3 Questions K-State Must Answer During a Much-Needed Bye Week

For the first time in the Collin Klein era, K-State has to respond to a loss.

The Wildcats fell 31-26 at Cincinnati on Saturday night, dropping to 3-1 and entering their first bye week of the season with plenty to evaluate.

The bye couldn't have come at a better time for the Wildcats. There have been many positives to start the year for K-State, but Cincinnati also exposed some glaring issues that need to be fixed before the Wildcats welcome Houston to Manhattan in two weeks.

Here are three questions that K-State needs to answer during the bye week.

1. How can K-State create more explosive plays offensively?

K-State moved the ball well against Cincinnati, finishing with 447 yards and 25 first downs. The Wildcats held the ball for over 33 minutes. Quarterback Avery Johnson threw for 292 yards, but he had to attempt 50 passes to get that. K-State had five scoring drives on Saturday night, with only one of them being less than six plays. Two of them were drives of 16 and 17 plays, and both of them ended in field goals.

It is extremely difficult to have to rely on long, extended drives. On the first drive of the game, the Wildcats' defense got a stop, and then K-State went 16 plays for 88 yards. You couldn't ask for a better start on the road, but to be up only 3-0 after felt like a disappointment.

Klein is an offensive guy, but finding more explosive plays is key for this offense to reach another level.

2. Can K-State find more consistency at wide receiver?

In Week 2, Josh Manning had 10 catches for 97 yards. The following week, Jaron Tibbs finished with nine catches for 114 yards. Against Cincinnati, Derrick Salley Jr. had seven catches for 140 yards. The Wildcats have had three receivers have big games this season, but they haven't been able to find any type of consistency.

For all three of those receivers, nearly 70 percent of their season statistics came in one game. However, for the offense to reach its potential, there has to be more consistency in producing each and every week. Tibbs was forced to leave the game against the Bearcats due to an injury, but Klein came out and said that he will be fine moving forward.

Just like Klein and the offense needs to find the ability to have more big plays, a big part of that will be finding consistency each week at the wide receiver position.

3. How does K-State respond to the first real adversity under Collin Klein?

This is the biggest and most important question that needs to be answered.

Things were extremely easy the first three weeks, as the Wildcats outscored their opponents 136-30. However, that wasn't sustainable, and some of those issues had been covered up. Now, for the first time as a head coach, Klein has to guide a team through a loss.

These next two weeks are going to play a huge role in the 2026 season that K-State ultimately ends up having. There is still a lot to be excited about, but do the players and coaches attack these two weeks the right way? Is there finger-pointing and blaming others, or does everybody take accountability and make sure this doesn't happen again.

This is the first real challenge for Klein, and we will see when the Wildcats take the field in two weeks exactly how they handle it.

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