Scoreless Fourth Quarters Dooms Kansas State In Loss To Iowa State

Kansas State Wildcats head coach Chris Klieman reacts from the side line during the second quarter in the NCAA football at Jack Trice Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 30, 2024, in Ames, Iowa. | Nirmalendu Majumdar/Ames Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Kansas State Wildcats began this football season with national title expectations.

It ended with disappointment after they lost 29-21 to Iowa State in the regular season finale. The Wildcats finished the year at 8-4.

"Our kids battled their tail off," K-State coach Chris Klieman said. "That's a good team, it's a hard place to play, and our guys played their tail off, and just came up short."

The Wildcats entered the weekend with hopes of making the Big 12 championship game. They just needed to defeat the Cyclones and have two losses from Arizona State, BYU or Colorado lose. All three won, so the Wildcats knew they were eliminated from contention before kickoff.

The Cyclones play the Sun Devils Saturday night at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas in conference title game.

Now, they must await their bowl fate. After the game, Klieman made his best pitch for the players to participate in the postseason.

"Get everybody to play in the bowl game," Klieman said. "I grabbed Austin Moore and Brendan Mottand said, 'This crew needs to play in the bowl game.' I know this is a different world of college athletics and I understand that, but we still have more story to write with this football team, and I'm counting on those older kids to make sure we have guys playing, and our best guys playing."

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

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