competing with him."
Two K-State players picked up weekly honors on Monday, as kicker Luis Rodriguez and defensive back Nick McClellan were named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week and Big 12 Freshman of the Week, respectively, by the league office.
Rodriguez went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra-point attempts against Kansas, including a career-long tying 51-yarder. He also hit a 34-yarder late in the fourth quarter to preserve a K-State win. Rodriguez's four field goals were the second most in a game in school history, tied for the most in a Big 12 game this season and tied for the fourth most by any kicker in the nation this year. He is one of seven kickers in the nation to be perfect on at least 10 field goal attempts this season.
In his first-career start, McClellan recorded three tackles — two of which went for a loss of 14 yards — forced a fumble on a punt attempt that resulted in a safety, and he broke up a pass in K-State territory with 1:15 remaining in the game.
"Luis did a tremendous job of chipping away at it," Klein said. "The safety was huge with Nick McClellan coming off the edge. You could see it in the punter's eyes that he felt it coming. Credit Nick for putting the stress and pressure on him in that moment."
Another player has created a buzz around the Vanier Family Football Complex as well — Oliver Miller.
The 6-foot-6, 294-pound Miller, a true freshman who arrived at K-State as a top-50 offensive tackle in the Class of 2026, actually saw a dual role as he played 30 snaps at tight end, proving a complement to athletic sophomore Linkon Cure, and aiding a position that is currently without its top two tight ends in Garrett Oakley and Will Anciaux due to injury.
"It's extremely impressive," Klein said. "The last couple weeks, we've been building it. (Miller) has handled it so effortlessly that it's ballooned and grown. He's taking it in stride. He's a tremendous competitor who studies extremely well and makes a difference. He did some great things in that ball game. There are a handful of plays I could point out. There was the pass protection on the big throw to Salley, and what he did in man situations in pin-and-pull stuff, and the gap-scheme counter game he was a part of, whether he was getting movement or being a kick out, his ability to operate in the moment, he just operated. Very impressive."
Klein reiterated that the sellout crowd of 51,961 for the Sunflower Showdown was very impressive, too.
"It's incredibly special," Klein said. "Our stadium, the environment on Saturday was absolutely incredible. That student section was full long before kickoff, and it was full the entire game. Their investment, passion and care for what was going on and their excitement were felt, and they no doubt affected the game."
At the midway point of his first season as head coach, Klein said that he appreciated the ongoing support by fans while indicating that there could be more to come.
"The love and support, I love so much, but this thing is so far from about me," he said. "This is about Kansas State, our players and moving this thing forward to become everything that it possibly can be."
K-State has the opportunity to take another positive step with a historic win at Arizona State on Saturday.
After its emotional win over Kansas to extend the nation's longest winning streak by a team in a rivalry game, it's back to business for Kansas State, which prepares to visit Arizona State at 2:45 p.m. (CT) Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
But first-year K-State head coach Collin Klein kicked off this week hammering home to his players the significance of the Wildcats' 35-24 win over Kansas — and not only because it marked their 18th-consecutive win over the Jayhawks.
"We definitely had a moment of celebration," Klein said at his weekly news conference. "It's hard to win. It's hard to win in college football, and it always has been. Doesn't take much watching of college football on Saturday afternoons to see all the ups and downs of everybody across the country. It's hard to win — period."
Klein was a part of many big wins as starting quarterback on K-State teams that won 10 and 11 games. He found himself channeling some of the postgame vibes once used by Hall of Famer Bill Snyder as the Wildcats move into another week of the season.
"One thing I always appreciated with Coach was he would take a step back and take a 10,000-foot perspective of 'OK, in this moment we're really excited, and deservedly so, but what are the facts of where we're at, what really happened out there, and what do we need to work on moving forward?'" Klein said. "I told our them, 'I'm proud as heck of all of us for being able to overcome everything that happened in that football game, but we better pay attention, because we have to stop making mistakes in certain situations, because otherwise the payment of that gets harder and higher the longer you don't learn it.'
"That was the message, that we just have to keep building, but I was so proud of the belief and trust that they had in each other."
At the midway point of the season, Klein lauds the toughness of his team, which seems to be hitting its groove while living in physicality. Klein likes that.
"It's a war out there," Klein said. "I was walking through the stretch lines this morning talking to some of the guys, and Gabe Powers had some bruises all over and I said, 'Now we're starting to play some football.' We got some guys bruised up a little bit and it's good."
K-State, 4-2 overall and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference, now heads to face Arizona State, 3-3 and 1-2, in what will mark the Wildcats' first meeting against the Sun Devils in Mountain America Stadium since the 1989 season opener, which was Snyder's first game as K-State head coach.
K-State trails the all-time series 1-6 and is 0-5 against ASU in Tempe, Arizona.
Klein said that he had not been inside Mountain America Stadium before. Asked if he looked forward to visiting the stadium, he replied, "Absolutely." Asked what he had heard about the stadium, Klein replied, "Not much except it's 100 yards like every other field."
An opportunity for K-State to capture its first road win of the Klein era seemingly couldn't come at a better time. Arizona State hasn't beaten a Power 4 team at home this season with a 55-19 loss against Baylor on October 3 and a 53-25 loss to No. 10 Texas Tech on Saturday.
Meanwhile, K-State's lone road game this season resulted in a 31-26 loss at Cincinnati to open the Big 12 season.
Klein was pleased with how the Wildcats, who began the league season with losses to the Bearcats and to then-No. 22 Houston, persevered and fought the Jayhawks for their first league win.
"Looking at the film was very motivating in a lot of ways," Klein said. "The potential and opportunity to build off and improve a lot of the positive things that happened are definitely there in all three phases. Our guys' ability to push through the ebbs and flows of the game was something we hadn't done to date. That's one thing I was very, very proud and excited about, was just the resiliency and the ability to continue to battle, and to play with passion and energy no matter if things were going well or bad.
"We started fast, and there was a mentality and attack mode at every position, which was good. We were able to get explosive plays to get us going. The big thing is 3-of-8 touchdowns in the red zone is not nearly good enough. If we're able to do that, you know. But winning the game at halftime is a credit to our guys' fight and resiliency through a lot of self-inflicted wounds."
K-State averages 35.5 points and ranks 16th in the FBS with 464.6 total yards of offense per game while boasting a rushing attack that ranks sixth nationally with 239.8 yards per contest. K-State also ranks second nationally with a 59.3% conversion rate on third downs.
K-State comes off a 568-yard outburst against Kansas, which included 359 rushing yards. The Wildcats' total offensive output was the fifth most in a Big 12 game in school history and the ninth most by a Power 4 team in a conference game this season. K-State's rushing total marked its fifth most ever in a Big 12 game.
Klein applauded the efforts of Joe Jackson, in particular, after the junior running back rushed for 159 yards on a career-high 27 carries and one touchdown — at one point carrying the ball on 11-straight plays between two series.
Jackson ranks eighth all-time at K-State with 5.33 yards per rushing attempt in his career and needs just seven yards to reach 1,500 rushing yards in his career.
"Joe is a workhorse," Klein said. "If he ever gets tired, he doesn't admit it. I respect the heck out of that. He cares so much. He's one of the best leaders on our team, hands down. His mentality is right, his perspective is right, and his priorities are right, and it shows in how he plays, and I love him to death."
Avery Johnson also seems to be hitting his stride at just the right time. The senior quarterback ranks 14th nationally in averaging 293.8 total yards per game, and his 9.1 yards per rushing attempt leads all quarterbacks in the nation. His seven runs of 20-plus yards rank fourth among quarterbacks and his 63.1% completion percentage ranks eighth in school history.
Johnson completed 14-of-24 passes for 209 yards and one touchdown, and he added 12 carries for 132 yards against Kansas, joining Michael Bishop, Jake Waters and Klein as just the fourth K-State quarterback to post 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards twice in a single season in the Big 12 era.
"There's a couple plays (against Kansas) that stick out to me that point really in a good direction for rhythm, timing and continuity," Klein said. "You look at the 29-yard pass to Jaron Tibbs. That's a base mid-range scheme that Avery throws with perfect timing and rhythm from a footwork standpoint, and they both feel the window and Tibbs bends into it and spits out the backside for 29 yards. If you're not on time, if you're not accurate, if you're not on the same page, it's a 10-yard play. That was a great sign.
"Third-and-13, the dig to Derrick Salley Jr., you see him rip that dig route into the boundary and he completes it one yard outside the hash with really good timing and his feet and anticipation. He puts it right on the front number. He throws those things from a trust, timing standpoint and that's really exciting and something he's growing into."
Johnson is apparently also growing into becoming a fierier leader as well.
"The thing that I told him and was so excited about was to see him as the competitor and leader that he is," Klein said. "He's so steady all the time, which is an incredible quality, and he was in attack mode, and you can see how he ran the ball and how he ran things out there, and played efficient, and knew exactly what he was doing, and knew what was going on around him. I think there's even more in him, and that's a credit to who he is and the player he is. I told him after the game that I love competing with him."
Two K-State players picked up weekly honors on Monday, as kicker Luis Rodriguez and defensive back Nick McClellan were named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week and Big 12 Freshman of the Week, respectively, by the league office.
Rodriguez went 4-for-4 on field goal attempts and 3-for-3 on extra-point attempts against Kansas, including a career-long tying 51-yarder. He also hit a 34-yarder late in the fourth quarter to preserve a K-State win. Rodriguez's four field goals were the second most in a game in school history, tied for the most in a Big 12 game this season and tied for the fourth most by any kicker in the nation this year. He is one of seven kickers in the nation to be perfect on at least 10 field goal attempts this season.
In his first-career start, McClellan recorded three tackles — two of which went for a loss of 14 yards — forced a fumble on a punt attempt that resulted in a safety, and he broke up a pass in K-State territory with 1:15 remaining in the game.
"Luis did a tremendous job of chipping away at it," Klein said. "The safety was huge with Nick McClellan coming off the edge. You could see it in the punter's eyes that he felt it coming. Credit Nick for putting the stress and pressure on him in that moment."
Another player has created a buzz around the Vanier Family Football Complex as well — Oliver Miller.
The 6-foot-6, 294-pound Miller, a true freshman who arrived at K-State as a top-50 offensive tackle in the Class of 2026, actually saw a dual role as he played 30 snaps at tight end, proving a complement to athletic sophomore Linkon Cure, and aiding a position that is currently without its top two tight ends in Garrett Oakley and Will Anciaux due to injury.
"It's extremely impressive," Klein said. "The last couple weeks, we've been building it. (Miller) has handled it so effortlessly that it's ballooned and grown. He's taking it in stride. He's a tremendous competitor who studies extremely well and makes a difference. He did some great things in that ball game. There are a handful of plays I could point out. There was the pass protection on the big throw to Salley, and what he did in man situations in pin-and-pull stuff, and the gap-scheme counter game he was a part of, whether he was getting movement or being a kick out, his ability to operate in the moment, he just operated. Very impressive."
Klein reiterated that the sellout crowd of 51,961 for the Sunflower Showdown was very impressive, too.
"It's incredibly special," Klein said. "Our stadium, the environment on Saturday was absolutely incredible. That student section was full long before kickoff, and it was full the entire game. Their investment, passion and care for what was going on and their excitement were felt, and they no doubt affected the game."
At the midway point of his first season as head coach, Klein said that he appreciated the ongoing support by fans while indicating that there could be more to come.
"The love and support, I love so much, but this thing is so far from about me," he said. "This is about Kansas State, our players and moving this thing forward to become everything that it possibly can be."
K-State has the opportunity to take another positive step with a historic win at Arizona State on Saturday.
Players Mentioned
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Saturday, October 17
