Last Saturday, K-State football suffered a devastating 31-26 loss to the Cincinnati Bearcats in Cincinnati, Ohio. The loss dropped the Wildcats to 3-1 and ended their bid for the program’s first 4-0 start since head coach Collin Klein was lining up under center for Bill Snyder’s electrifying offense.
Are most K-State fans overreacting to this loss?
Wildcat nation has spent the week discussing how disappointing it was to drop the Big 12 opener and what the loss means for the rest of the conference. Quite frankly, those concerns are valid.
K-State’s defense, especially on the defensive line, struggled throughout the night at Nippert Stadium.
The defensive line was Klein’s top priority entering the season. After the loss to Cincinnati, Klein said he “knew that battle at the line of scrimmage would be the ballgame, which it was. And we were on the wrong side of it.”
He was right.
Cincinnati had not one, but two running backs, as the stellar duo of Cole Tabb and Gi’Bran Payne eclipsed 100 rushing yards.
Payne, in particular, had an Abu Sama-esque 2023 Farmageddon performance against a K-State defense that entered the game ranked among the nation’s best in rushing yards allowed. He repeatedly found a crease, and more often than not, that crease turned into green turf, sunshine and rainbows. Payne averaged 7.9 yards per carry.
The defense was abysmal, making last week’s column about how “this defense will win championships” feel like a distant memory.
Can this team come back from such an early loss?
The hope was to enter this week’s bye week with a 4-0 record. Instead, K-State enters the break at 3-1, and another loss to Houston would leave the Wildcats with two losses and significantly damage their Big 12 Championship and College Football Playoff aspirations.
The Wildcats’ schedule leaves little room for error. With Houston and Oklahoma State among the few remaining ranked opponents, K-State needs to stack wins and keep its loss column low if it wants to climb back into the national conversation.
Last week, K-State received 25th- and 24th-place votes from Greg Luca and Sean Reider, respectively, while the rest of the AP voters left the Wildcats unranked. Now, after losing their spot in the rankings, the goal is simple: win games and rebuild the resume for a late-season push.
Realistically, if K-State wins out, the Wildcats still have a path to compete for a Big 12 Championship and earn a College Football Playoff berth. That path may be more attainable than some fans believe.
There’s sunshine in the Little Apple
Despite what I may be accused of on X for saying Avery Johnson is “playing like a legit NFL prospect this season,” I stand by it.
The average box-score bandit may get Johnson quarterback updates from TikTok clips and ESPN stats. But if you are actually watching Johnson, the football player, there is plenty to like.
Through four games, Johnson has produced 910 passing yards and 291 rushing yards, for 1,201 yards from scrimmage. That is the most he has produced through the first four games of a season as K-State’s starting quarterback.
He has also posted the highest completion percentage and best passer rating of his career through his first four starts of the season, with only his small-sample freshman season producing a higher rating.
Johnson is doing this while dealing with a shortage of available pass catchers. Jarron Tibbs and Will Anciaux were injured last weekend, forcing K-State to look deeper into its receiver room.
Somehow, Klein and Johnson manufactured a 140-yard receiving performance from Derrick Salley Jr., achieved through what can only be described as coaching magic and mystery.
Then there is tight end Garrett Oakley, who had two noticeable drops late in the game that killed K-State drives.
The Verdict
Continuing the 2022 Big 12 Championship comparison, the Wildcats are again 3-1, with a ranked opponent set to appear in the fifth game of the season. The difference is that in 2022, K-State’s 3-1 record included a win over then No. 6 Oklahoma. This season, the Wildcats face No. 20 Houston next.
If Houston can take care of business against UCF, the Cougars could move into the AP Poll’s top 10 and give K-State an opportunity to add a quality win to its resume.
So, push your purple pride down south for a week. Houston needs a victory at TDECU Stadium for the greater good of yet another miracle in Manhattan.
