Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman told his team
that they're in the middle of a storm that they need to own.
Amid a 1-3 start, with the one win requiring a game-winning drive to beat an FCS team, the first four weeks of the Wildcats' season have felt to those who bleed purple as if the ship is sinking. A season that was once believed to have so much promise
now has Kansas State
looking like one of the worst Power 4 programs in the country.
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The ugliness of the 23-17 loss to Arizona
on Friday, Sept. 12, in Tucson, Arizona, only made matters worse. But Klieman vowed that changes are coming.
"We're gonna make some changes and we're going to fight our tails, fight our ass off through the storm as we go to UCF and the meat of our schedule," Klieman told reporters. "I told our guys, 'Do not jump off this ship,' and I don't think we will. I think you guys know that we won't either.
"We get kids that believe in K-State and that the meat of our schedule is in front of us. But if we don't change the way we're doing things, that meat of the schedule's gonna be a real challenge."
Kansas State
(1-3, 0-1 Big 12), thankfully, enters an open week before returning to host UCF at Bill Snyder Family Stadium on Sept. 27. The schedule picks up afterward with a difficult trip to Baylor
, a home game against TCU, a trip to Kansas, and a home game against Texas Tech.
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Aside from the Wildcats' game against Central Florida, they appear to be underdogs for the following four contests.
Using this upcoming week to reevaluate and find an identity will be critical, as the Wildcats have thus far adopted only the identity of a losing football team.
"I don't know what our identity is right now," Klieman said. "I thought I did after Iowa State
, but that hasn't come to fruition. I know the kids wanna win, and I know we get tough, resilient kids in there that'll come back and battle."
Kansas State was outgained 412-193 by Arizona, with Avery Johnson
only throwing for 88 yards and completing just 45% of his passes. On the ground, the Wildcats gained 105 yards, but 75 came on just one run, leaving 30 yards on 23 carries for the remainder of the night.
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Arizona gained 234 rushing yards, bringing K-State's run defense to allowing 175.8 yards per game, only ahead of Colorado and Oklahoma State
in the Big 12.
At the same time, Kansas State makes far too many head-scratching mistakes, whether it's with play calling, execution, or an inability to instill any of the confidence that many once had.
Right now, Kansas State is doing too many things that contribute to losing football games.
"I pride myself and I pride our coaching staff and our teams on being a sustained winner," Klieman said. "Right now, we're not that, and I've gotta own it. We've gotta own it as a football staff and football team.
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"But I'm not throwing in the towel. We've gotta figure this out because we have kids that wanna be good in there and I've got a lot of bride. We are going to get this figured out. I know that."
Wyatt D. Wheeler covers Kansas State athletics for the USA TODAY Network and Topeka Capital-Journal. You can follow him on X at
@WyattWheeler_
, contact him at 417-371-6987 or email him at wwheeler@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal:
Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman promises change after loss
