From The Couch – Coaching Failures Contribute To Loss Against Baylor
K-State lost to Baylor on Saturday in heartbreaking fashion, as the Bears blocked a game-winning field goal attempt as time expired, allowing them to hang on for a 35-34 come-from-behind victory over the Wildcats. Head coach Chris Klieman made some controversial comments after the game, but K-State offensive coordinator Matt Wells, pictured above, appears to be taking the most heat from fans. And most of the blame for the loss.
The K-State offense was hit and miss in the first half, found life in the 3rd quarter, and then took ineptitude to a new level late in the 4th quarter. With all the mistakes, K-State had a chance to put the game away with two minutes left, but instead of burning some clock and scoring a touchdown, they settled for a field goal and allowed Baylor to drive and kick the game-winning field goal.
There is a lot to break down, so here goes.
K-State scored a touchdown on its opening drive of the game on a 31-yard touchdown run by quarterback Avery Johnson.
Johnson ran through that hole like a blur. This is the exact kind of play that K-State fans were begging for the first four games of the season. Where was this early in the season?
K-State’s offense stalled the next two drives, and they found themselves down 10-7. Blake Barnett was inserted with Avery Johnson for the second drive of the game and the Wildcats went three and out. After the punt, Baylor was driving before an interception by K-State’s Daniel Cobbs.
K-State couldn’t capitalize on the turnover. On 3rd and 6 from their own 20-yard line, Johnson threw a three-yard pass to Joe Jackson. K-State’s tendency to throw short of the sticks on third down has been a recurring theme of the 2025 season, and it is maddening.
K-State recovered a fumble on Baylor’s next drive, but once again could not capitalize. On 3rd and six from their own 25, Johnson threw short of the sticks for 2 yards to Garrett Oakley, forcing K-State to punt again. This time, Baylor capitalized with a touchdown.
K-State answered Baylor’s touchdown by driving and settling for a 49-yard Luis Rodriguez field goal. The drive was halted when Johnson threw an incomplete pass short of the sticks on 3rd and seven. Sigh.
Baylor answered with a touchdown to take a 17-10 lead.
K-State’s offense woke up again, and they answered with this touchdown to Garrett Oakley to tie the game at 17.
The tie at halftime seemed fortunate considering that K-State did not capitalize on a couple of Baylor turnovers.
The K-State defense forced Baylor to punt on their first drive of the second half, and was able to take a 24-17 lead on this touchdown pass from Avery Johnson to Jayce Brown.
K-State’s defense forced a Baylor punt, and the Wildcat offense was able to take a 14-point lead on this touchdown run by Dylan Edwards.
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/46487397
There was still too much time left in this game to feel too comfortable with a 14-point lead. Baylor’s offense is explosive. They got tight end Michael Trigg involved and cut into K-State’s lead. The catch from Trigg on the sideline is one of the best catches you’ll ever see.
Baylor punched it in the end zone with Bryson Washington.
https://www.espn.com/video/clip/_/id/46244464
Baylor converted a two-point conversion to cut the lead to 31-25. I questioned the decision at the time, but the additional point scored here amounted to the final margin of victory.
On K-State’s ensuing drive, Avery Johnson threw a pick-six and Baylor went ahead 32-31.
“That interception cost us the game.”…K-State quarterback Avery Johnson, post-game.
I can point to many things that cost K-State the game. The fact of the matter is that Johnson put K-State in a position to win the game on the drive following the pick-six. It started with a long pass from Johnson to Jayce Brown.
My initial reaction, before I realized the whistle blew and the play was called dead after the Baylor defender ripped off Brown’s helmet? Crap, we scored too soon.
There was some misinformation and misinterpretation of the rules going around yesterday about this play. From what I can tell, the rule is that if the ball carrier’s helmet comes off during a play, the play must be whistled dead, which is what happened here. So the officials got it right.
Baylor received a 15-yard personal foul penalty added to the catch, and K-State continued the drive and eventually had a first and goal at the Baylor two-yard line, trailing by two points with two minutes and 26 seconds left in the game. Baylor had two timeouts remaining. The best-case scenario would have been scoring a touchdown and a two-point conversion to take a seven-point lead. The worst-case scenario would have been running the clock down as much as you can, forcing Baylor to burn their timeouts and kicking a field goal to go ahead by two points, leaving Baylor with little chance to drive and kick a game-winning field goal. Right? Wrong.
On first down and goal from the two, K-State ran Joe Jackson, who lost two yards. The clock ran down to the two-minute warning.
On second down and goal from the four, Avery Johnson lined up in the shotgun and was blitzed and forced to throw incomplete. Four seconds ran off the clock.
On third and goal from the four, Avery Johnson lined up in the shotgun again and was blitzed again and threw incomplete. Eight seconds ran off the clock. Baylor still had one minute and 48 seconds left on the clock with two timeouts left.
K-State kicked a field goal to take a two-point lead, but they left Baylor plenty of time to win the game. This entire sequence was coaching ineptitude on an epic level.
“To have a chance, we wish we would’ve scored a touchdown late. They did a good job blitzing us, we had a couple guys open, but they did a good job blitzing us, and we ended up taking the lead.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Hindsight is 20/20, but this was coaching malpractice. Baylor got the ball at their own 36-yard line after the K-State kickoff and drove into field goal range.
“Honestly, we got a stop, and their kid made a 53-yarder.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: Uh, no, coach, YOU DIDN’T GET A STOP!!! You allowed them to drive into field goal range to kick the game-winner. Of all the post-game quotes, this one got my blood boiling the most.
K-State had one last shot with 31 seconds left in the game and got in position for a 56-yard field goal attempt to win it, but the kick was blocked. Game over.
“It’s a tough place to play.”…K-State head coach Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: I’ve heard some coach speak in my days, but this one by Klieman takes the cake. Sometimes these coaches sound like robots. No, coach, it wasn’t a “tough place to play.” There were around five thousand people there. The first thing Klieman said in his post-game comments was how tough it is to play there! Are you kidding me?
“I know our record doesn’t speak to it, but we played more K-State football the last two weeks. And I’m proud of that. I’m pissed we lost, but I’m proud of the resolve and the resilience that we’ve shown the last couple of weeks with our backs against the wall.”…Chris Klieman, post-game
JM: He is right that the last two weeks has looked more like the K-State football we are used to seeing. But a 2-4 record is unacceptable to this fan base.
JM: Let’s say the ball bounces their way and K-State was 6-0 at this point. It would be a total mirage. They’ve beaten and lost to some terrible teams. It’s not like they have played Miami, Ohio State, and Alabama.
TCU is up next for K-State next Saturday at 2:30 in Bill Snyder Family Stadium. I’m expecting a pretty good crowd, unlike the embarrassment that is Baylor fans. I have no expectations of winning or losing. The best we can hope for is a bowl game, but that is not in any way guaranteed. I hope the wins start coming. The K-State fan base appears ready to riot and turn on this coaching staff if they do not.
2 thoughts on “From The Couch – Coaching Failures Contribute To Loss Against Baylor”
As a die hard KState football supporter who supported the team by traveling to Dublin, the ineptitude of this coaching staff is astounding.
BIGGEST OBSERVATIONS:
Complete lack of emotion which filters down to non emotional players
Indecisive and slow play calling which doesn’t allow QB to make play call adjustments at the line of scrimmage
Very predictable play calling
Have we run one screen pass the entire year?
In no way has this coaching staff done anything to help Avery develop as a player – if anything, he’s regressed
I would expect most talented players will enter the transfer portal at the end of the season
If this team can’t win 6 games this year, it’s 100% on the coaches
I predict ksu will lose to KU this year and for many years to come – sad and embarrassing- KU will own us in football and basketball
Can’t argue with most of that. I think we’ll handle KU again, but who knows.