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Kansas State’s season is off to a shocking 1-3 start. K-State fans didn’t expect this, and neither did the team. In multiple preseason publications, K-State was picked to win the Big 12 championship.
Then, Dublin happened, and a loss to Iowa State. Then, two more one-score losses and suddenly, a season of hope and promise was left damaged so early in the season.
Is all lost for KSU? Does a 1-3 start doom the Wildcats to mediocrity? Is a bowl game still possible? Wait, a Big 12 title still is possible?
Today, we’ll take a look at the Wildcats’ first four games and try to put some perspective on where they are.
Tomorrow, we’ll look at the Wildcats’ remaining eight games and figure out where they might be going.
What happened so far to K-State
No. 17 K-State went to Dublin and lost to No. 22 Iowa State, 24-21, in a hard-fought game that could have gone either way — a theme for early in the 2025 season. All four of K-State’s games have been decided by one score. All were winnable, all were losable.
The Wildcats’ 38-35 victory over North Dakota in Week Two was almost as shocking as the losses. The Wildcats needed a 6-yard touchdown pass from Avery Johnson to Joe Jackson with 42 seconds to play to pull out the victory.
The shocking part? K-State was a 27.5-point favorite over the FCS Fighting Hawks.
Huge upset for Army
In Week Three, the Wildcats lost to visiting Army, 24-21, in another shocker. Kansas State was a 17-point favorite.
Some perspective: The Black Knights no longer are the pushover they were for decades. They have been to six bowl games since 2016, and won five of them.
K-State led the Black Knights, 13-0, and took a 21-14 lead into the fourth quarter.
Army is a difficult team because of its style of play. Kansas State isn’t the first team to experience the Black Knights’ quirkiness and not the first team unable to do much about it.
The Black Knights run right at you. This style of offense has worked for Army coach Jeff Monken, whose team often lacks highly rated skill players.
Army ran the ball on 70 of their 82 offensive plays and gained 237 yards on the ground against K-State. Army quarterback Cale Hellums ran the ball 41 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The Black Knights had four scoring drives of at least 13 plays.
Army ranks 10th in the nation in rushing offense at 258.5 yards per game. That is third among the service academies, who tend to keep the offense simple and grounded. Navy ranks first and Air Force ranks ninth.
Against K-State, Army led in time of possession, 40:29 to 19:31.
Loss on national TV
Last week, the Wildcats went to Tucson and lost to a resurgent Arizona, 23-17. Arizona outgained K-State, 412 to 193 yards.
Johnson, who averaged 254 passing yards in the first three games, was held to 88 yards by Arizona. Johnson completed 13-of-29 passes and had seven carries for minus-16 yards and one touchdown.
U of A is experiencing a comeback season, now 3-0 after a 4-8 season in 2024 that included a 31-7 loss at Kansas State.
K-State had trouble stopping the run again, as Arizona’s Ismail Mahdi ran for 189 yards and quarterback Noah Fifita scored two touchdowns on the ground.
K-State had the game’s most exciting moment on the first play of the second half. On a direct snap, wide receiver Jayce Brown ran 75 yards for a touchdown to cut Arizona’s lead to 17-10.
“It was great blocking,” K-State coach Chris Klieman said about Brown’s run, “and you get him in the open field, and he usually can make a big difference.”
But it wasn’t enough.
The Associated Press’ coverage of the game reported that K-State “spent most of Friday night being dominated on both sides of the ball once again.”
Klieman said after the Arizona game: “Really frustrating and we did not win the line of scrimmage today and that was the biggest thing that I saw.
“We had a chance with 2 minutes left to go down and score and win. Maybe we didn’t deserve to be in that position, but because we have kids with resolve, tough kids, and kids that are all-in, we had that chance.”
For a season to turn around, the results of one-score games have to turn around for K-State. Being dominated by Arizona on the line of scrimmage was a one-night issue that K-State has to hope doesn’t become a season-long problem.
So far, the Wildcats’ season has been disappointing. With eight games remaining, there is time for a rebound. We’ll examine that tomorrow.
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