No. 24 Kansas State couldn’t get out of its own way in a 29-21 regular-season finale loss at No. 18 Iowa State, falling 29-21.
Two turnovers, a blocked field goal, two failed fourth-down conversions and a safety ultimately kept the Wildcats from taking any lead despite hanging in the contest. K-State finished 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12, becoming one of eight FBS schools to win at least eight games in the past four seasons.
The Cyclones, 10-2 and 7-2, notched their first 10-win season in the program’s 133-year history.
“Our kids battled their tail off,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said to K-State Athletics. “That’s a good team, it’s a hard place to play, and our guys played their tail off, and just came up short.”
Sophomore quarterback Avery Johnson completed 12-of-28 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns and added 13 carries for 64 yards.
Sophomore receiver Jayce Brown, who played in the contest surrounding rumors of a transfer portal entrance, had three catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns.
“Everybody knows that’s my guy,” Johnson said on Brown’s rumors. “I want to continue to build what we started here.”
Fellow sophomore Garrett Oakley had four catches for 78 yards and one score, making K-State’s 12th tight end touchdown this season. Junior running back DJ Giddens had 14 carries for 72 yards before exiting late with for undisclosed reasons.
K-State out-gained Iowa State, 364 to 324, and held Iowa State to just 4-for-16 on third downs as the mistakes proved to be the difference, giving the Cyclones short fields and free possessions.
Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht completed 13-of-35 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns.
K-State and Iowa State, which met for the 108th time on Saturday, will open the 2025 season at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic on August 23, 2025, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.
Before then is a bowl game appearance for K-State, likely playing in a lower-level bowl game than last year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl. The Wildcats could slot in one of the Big 12’s landing spots of the Texas Bowl, Liberty Bowl and Rate Bowl.
“Get everybody to play in the bowl game,” Klieman said. “I grabbed [seniors] Austin Moore and Brendan Mott and said, ‘This crew needs to play in the bowl game.’ I know this is a different world of college athletics and I understand that, but we still have more story to write with this football team, and I’m counting on those older kids to make sure we have guys playing, and our best guys playing.”
