Chris Klieman unleashing hungry Wildcat team following bye-week

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Wildcats’ goal for a Big 12 Championship is still in play coming off a bye-week, but they’ll have no margin for error down the stretch, and may need some outside help.

Coach Chris Klieman understands that his team doesn’t control their own destiny in pursuit of their first conference title since 2022. The road loss at Houston two weeks ago has Kansas State on the outside looking in. However, a lot of things can happen in the final three weeks of the regular season, and it starts with Kansas State taking care of business at home tonight against a dangerous Arizona State team.

After all, both schools are 7-2, have offensive firepower, but it helps that the Wildcats are undefeated at home this season, and the crowd at Bill Snyder Family Stadium will be ready for this clash. There’s a lot at stake for both squads, and Klieman just wants his players to take advantage of the spotlight.

“That fact that it’s mid-November, sometimes people forget that we are a 7-2 football team, that has a lot of things in front of us to play for, and we can’t control what other teams are going to do,” Klieman said. “I think everybody knows a lot of things can still happen, but for us we gotta play, practice and prepare mentally and physically each day to give ourselves a chance to be successful.”

The Sun Devils are coming into this game with confidence after winning four of their last five in Big 12 play. Coach Kenny Dillingham is only in his second season with Arizona State, but continues to make tremendous strides. Dillingham’s quarterback Sam Leavitt is playing good football as of late, and it’s beneficial for the offense that dynamic running back Cam Skattebo will be back in the lineup after missing last week’s game against UCF.

Which is why Arizona State has Kleiman’s full attention, and he’s confident that his players were able to utilize their extra time off.

“I think first and foremost when you have multiple bye-weeks, it’s easy to say its the opportunity for those older kids that have played a lot of snaps, fifth and sixth-year guys to get a rest,” he said. “But it’s a better chance for us with what’s on the horizon potentially with rust or management of getting the chance to get our younger players valuable reps.”

The Wildcats are healthy for the most part, which is extremely important this late into the season. The fans want Offensive Coordinator Conor Riley to open up the playbook, after vanilla play-calling against the Cougars. The defensive secondary also needs to perform better, after surrendering a bunch of explosive plays. In Klieman’s eyes the conference is full of parity, and it’s still any given Saturday.

“Anybody can beat anybody in this league, we all know that, we’re playing a really good Arizona State team, that’s a hot team, playing well and finding ways to win,” the 57-year old coach said. “So we gotta play our best football, but we’ve gotta practice and prepare our best.”

Quarterback Avery Johnson is as good as they come when it comes to running the ball. Still, there are times when he needs to spread his wings as a passer, trust his arm and get the wide receivers more involved in the aerial attack. Kansas State’s offensive line will need to maul Arizona State’s defensive line at the point of attack, and dominate in the trenches.

The Sun Devils will try to get off to a hot start, and take the hostile crowd out of the game. So the defense must be ready to set the tone early on, and dictate the flow of the game. As of now, BYU and Colorado sits atop the Big 12 standings, but both teams have challenging games today, and a loss from either would open things up for the winner of tonight’s contest. Regardless, games aren’t played on paper, and Klieman is expecting his players to be ready for Arizona State’s best.

“Everybody can can play just a little bit better, and I’m hoping this off week allows those guys to reset and refresh their minds and bodies.”