Kansas State Alive For College Football Playoff Bid With No. 19 Ranking
The Kansas State Wildcats are one of four Big 12 teams with a number next to their name Tuesday night during the initial College Football Playoff rankings reveal on ESPN.
They were joined by No. 20 Colorado, No. 17 Iowa State, and No. 9 BYU.
Under coach Chris Klieman, the Wildcats sit on the outside looking into the newly expanded top-12 at No. 19. Kansas State is vying for not only a postseason berth but also the opportunity to compete for a conference championship next month.
The Wildcats had a four-game winning streak snapped last Saturday in upset fashion to the Houston Cougars, 24-19. Early in the fourth quarter, the game began to slip away despite holding onto a 19-10 lead.
A critical interception from quarterback Avery Johnson deep in Wildcats territory was the beginning of an eventual collapse. Kansas State went scoreless for the remainder of the game, entering the bye week with no room for error moving forward.
Kansas State travels to Arizona State a week from Saturday, continuing a common trend of consistent night games for the Wildcats this season. It returns to Manhattan to play Cincinnati in the final home game of the regular-season Nov. 23rd before traveling to Iowa State in a potential win-and-in game Thanksgiving weekend.
Despite the loss to the Cougars, the Wildcats remain in the thick of the conference championship chase. They hold head-to-head tiebreakers against Colorado, West Virginia and Kansas, but find themselves looking up at unbeaten BYU. Both teams played each other Sept. 28, which saw the Cougars win in a rout, 38-9.
Kansas State fell five spots to No. 22 in the latest AP Poll.
Zain Bando is a contributor to Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at zainbando99@gmail.com and on Instagram/'X' @zainbando99.
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