How would you rate Kansas State’s football season?
That was a popular question for everyone in attendance after a 24-14 victory over Colorado on Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
The Wildcats (6-6, 5-4 Big 12) celebrated the victory, because it clinched bowl eligibility and gave them a shot at finishing the year with a winning record. Head coach Chris Klieman went so far as to say he was “damn proud” that K-State was heading to a bowl game for the sixth time in seven years.
But not everyone in EMAW Nation is doing backflips over a potential trip to the Independence Bowl. After all, the Wildcats opened the season ranked No. 17 in the national polls. Many thought this team had the potential to win the Big 12 championship. For that reason, some will view this regular season only as a disappointment.
That’s the tricky thing about a 6-6 record in college football. It can be viewed in many different ways.
Klieman’s instant assessment of the season is proof of that.
“It depends on when you asked me to rate it,” Klieman said. “After what we just went through, I’m damn proud that we were able to get to 6-6. If you asked before the season I would have been really disappointed. If you asked it after we were 2-4, I was hoping we weren’t going to go 3-9. And there are programs in the country that did go 3-9 after starting off 2-4.
“By no means are we satisfied. But in this era of college football, on an off year for K-State we can (keep our bowl streak alive). I know that we have high expectations. For crying out loud, we won the Big 12 in 2022. If you don’t do that now, it’s a poor season. I get that, but I can’t tell you how proud I am to be 2-4 and to lose a lot of our best football players and nobody tanked. We found a way to come back to 6-6.
“I’ll get a chance to reflect on it more. We played well at times, and we didn’t play well at times, but those seniors and our coaching staff and myself, we weren’t going to let it go down the toilet. We just weren’t going to.”
When you factor in injuries to key playmakers like Dylan Edwards, Jayce Brown, Austin Romaine and Tobi Osunsanmi, one can certainly argue that Klieman made a bad situation better. Closing the regular season with four wins in six games was commendable.
But that ignores the fact that K-State lost five games by a combined 17 points, and the Wildcats were close to full strength for some of those games.
The Wildcats got off to a 7-1 start last year. Since then, they have gone 8-9. Their record during one-score games over that span is 3-7.
That does not reflect well on Klieman or starting quarterback Avery Johnson.
“We just couldn’t find ways to win those one-score games this year,” Johnson said. “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, but when you can’t find ways to win games, that’s what your record looks like.”
Talking big picture, Klieman said he needs to do a better job “filling up the roster” so the Wildcats have quality depth to depend on when a key playmaker goes down.
