Statistically speaking, a significant number of of Kansas State football fans weren’t alive or were much too young to remember when K-State started a season this poorly.
It was 1989, 36 years ago, Bill Snyder’s first season in Manhattan. That team also started 1-3, but that start had a much different feeling. That one win, over North Texas just under 36 years ago to the day, was the first win for the Wildcats in two and a half years. It was the only win that season, but Bill Snyder was building from
nothing and created hope where it previously hadn’t existed.
Fast forward to 2025, and this Wildcats squad is creating despair from hope. The 1-3 start is bad enough, but even that one win over North Dakota nearly a month ago left a bad taste. What makes it worse is that the Cats are just a mis-step from being 0-4….but also 4-0. These Wildcats have been painfully close to being decent, to looking like the team that we all — including national pundits — thought would challenge for the Big 12 crown. But they’ve let us down at nearly every turn.
The defense has been fine. Really. They’ve kept the Cats in every game despite being absolutely terrible on 3rd and 4th downs. Part of that is being on the field all them time. It’s hard to keep up energy for every snap when you’re forced back into the game every few minutes because the offense can’t keep drives alive.
But the offense has been BAD. The offensive line has lived up to their name, and has exceptional trouble run-blocking this season — something that K-State fans are not used to seeing. But the passing game hasn’t been good enough to make up for it, especially with Avery Johnson so desperately trying to be a pass-first (and second, third, and fourth) QB, when his ground speed and elusiveness is his best football trait.
This team is broken. They look lost. They look unenthused. They don’t look like a squad that is ready to lay it all on the line every game, do the little things necessary to win football games. This team has the talent, they really do. But they are lacking fire and grit. They are lacking that edge that marked the best Bill Snyder and Chris Klieman teams.
I don’t have the answer for what ails this squad. But Chris Klieman gets paid a lot of money to figure it out, and hopefully this staff and this team figured something out in their week off from game action. There is a lot of season left, and at just 0-1 in Big 12 play there’s even still a real shot and getting this thing righted and making a run at Arlington. But things have to change. The team we saw the first four weeks is not a team that will win many more ballgames — if any — this season.
Time to run it out there and see what they’ve figured out.
We’ve got an 11:00am CT kickoff from Bill Snyder Family Stadium, and you can catch the action on FS1 (or online via FOXSports.com) with Connor Onion (Play-by-Play) and Mark Helfrich (Analyst) on the call.
If you don’t have FS1 or can’t access the stream, the game can be heard across the 28-station K-State Sports Network with Wyatt Thompson (play-by-play), former K-State quarterback Stan Weber (analyst), and Matt Walters (sidelines) calling the action. The game will also be on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Ch. 83, and available online at K-Statesports.com. Live stats are also available at k-statesports.com, and social media updates (@KStateFB) will also be a part of the coverage.
