Kansas State has ‘(ticked) off focus’ for UCF after watching Missouri fans storm field
The Kansas State football team has traditionally done a nice job of bouncing back after losses under head coach Chris Klieman.
One of the main reasons why is already on display this week as the Wildcats try to put a last-second loss at Missouri behind them and turn their focus to the start of Big 12 play against UCF.
K-State players are not only motivated to win on Saturday ... they are angry.
“A lot of guys have a pissed-off focus this week,” senior safety Kobe Savage said, “just going into this preparation knowing that this is the start of conference play and knowing that we have nothing to lose and everything to gain this week.”
Under Klieman, K-State has made a nasty habit of losing the occasional game as a favorite. But those unexpected defeats have never ruined a season, outside of the pandemic year of 2020.
The Wildcats have responded to their past five losses with victories. Last year, when they suffered an early defeat against Tulane they rebounded with a 41-34 victory at Oklahoma and then went on the win a Big 12 championship.
“The message was to the guys on Monday was we can’t let Missouri beat us twice,” Klieman said.
K-State players are understandably taking that advice to heart and trying to follow the same path they did last season.
So what did they do so well a year ago?
“Just focus on that we have got bigger things at stake, especially in conference,” Savage said. “Whenever we went down to OU, we had that pissed-off focus, like I said, and we locked into the details and reiterated doing the little things right. That’s important, because we are a team that is going to have to have to outwork other schools. For us, it’s not based on talent it’s about hard work.”
It was easy for K-State to find extra motivation this week. Painful as it was to lose 30-27 at Missouri on the longest field goal in SEC history, players also had to watch as a sellout crowd stormed the field to celebrate at Faurot Field. The Tigers were later fined $100,000 for the celebration.
That is not something they want to experience again, at least on the road.
“It’s just fuel to never let that happen again,” K-State safety Marques Sigle said. “We want our crowd to do that. It’s about payback, and it adds fuel to the fire every time.”