K-State won, but it was a close thing, so don’t get comfortable just yet.
Football
A win. It’s the goal of every sporting contest. Stripped down to its essence, it means only that your side scored more points than the other side. But winning is more than just that. There are myriad ways to win, a thousand experiences to have as the clock expires, a swell of emotions that go with each game.
Sometimes—even in a battle of well-matched programs—your team is just better (Texas 31, Michigan 12). Sometimes your team wins unexpectedly big, all suspense gone from the game by halftime (Nebraska 28, Colorado 10). Sometimes you emerge victorious after a long, hard fight against a hated rival in their own backyard (Iowa State 20, Iowa 19). Sometimes you win a historic, program-defining game against a storied powerhouse, a win so improbable it leaves your head coach in tears (Northern Illinois 16, Notre Dame 14).
But sometimes you just get lucky (K-State 34, Tulane 27). On a day of scattered chaos across the college football landscape, Kansas State didn’t so much win a football game as escape it. The game was essentially two scoring drives bookended by a scoop-and-score that turned the game and and an interception (and maybe a pass interference call) that ended it. The Wildcats survived with their record intact but opened up an entire Pandora’s Box for this team and the rest of the season.
After he called it a “culture win,” Chris Klieman that the team did not practice well “from an execution standpoint.” I don’t know what that means in context (and I don’t want to read too much into an otherwise circumspect coach saying the quiet part out loud), but with a short week and a huge non-con game against a conference opponent coming up, the coaching staff and the team need to get their heads on straight. You’re not going to win the dang day if you don’t execute on the stone pounding. Or something.
Soccer
For their final non-conference match of the season, K-State soccer squared off against Memphis. After battling to a scoreless draw in the first half, the Wildcats gave up a couple of late goals in the second half to drop the match 2-0. The team is now 3-3-1 on the season.
The SoccerCats open their Big 12 campaign against Colorado at 7 PM on Thursday at Buser Family Park. The match will be streaming on ESPN+, so you know what to do.
Volleyball
The VolleyCats did not put on their best showing this weekend at the Creighton Classic in Omaha. They faced off first against #20 USC and despite evening the match after 2 sets and fighting hard in the third, Kansas State lost 3-1 ( 21-25, 25-16, 25-27, 22-25) to the Trojans. Aliyah Carter and Izzi Szulczewski both had double-doubles in the effort.
In their second match against host Creighton, the VolleyCats were held to their lowest hitting efficiency of the season—just .112 and the Bluejays pretty much overwhelmed Kansas State to win the match 3-0 (25-17, 25-13, 25-19). Senior libero Ella Larkin earned all-tournament honors for her team high effort of 26 digs and nine assists over the weekend.
The Wildcats are back at home for their next tilt, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Volleyball Classic against Lipscomb and North Carolina starting on September 12.