College Football fans around the Country were glued to their TVs on Saturday Afternoon as Kansas State and Iowa State met in a Top 25 clash to kick off the season. The first half of the game was an absolute struggle as both teams couldn't stop fumbling the football as the rain made the ball slippery.
Near the end of the third quarter heading into the 4th quarter this game completely flipped as both offenses rose from the dead to start scoring. Iowa State was able to grab the lead in the 4th quarter and their slight lead ended up determining the game.
The play that will live in the minds of Kansas State fans for the rest of the season came with just over 8 minutes left in the game as the Kansas State offense had a 4th and 3 from their own 30 yard line. Rather than punting the ball away and trusting his defense, Chris Klieman opted to go for it putting the game on the line. Avery Johnson kept the ball and came just inches short of a first down but, the play resulted in a turnover on downs.
Iowa State almost instantly took advantage of the turnover as the Cyclones scored 1:41 later on a Rocco Becht rushing touchdown to make it a 10 point game. Once Kansas State was down two possessions with just 6 minutes to play it was clearly an uphill battle even after they scored a touchdown 15 seconds later.
The Cyclones were able to march down the field on a 12 play 60 yard drive burning 6:23 off of the clock giving Kansas State no time to make a last minute charge.
Chris Kleiman's decision to go for it on 4th and 3 from his own 30 was questionable as soon as they kept the offense on the field and in the end, it ended up killing the Wildcats chances of winning this game. Giving Iowa State a short field when Kansas State's defense had been dominant most of the night was giving the Cyclones easy points.
The Kansas State Wildcats now fall to 0-1 overall and in conference play which puts them in a massive hole to start the season. The Wildcats will certainly fall from #17 in the Country and will likely slide all the way out of the Top 25 making the rest of the season an uphill battle. The team travels home to take on North Dakota and Chris Kleiman will need all the time he can get this week to help fix some of this group's issues.
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