Nobody in a purple uniform had much fun this weekend
Football
So. That happened.
Kansas State was routed 38-9 by BYU in a rare late-night road contest for the Wildcats. While losing a Big 12 road game is hardly new for this program, the way Kansas State lost a game where the Cats were leading for much of the first half was almost unprecedented.
What happened? Well…
Aside from the first half field goal, 35 of BYU’s points came off turnovers by the Wildcats, including a 6.5 minute sequence spanning the end of the first half and the beginning of the third quarter. Before any player in a purple jersey could even catch a breath, the Cougars had 28 points off a scoop-and-score on a rare DJ Giddens’ fumble, two Avery Johnson interceptions that set up short fields for BYU signal caller Jake Retzlaff and an incredible 90-yard punt return where Kansas State missed dickety tackles around the 10-yard line while BYU’s Parker Kingston cut across the field and raced down the sidelines for the score. At that point, the Cats were cooked. BYU’s final score came on a short 6-play drive after Kansas State turned the ball over on downs.
As far as collapses go, this one was breathtaking. And embarrassing. But there’s no reason to panic, or at least not just yet.
These things happen, if almost never to us. We do it to other teams though. Remember that spectacular two-minute sequence in the 2015 Farmageddon game when Iowa State chose not to take a knee and promptly fumbled twice so the Wildcats could win the game? Or how about that time Texas’ quarterback helpfully threw 5 interceptions so Kansas State could win the game with a total of 9 passing yards off two completions for Collin Klein?
Turnovers are weird. They can happen to literally any team at any time. They also tend to have a sort of compounding effect, so one score off a turnover leads to another turnover, and so on. There’s nothing you can really do about turnovers and they have little predictive value for the next game and aren’t reproducible in practice conditions. There’s nothing to learn from the game tape here. The most you can do is hope nobody sets your 8-turnover game to Yakety Sax.
Soccer
Kansas State (3-6-1, 0-3-0 Big 12) lost yet another Big 12 match, this time to Cincinnati. After being down 0-1, the Wildcats actually scored an equalizer early in the second half, midfielder Paige Dickson’s first career goal. Unfortunately, that was not quite enough as the Bearcats found the goal again in the 68th minute to put the match away 2-1.
The SoccerCats will play their next two matches at home, beginning with a match against Texas Tech on Thursday at 7 PM.
Tennis
At the Kansas State Invitational this past weekend, the Wildcats opened their 2024 season taking on Arkansas, Iowa State, Wichita State and South Florida singles and doubles. It was a bit of a mixed bag, with the team going 3-1 in doubles and 5-0 in singles on the first day, but not quite matching that for the rest of the weekend. Overall, Kansas State finished 4-2 in doubles and 7-6 singles.
Two Wildcats were also competing at the ITA All-American Championships in North Carolina. Charlotte Keitel beat USC’s Parker Fry in straight sets to advance to the round of 64, but lost to Appalachian State’s Savannah Dada-Mascoll. Teammate Tereza Polakova lost to Princeton’s Alice Ferlito in two sets in the first round.
Volleyball
What’s going on with the VolleyCats? The team lost 3-0 to Oklahoma in the final match of the K-State Invitational, dropping the season record to just 2-7. This is particularly unfortunate in view of the record-setting season senior Aliyah Carter is having. She’s already on the Player of the Year watchlist, and in the course of the OU match, became Kansas State’s all-time leader in kills in the rally-scoring era. She’s in the Top 10 for nearly all other volleyball stats for the program too, and it’s a shame that Kansas State has mostly wasted her career.
Maybe things will get better as the season progresses? We’ll find out when the VolleyCats take on Houston to open Big 12 play on Wednesday night at Morgan Family Arena.