Kansas State Wildcats enter top 25 college football rankings for first time this year
College football experts are beginning to pay attention to Kansas State.
The Wildcats entered the Associated Press top 25 rankings for the first time this season on Sunday, a day after they completed a perfect run through nonconference play by defeating Nevada 38-17 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
K-State earned the final spot in the poll at No. 25. The team didn’t quite make its way into the coaches’ poll, finishing eighth in the others-receiving-votes category.
This is the first time K-State has been ranked since Oct. 31 of last season when the Wildcats rose to No. 16 in the country following a 4-1 start. It is the third straight season in which Chris Klieman has guided them to a top 25 ranking.
The Wildcats have spent six weeks in the national polls since Klieman was hired in 2019.
It’s been a fast climb for K-State this season. It didn’t receive a single vote in the preseason top 25, but that changed immediately after it opened the year by beating Stanford 24-7. Beating Southern Illinois 31-23 in Week 2 wasn’t enough to earn a spot in the top 25. Thumping Nevada 38-17 brought in some extra attention.
K-State will look to build off its 3-0 start next week when it begins Big 12 action at Oklahoma State.
Alabama topped this week’s AP poll, receiving 59 of a possible 62 first-place votes. Georgia earned the other three first-place votes and ranked second, followed by Oregon, Oklahoma and Iowa.
No. 14 Iowa State is the only other Big 12 team in the poll, but future conference members Cincinnati (8) and BYU (15) are ranked. TCU, Oklahoma State, West Virginia and Texas Tech all received votes.
This story was originally published September 19, 2021 at 2:02 PM.