Why Chris Klieman thinks K-State could benefit from rare underdog role at Utah
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Klieman frames Utah trip as rare double-digit underdog challenge for K-State.
- Klieman owns 3-1 mark as double-digit underdog, with three OU upsets.
- Players use underdog status to motivate play, citing chip-on-shoulder mentality.
It’s rare to see Kansas State as a double-digit underdog.
The oddsmakers haven’t favored any team to beat K-State by more than a touchdown since 2022. And it’s only happened four times during the Chris Klieman era.
More often than not, betting experts expect the Wildcats to win. Even this season, with K-State sitting at 5-5, it has been favored in the majority of its games. Heck, it was favored by 20.5 points last week against Oklahoma State.
But expectations will be different for the Wildcats when they head to Utah for a 3 p.m. game at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday. Not only is Utah favored in that contest, it is expected to win big. As of Tuesday morning, K-State was a 17.5-point underdog against the Utes.
“What a great challenge for our guys,” Klieman said, “to get the opportunity to go out and play in that environment. They’re a top-13 team, right on that cusp of the College Football Playoff. So it’s going to be a big challenge. But I look forward to it. Maybe this is a challenge that comes at the right time. ... Maybe we can go care free and just go and play really good football.”
That mindset has worked for Klieman before.
The K-State head coach has gone 3-1 as a double-digit underdog since 2019, with all three wins coming against Oklahoma.
K-State beat OU in 2019 as a 23.5-point underdog. It also beat OU in 2020 as a 28-point underdog. Then it beat OU again in 2022 as a 13-point underdog.
His only loss as a big underdog came at Iowa State in 2020, when a severely depleted K-State football roster got crushed 45-0 in Ames during the coronavirus pandemic.
Klieman has also found success as an underdog this season. K-State football players said they took it personally when the oddsmakers favored Kansas against them in the Sunflower Showdown. The Wildcats went to Lawrence and won 42-17.
Can the Wildcats work their underdog magic again this week against a Utah team that has won its past three games by huge margins?
“When a lot of people doubt us,” K-State offensive lineman Taylor Poitier said, “and then we come over the top and kick somebody’s butt, that’s always a really good thing. It’s kind of just what we’ve been facing this whole year. We have been underdogs this whole year, and we’re trying to prove people wrong.”
It can be easy to find motivation as an underdog.
Some K-State fans have been critical of Klieman for owning a 39-16 record as a favorite, arguing that his teams have too many clunkers each season. But it’s hard to ding him for his overall record of 14-17 as an underdog.
Maybe that role suits him and his team.
“There is a different mentality being the underdog,” K-State defensive end Jordan Allen said. “I feel like K State has always had that underdog mentality, and when we see adversity I feel like it challenges our players to play a little bit harder with a chip on our shoulder.”
K-State will tap into it again this weekend in a game against Utah that few expect it to win.
“I don’t think a lot of people have picked us to win a lot of games, and that’s motivated us every time,” K-State tight end Linkon Cure said. “So I think it’s going to do a lot for us this time, too.”