K-State Selected for TaxAct Texas Bowl, Will Face LSU
Dec 05, 2021 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State Nation is once again headed to Texas for the postseason as Kansas State officials announced Sunday that the Wildcats have accepted an invitation to play LSU in the TaxAct Texas Bowl inside NRG Stadium. The game will take place on Tuesday, January 4, 2022, at 8 p.m. and will air on ESPN.
It will be the third time in school history the Wildcats will play in the Texas Bowl. K-State played in the inaugural game against Rutgers in 2006, while it topped Texas A&M, 33-28, in 2016. This year will mark the eighth time in 23 bowl appearances that the Wildcats will play a bowl game in the state of Texas, which is home to many K-State alumni. It will be the eighth time in school history that K-State will play in the month of January and the first since the end of the 2015 season.
"We are pleased to accept an invitation to play in the Texas Bowl," said K-State head coach Chris Klieman, the first head coach in school history to lead his team to two bowl games in his first three seasons. "I am really proud of our team, especially our seniors, and our staff for their dedication throughout the season and display of our four core values – Discipline, Commitment, Toughness and Be Selfless. The story of the 2021 Wildcats still has one chapter to write, and we look forward to kick off the new year in Houston and preparing for a great LSU team in what will be an exciting Texas Bowl."
The Wildcats (7-5) are among the nation's leader in bowl appearances since 1993 as they are tied for 18th nationally and rank fourth in the Big 12 with 22. K-State will also be one of just 25 Power 5 teams to play in a bowl game at least 10 times in the last 12 years. The Wildcats are back on the bowl scene after a one-year hiatus in 2020 in which they were bowl eligible but unable to field enough players due to COVID. K-State has won two of its last three bowls and will be looking for three bowl wins in a four-year stretch since 1999-2002.
"We are excited to be back in a bowl game, and congratulations to Coach Klieman and our football team on a great regular season," said Athletics Director Gene Taylor. "We look forward to showcasing our football program and Kansas State University in the Texas Bowl, and I know our fans – especially our alumni in Texas – are excited to show their outstanding support in Houston while our football student-athletes, coaches and staff are provided a great experience."
Kansas State raced out to a 3-0 start in 2021, highlighted by a season-opening 24-7 win over Stanford at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in addition to an impressive 38-17 victory against Nevada, which finished the year with an 8-4 record and boasts a potential first-round NFL Draft pick at quarterback. Big 12 play began with three losses against teams that were either ranked in the top-25 at the time or were a preseason top-25 team.
However, K-State was able to right the ship and rattle off four-straight wins, its second-straight season with a four-game winning streak in conference play. The streak began with a gusty 25-24 victory at Texas Tech, a game in which K-State trailed, 24-10, at halftime before pitching a second-half shutout against a Red Raider team that eventually reached the postseason. The Wildcats then came home and throttled TCU, 31-12, as they limited an explosive Horned Frog team that 34.3 points per game entering the contest.
Kansas State opened the month of November by winning its 13th-straight game against Kansas to retain the Governor's Cup. The 13-straight wins over KU is tied for the fourth-longest active streak by a team against any one opponent in a series that has been contested each year since at least 2009. K-State then turned around and topped West Virginia – another bowl team this season – 34-17 as the Wildcats snapped a five-game losing streak to the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats will enter the TaxAct Texas Bowl on a two-game slide, dropped the final two regular-season games by two or less scores. The Wildcats held a potent Baylor offense – which led the Bears to a Big 12 Championship and a berth into the Sugar Bowl – to just 20 points after averaging 35.4 points per game entering the contest, as K-State fell, 20-10. The Cats then lost at Texas, 22-17, on a short turnaround as they played the day after Thanksgiving.
LSU, K-State's Texas Bowl opponent, finished the regular season with a 6-6 record, including a 3-5 mark in conference play to tie for fifth place in the SEC West. The Tigers won their final two games to get bowl eligible – a 27-14 win against ULM and a 27-24 upset victory over 14th-ranked Texas A&M.
The Wildcats and Tigers will be meeting for just the second time ever as LSU won a 21-0 contest in Baton Rouge on September 13, 1980.
Tickets in the official K-State sections are available now online at www.kstatesports.com/bowlgame and via phone at 1-800-221-Cats until 6 p.m. Sunday and beginning again at 8:30 a.m. Monday. All tickets in the official K-State sections are priced by the bowl at $123.75. All Ahearn Fund members and fans who pre-ordered tickets will receive communication with information regarding their requests by the end of the day.
The K-State Alumni Association will also provide official travel packages to the bowl game. Visit the Alumni Association's official bowl travel page – www.k-statesportstours.com – for travel package information.
TaxAct Texas Bowl Selection Press Conference Quotes
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much for everybody joining us. We're excited to play in the Texas Bowl against a great opponent. Just learned a couple minutes ago that it's going to be LSU, so it's going to be exciting for the guys. We're practicing this afternoon and they knew it was the Texas Bowl before we started practice but didn't know the opponent. So, I'll be excited to talk to the guys as we finish up practice. Gives us an opportunity to play a great opponent, gives us an opportunity to continue to grow with our developmental guys. Then, obviously, I'm really excited for a bunch of seniors to get one more opportunity to play together down in Houston. So, with that, we'll open it up for questions."
On the story of the team this year...
"Yeah, it's got one more chapter, that's for sure, and an exciting chapter. We knew it's a long story and you're going to have some bumps in the road, and we had our leadership meeting today. Last time we had a leadership council meeting, we were 3-3 and 0-3 in the league, and I challenged those guys to have an impact and challenge each other to be accountable. Lo and behold, we got it to seven wins. Although we're disappointed that we lost the last two games, I'm a firm believer that you're not judged by a moment but judged by an entire body of work. So, we have one more opportunity with the seniors to truly finish the, story and I know our guys are excited about that. We're going to get after it with our prep and hopefully play a really good game."
On making the decision to make a change at offensive coordinator...
"It's something that I thought long and hard about and took a week myself after the game. I didn't want to make any quick decisions. I thought about it long and hard. I was on the road all last week, which probably helped me get away and clear my mind and decide on what's the best thing for Kansas State University. Came back and had a conversation with Gene (Taylor), and it was my decision that I thought we needed to make a change. That was very, very difficult as you can imagine as close as Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham) and I are. But I came here three years ago to get a program ready to go compete for a Big 12 Championship. This is not about Chris Klieman. It's not about Courtney Messingham. It's about Kansas State football, and I felt we needed to make a change, and so we did."
On Collin Klein putting together the plan for the bowl game...
"Well, I'm excited for Collin and the offensive staff, but I know we're not going to reinvent the wheel in three weeks. I don't want him to think I'm judging solely on what happens here in this three week prep and one game. So, for me, it's more the leadership, the organization, how he interacts with the coaches and players. I'm going to kind of be a fly on the wall a lot with those offensive coaches to see the plan that they come up with, and I know that we had a meeting this morning with the offensive staff. They're excited about the challenge. We didn't know the opponent in the way we were playing. We'll be on the road this week again, and then we'll start that preparation next weekend."
On the quarterback update...
"We're practicing young guys this weekend. I don't think Skylar (Thompson) would be able to practice if we practiced today. So, we'll have everybody ready. I don't know if that's going to be Will (Howard) and Jaren (Lewis) and Jake (Rubley), who are practicing this weekend or by next weekend if Skylar (Thompson). I'll have to give you an update another time, but everybody, all hands on deck, this week with the quarterback position or this game."
On facing LSU...
"Yeah, not far removed from the National Championship and so much prestige and history behind LSU football, and it excites me. I know it's going to excite our staff and our team to be able to play a high-caliber SEC team that everybody's talked about and heard about. It'll be a lot of fun. It will be a big challenge because they have tremendous players. I know they have a coaching change going on, but they got a bunch of kids that have a lot of pride and want to finish out with a win just like we do."
On the team's core values...
"Yeah, it really is. Discipline, commitment, toughness and to be selfless, and our guys have been really disciplined throughout the year. We haven't had troubles off the field and guys have challenged each other on the field, and discipline to come to work every day, committed to your teammate, to be committed to your brother, to be committed to K-State football, I think is important. Toughness – you play seven games in a row after our bye week like we did, and that's a grind. We have a lot of guys that fought through a lot of injuries. We got some guys playing that were really banged up just like everybody else in the country, but I just know how tough those guys have been. Then to be selfless and 18-to 22-year olds. That's tough to ask, but a lot of selfless acts of guys changing positions and moving around to different spots so that we could put the best outfit out there we could every Saturday. We've got a tremendous locker room, a really close-knit group of guys, and I know they're excited to be together for another month."
On the preparation for this bowl game...
"Yeah, I'm going to go back and look at my notes on it. Obviously, we didn't have success and win the game (2019 Liberty Bowl). It was a tight, tight battle with Navy. There was also the triple option, which made it even more difficult to go back and look at my notes. I know how unique and special bowl games are and postseason football, especially for seniors getting their last opportunity to play, at least for K-State. It's our job as coaches to make sure that we come up with terrific game plans so that those guys can just cut it loose and play. So, I'm excited about spending a month with these guys. Yeah, we'll probably tweak some things from what we did, just because it's my second opportunity at a bowl game. I've played in plenty of games in January, but we've probably played four games through December where this year we haven't played any."
On the two vacant coaching positions...
"Brian Lepak is going to handle the tight ends and fullbacks, and I'm excited. Brian's a quality control for us, so we've elevated him. Then I'm going to combine the wide receivers. Christian Ellsworth is a graduate assistant that I just think the absolute world of. He helped out Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham), and Christian knows our offense, knows our talent level, knows our personnel, and is a great communicator. So, he'll handle the wide receivers, but we'll also elevate Will Burnham. Will will help us at the wide receiver spot as well as on special teams. So, the two guys that kind of get elevated and moved up are Will Burnham and Brian Lepak, but a lot more coaching responsibilities as well for Christian Ellsworth. So, I'm excited for all those guys to have that challenge."
On the long layoff before the bowl game...
"Well, the biggest advantage from a bowl-prep standpoint is development in younger guys. That's what we did yesterday and today is more young guys practice and give those guys just our base offense, base defense and let those guys play football, as well as technique fundamentals, a lot of special teams drills. Since we're on the road all this week, a lot of the behind-the-scenes people will probably break down some LSU film, but when we come back next weekend, they have a couple more practices. We'll do mostly just K-State vs. K-State because we'll have not had a chance as coaches to really dive into game plans. But that's still a great opportunity for these young guys to just play football and keep getting better at their craft, keep developing guys. We've got a lot of good young talent here that's been on the scout team, so we need to spend a lot of time with those guys. So, that's going to happen over the next week. Then by the end of next weekend is when we'll start diving into some LSU film."
On the team's reaction to Coach Klein's advanced role...
"I know people are excited for Collin. The amount of respect Collin Klein has within our program with the history of Kansas State, I know they're really, really excited for him. Once again, we're practicing mostly the young guys and the older guys are with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) going through some lifting and some running and stuff. So, it's mostly young guys, but it's really practice as normal right now. We haven't tweaked anything. We might do that. Once again, we're in recruiting mode right now, so we're keeping the practice as if it would be a spring practice or fall camp practice."
On the depth at running back...
"We got some young kids in DJ Giddens and Devrin Weathers, Jordan Schippers, Clyde Price. They're going to get an opportunity, and that's fun for those guys because they're going to get a chance to run with the top guys, and we can get a great gauge and evaluation on those guys. They all have ability, and we'll find out who becomes the guy or guys that are going to either spell Deuce (Vaughn) or complement Deuce. We still have number 22 back there, and we all know he's pretty special."
On developing the young kids during this time...
"We've got to look at the calendar and how we're going to lay that out with Christmas and stuff, but in essence we were going to have this time whether or not we played earlier and just played right through or let them go home for a handful of days of Christmas, and then bring them back and start over. It's for everybody, this development time. I'm excited because we get a couple more weeks in the weight room with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll), and we're making great strides and great gains with a lot of younger players. Then you get to have those kids practice. They love to be coached. They love to have the reps and not just be working off of a scout team card, which they've done for about 12 weeks. So, that's the exciting thing for all those guys. Get a chance to just play football and not have to worry about reading the card and just continuing to learn."
It will be the third time in school history the Wildcats will play in the Texas Bowl. K-State played in the inaugural game against Rutgers in 2006, while it topped Texas A&M, 33-28, in 2016. This year will mark the eighth time in 23 bowl appearances that the Wildcats will play a bowl game in the state of Texas, which is home to many K-State alumni. It will be the eighth time in school history that K-State will play in the month of January and the first since the end of the 2015 season.
"We are pleased to accept an invitation to play in the Texas Bowl," said K-State head coach Chris Klieman, the first head coach in school history to lead his team to two bowl games in his first three seasons. "I am really proud of our team, especially our seniors, and our staff for their dedication throughout the season and display of our four core values – Discipline, Commitment, Toughness and Be Selfless. The story of the 2021 Wildcats still has one chapter to write, and we look forward to kick off the new year in Houston and preparing for a great LSU team in what will be an exciting Texas Bowl."
The Wildcats (7-5) are among the nation's leader in bowl appearances since 1993 as they are tied for 18th nationally and rank fourth in the Big 12 with 22. K-State will also be one of just 25 Power 5 teams to play in a bowl game at least 10 times in the last 12 years. The Wildcats are back on the bowl scene after a one-year hiatus in 2020 in which they were bowl eligible but unable to field enough players due to COVID. K-State has won two of its last three bowls and will be looking for three bowl wins in a four-year stretch since 1999-2002.
"We are excited to be back in a bowl game, and congratulations to Coach Klieman and our football team on a great regular season," said Athletics Director Gene Taylor. "We look forward to showcasing our football program and Kansas State University in the Texas Bowl, and I know our fans – especially our alumni in Texas – are excited to show their outstanding support in Houston while our football student-athletes, coaches and staff are provided a great experience."
Kansas State raced out to a 3-0 start in 2021, highlighted by a season-opening 24-7 win over Stanford at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, in addition to an impressive 38-17 victory against Nevada, which finished the year with an 8-4 record and boasts a potential first-round NFL Draft pick at quarterback. Big 12 play began with three losses against teams that were either ranked in the top-25 at the time or were a preseason top-25 team.
However, K-State was able to right the ship and rattle off four-straight wins, its second-straight season with a four-game winning streak in conference play. The streak began with a gusty 25-24 victory at Texas Tech, a game in which K-State trailed, 24-10, at halftime before pitching a second-half shutout against a Red Raider team that eventually reached the postseason. The Wildcats then came home and throttled TCU, 31-12, as they limited an explosive Horned Frog team that 34.3 points per game entering the contest.
Kansas State opened the month of November by winning its 13th-straight game against Kansas to retain the Governor's Cup. The 13-straight wins over KU is tied for the fourth-longest active streak by a team against any one opponent in a series that has been contested each year since at least 2009. K-State then turned around and topped West Virginia – another bowl team this season – 34-17 as the Wildcats snapped a five-game losing streak to the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats will enter the TaxAct Texas Bowl on a two-game slide, dropped the final two regular-season games by two or less scores. The Wildcats held a potent Baylor offense – which led the Bears to a Big 12 Championship and a berth into the Sugar Bowl – to just 20 points after averaging 35.4 points per game entering the contest, as K-State fell, 20-10. The Cats then lost at Texas, 22-17, on a short turnaround as they played the day after Thanksgiving.
LSU, K-State's Texas Bowl opponent, finished the regular season with a 6-6 record, including a 3-5 mark in conference play to tie for fifth place in the SEC West. The Tigers won their final two games to get bowl eligible – a 27-14 win against ULM and a 27-24 upset victory over 14th-ranked Texas A&M.
The Wildcats and Tigers will be meeting for just the second time ever as LSU won a 21-0 contest in Baton Rouge on September 13, 1980.
Tickets in the official K-State sections are available now online at www.kstatesports.com/bowlgame and via phone at 1-800-221-Cats until 6 p.m. Sunday and beginning again at 8:30 a.m. Monday. All tickets in the official K-State sections are priced by the bowl at $123.75. All Ahearn Fund members and fans who pre-ordered tickets will receive communication with information regarding their requests by the end of the day.
The K-State Alumni Association will also provide official travel packages to the bowl game. Visit the Alumni Association's official bowl travel page – www.k-statesportstours.com – for travel package information.
TaxAct Texas Bowl Selection Press Conference Quotes
CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH
Opening Statement…
"Okay. Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks so much for everybody joining us. We're excited to play in the Texas Bowl against a great opponent. Just learned a couple minutes ago that it's going to be LSU, so it's going to be exciting for the guys. We're practicing this afternoon and they knew it was the Texas Bowl before we started practice but didn't know the opponent. So, I'll be excited to talk to the guys as we finish up practice. Gives us an opportunity to play a great opponent, gives us an opportunity to continue to grow with our developmental guys. Then, obviously, I'm really excited for a bunch of seniors to get one more opportunity to play together down in Houston. So, with that, we'll open it up for questions."
On the story of the team this year...
"Yeah, it's got one more chapter, that's for sure, and an exciting chapter. We knew it's a long story and you're going to have some bumps in the road, and we had our leadership meeting today. Last time we had a leadership council meeting, we were 3-3 and 0-3 in the league, and I challenged those guys to have an impact and challenge each other to be accountable. Lo and behold, we got it to seven wins. Although we're disappointed that we lost the last two games, I'm a firm believer that you're not judged by a moment but judged by an entire body of work. So, we have one more opportunity with the seniors to truly finish the, story and I know our guys are excited about that. We're going to get after it with our prep and hopefully play a really good game."
On making the decision to make a change at offensive coordinator...
"It's something that I thought long and hard about and took a week myself after the game. I didn't want to make any quick decisions. I thought about it long and hard. I was on the road all last week, which probably helped me get away and clear my mind and decide on what's the best thing for Kansas State University. Came back and had a conversation with Gene (Taylor), and it was my decision that I thought we needed to make a change. That was very, very difficult as you can imagine as close as Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham) and I are. But I came here three years ago to get a program ready to go compete for a Big 12 Championship. This is not about Chris Klieman. It's not about Courtney Messingham. It's about Kansas State football, and I felt we needed to make a change, and so we did."
On Collin Klein putting together the plan for the bowl game...
"Well, I'm excited for Collin and the offensive staff, but I know we're not going to reinvent the wheel in three weeks. I don't want him to think I'm judging solely on what happens here in this three week prep and one game. So, for me, it's more the leadership, the organization, how he interacts with the coaches and players. I'm going to kind of be a fly on the wall a lot with those offensive coaches to see the plan that they come up with, and I know that we had a meeting this morning with the offensive staff. They're excited about the challenge. We didn't know the opponent in the way we were playing. We'll be on the road this week again, and then we'll start that preparation next weekend."
On the quarterback update...
"We're practicing young guys this weekend. I don't think Skylar (Thompson) would be able to practice if we practiced today. So, we'll have everybody ready. I don't know if that's going to be Will (Howard) and Jaren (Lewis) and Jake (Rubley), who are practicing this weekend or by next weekend if Skylar (Thompson). I'll have to give you an update another time, but everybody, all hands on deck, this week with the quarterback position or this game."
On facing LSU...
"Yeah, not far removed from the National Championship and so much prestige and history behind LSU football, and it excites me. I know it's going to excite our staff and our team to be able to play a high-caliber SEC team that everybody's talked about and heard about. It'll be a lot of fun. It will be a big challenge because they have tremendous players. I know they have a coaching change going on, but they got a bunch of kids that have a lot of pride and want to finish out with a win just like we do."
On the team's core values...
"Yeah, it really is. Discipline, commitment, toughness and to be selfless, and our guys have been really disciplined throughout the year. We haven't had troubles off the field and guys have challenged each other on the field, and discipline to come to work every day, committed to your teammate, to be committed to your brother, to be committed to K-State football, I think is important. Toughness – you play seven games in a row after our bye week like we did, and that's a grind. We have a lot of guys that fought through a lot of injuries. We got some guys playing that were really banged up just like everybody else in the country, but I just know how tough those guys have been. Then to be selfless and 18-to 22-year olds. That's tough to ask, but a lot of selfless acts of guys changing positions and moving around to different spots so that we could put the best outfit out there we could every Saturday. We've got a tremendous locker room, a really close-knit group of guys, and I know they're excited to be together for another month."
On the preparation for this bowl game...
"Yeah, I'm going to go back and look at my notes on it. Obviously, we didn't have success and win the game (2019 Liberty Bowl). It was a tight, tight battle with Navy. There was also the triple option, which made it even more difficult to go back and look at my notes. I know how unique and special bowl games are and postseason football, especially for seniors getting their last opportunity to play, at least for K-State. It's our job as coaches to make sure that we come up with terrific game plans so that those guys can just cut it loose and play. So, I'm excited about spending a month with these guys. Yeah, we'll probably tweak some things from what we did, just because it's my second opportunity at a bowl game. I've played in plenty of games in January, but we've probably played four games through December where this year we haven't played any."
On the two vacant coaching positions...
"Brian Lepak is going to handle the tight ends and fullbacks, and I'm excited. Brian's a quality control for us, so we've elevated him. Then I'm going to combine the wide receivers. Christian Ellsworth is a graduate assistant that I just think the absolute world of. He helped out Coach Mess (Courtney Messingham), and Christian knows our offense, knows our talent level, knows our personnel, and is a great communicator. So, he'll handle the wide receivers, but we'll also elevate Will Burnham. Will will help us at the wide receiver spot as well as on special teams. So, the two guys that kind of get elevated and moved up are Will Burnham and Brian Lepak, but a lot more coaching responsibilities as well for Christian Ellsworth. So, I'm excited for all those guys to have that challenge."
On the long layoff before the bowl game...
"Well, the biggest advantage from a bowl-prep standpoint is development in younger guys. That's what we did yesterday and today is more young guys practice and give those guys just our base offense, base defense and let those guys play football, as well as technique fundamentals, a lot of special teams drills. Since we're on the road all this week, a lot of the behind-the-scenes people will probably break down some LSU film, but when we come back next weekend, they have a couple more practices. We'll do mostly just K-State vs. K-State because we'll have not had a chance as coaches to really dive into game plans. But that's still a great opportunity for these young guys to just play football and keep getting better at their craft, keep developing guys. We've got a lot of good young talent here that's been on the scout team, so we need to spend a lot of time with those guys. So, that's going to happen over the next week. Then by the end of next weekend is when we'll start diving into some LSU film."
On the team's reaction to Coach Klein's advanced role...
"I know people are excited for Collin. The amount of respect Collin Klein has within our program with the history of Kansas State, I know they're really, really excited for him. Once again, we're practicing mostly the young guys and the older guys are with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll) going through some lifting and some running and stuff. So, it's mostly young guys, but it's really practice as normal right now. We haven't tweaked anything. We might do that. Once again, we're in recruiting mode right now, so we're keeping the practice as if it would be a spring practice or fall camp practice."
On the depth at running back...
"We got some young kids in DJ Giddens and Devrin Weathers, Jordan Schippers, Clyde Price. They're going to get an opportunity, and that's fun for those guys because they're going to get a chance to run with the top guys, and we can get a great gauge and evaluation on those guys. They all have ability, and we'll find out who becomes the guy or guys that are going to either spell Deuce (Vaughn) or complement Deuce. We still have number 22 back there, and we all know he's pretty special."
On developing the young kids during this time...
"We've got to look at the calendar and how we're going to lay that out with Christmas and stuff, but in essence we were going to have this time whether or not we played earlier and just played right through or let them go home for a handful of days of Christmas, and then bring them back and start over. It's for everybody, this development time. I'm excited because we get a couple more weeks in the weight room with Coach Tru (Trumain Carroll), and we're making great strides and great gains with a lot of younger players. Then you get to have those kids practice. They love to be coached. They love to have the reps and not just be working off of a scout team card, which they've done for about 12 weeks. So, that's the exciting thing for all those guys. Get a chance to just play football and not have to worry about reading the card and just continuing to learn."