Kansas
Kansas State football’s resilience reminiscent of 2022 Big 12 championship team
DJ Giddens wasn’t looking to send a personal message when he shredded Colorado’s defense Saturday night in a hard-fought 31-28 Kansas State football victory over the Buffaloes at Folsom Field in Boulder.
But the Wildcats as a team were a different matter.
“Not me, but as a team we had something to prove, being able to go on the road in tight games and win,” Giddens, K-State’s workhorse running back said after rushing for 182 yards and helping set up the winning touchdown with a 35-yard reception late in the fourth quarter. “As it came to me personally, I didn’t have anything to prove.”
Perhaps not, but Giddens continued to make his case as an elite runner. And more to his point, K-State showed an inner strength that might have been lacking in tight games last year.
By escaping Boulder with the victory, the Wildcats now are 2-0 in one-possession games after going 1-4 under similar circumstances last year. On Sept. 7, they came from behind to beat Tulane, 31-27.
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Kansas State football running back DJ Giddens runs wild in first half
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It took a quick three-play scoring drive capped by quarterback Avery Johnson’s 50-yard touchdown pass to Jayce Brown with 2 minutes, 14 seconds left, to put K-State ahead. And a defense decimated by injuries in the secondary, followed that with a defensive stop to seal the victory.
K-State is now 5-1 overall and tied for fourth in the Big 12 at 2-1, just a game behind co-leaders Iowa State, Brigham Young and Texas Tech at 3-0. And the victory ended the Wildcats’ four-game losing streak under coach Chris Klieman in weeks following a bye.
“Incredible game, a really good football game, like I think all of us knew it was going to be,” Klieman said. “A lot of adversity, and a lot of resilience.”
Indeed, K-State persevered despite an injury that briefly knocked out Johnson during a long scoring drive to start the second half. And on the subsequent Colorado scoring drive that cut the lead to 21-14, the Wildcats then having four different defensive backs go down. Colorado was not immune either, playing without star receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter and second-leading receiver Jimmy Horn in the second half.
Kansas State football’s defense laser focused on Shedeur Sanders and Colorado passing game
“We had talked. When your opportunity comes, we’re counting on you and we believe in you, and you’ve got to go out there and make plays,” Klieman said of a list of backups that included quarterback Ta’Quan Roberson and defensive backs Colby McCalister, Nickendre Stiger, Daniel Cobbs, true freshman Zashon Rich and Jordan Dunbar, among others. “And it was a chance for those guys to play a lot of snaps against really good wide receivers, even if a couple of their top guys were out.
“They’re still really good players and really good receivers, and the quarterback (Shedeur Sanders) can put it on the money. And so, I’m really proud of those guys.”
Super-senior defensive end Brendan Mott said he sees similarities in this team to the Wildcats of two years ago, who also had a propensity for winning close games.
“That’s something that I remember in our 2022 team when we won the Big 12 championship, is being able to have that depth and those young guys being able to step up and make plays, because that’s just part of football,” said Mott, who had two of the Wildcats’ six sacks of Sanders in the game. “Dudes are going to go down, and it’s next man up, and to see those young guys come in and make plays, it’s awesome.”
What Kansas State football coach, players said about Colorado coach Deion Sanders’ Buffs
Even with his top two receivers out, Sanders completed 34 of 40 passes for 388 yards and three touchdowns. But K-State’s defense stopped one Buffalo drive on VJ Payne’s interception near his own end zone in the fourth quarter, and then turned them over on downs to effectively end the game.
Johnson, who briefly went to the locker room for treatment in the third quarter before returning to finish the game, completed 15 of 23 passes for 224 yards and two touchdowns. And after his fourth-quarter interception helped set up Colorado’s go-ahead score with 3:12 left, he immediately came back to engineer the winning drive.
“This is what football is all about,” Johnson said. “We wanted to put the game away the drive before. It obviously didn’t go our way, but ultimately you’ve just got to make plays in big moments.
“Coach Klieman challenged some of our captains and top players on the team to just make plays in big moments. It’s fun to play in hostile environments and just silence the crowd in big-time games. So, we just wanted to show tonight that we’re a great team and that we can win close games on the road.”
Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.
The Detroit Tigers were beaten by the Kansas City Royals 5-1 on Saturday night.
Michael Wacha pitched seven scoreless innings, Bobby Witt Jr. hit an inside-the-park home run on a grounder and Michael Massey had a three-run homer for the Royals, who will go for the series sweep on Sunday night.
Witt hit the ball down the right-field line in the first inning that bounced off the wall and eluded right fielder Kerry Carpenter. Witt motored around the bases and beat the relay throw to the plate for a two-run homer.
It was the Royals’ first inside-the-park home run since Witt did it in August 2023.
Carpenter left the game later with left shoulder soreness.
Wacha (4-2) gave up two hits, walked two and struck out six. It was his longest scoreless outing since throwing eight scoreless innings against the Chicago White Sox on April 11.
Burch Smith (0-2) took the loss. He retired only one of the four batters he faced, allowing two runs on three hits in one-third of an inning.
Massey’s homer in the fourth inning came with runners on first and third with two outs. He lined the ball over the right-center field fence for his third homer of the season.
Wacha had at least one strikeout in each of his first four innings. The Tigers loaded the bases in the fifth on a double, a walk and a hit batter, but Wacha got Matt Vierling to ground out to end the inning.
The Tigers scored in the eighth on a two-out double by Riley Greene.
Up next
The teams conclude the three-game series Sunday. The Tigers have not announced a starter, though manager AJ Hinch said it will be a bullpen game. Kansas City will send LHP Noah Cameron (2-2, 5.40 ERA) to the mound.
Bullet point summary by AI
- The Chiefs are exploring long-term solutions at tight end beyond Travis Kelce’s expected 2026 retirement.
- One potential move involves targeting a veteran player from a team transitioning to a new starter at the position.
- The deal’s structure hinges on future playoff performance, creating a high-stakes incentive for both franchises.
While the 2026 draft is just in the books, it’s never too early to start thinking about the 2027 season — and if there’s one team that’s already looking that far ahead, it’s the Kansas City Chiefs.
Star tight end Travis Kelce is almost certainly retiring after the 2026 campaign despite an inflated new deal, and looking at the Chiefs’ depth chart, backup Noah Gray is not starting-caliber material. You could argue the team can scout for star talent in next year’s draft, but that would come with significant risk and opportunity cost if a prospect isn’t immediately NFL-ready.
Instead, there’s a potential solution general manager Brett Veach can utilize by acquiring an excess asset from another team.
This Chiefs-Bears trade solves Kansas City’s Travis Kelce problem
The Chicago Bears are clearly moving forward with 2025 first-round pick Colston Loveland as their TE1, in addition to taking blocking specialist Sam Roush out of Stanford in this year’s draft. All of which leaves backup — and previous starter — Cole Kmet on the outside looking in. The 27-year-old still has a lot of high-quality football left to play, and he’d certainly sign off on the opportunity to get starting snaps for a team with a championship window still wide open.
The problem is going to be convincing Chicago to pick up the phone in the first place. Kmet signed a restructured deal in April which disincentivizes the Bears from moving him until next year. A pre-June 1 deal would cost Chicago $4.1 million against the salary cap, while any swap after that date only saves the team $1.4 million.
So, with the present season not really an option, these two teams would need to be negotiating with next year in mind as Kmet is projected to cost the Bears $15.4 million against the cap in 2027. That’s the incentive Chicago needs to move him.
At the moment, Kmet is worth a conditional 2027 fifth-round pick — which may sound cheap, but the devil is in the details. Chicago will certainly dictate that an escalator be attached to the pick: For example, if Kansas City misses the playoffs in 2027, then it remains a fifth-rounder but may be deferred until 2028. If they qualify for the postseason then it could stay in 2027. A championship could push it up a round or two (though that would be a tough sell for the Chiefs).
Kmet has topped 500 receiving yards in three of his six seasons in Chicago, so there’s a good reason for Kansas City to inquire about his availability. The Bears, in turn, used a third-round pick to select Stanford’s Sam Roush – signaling they too are preparing for Kmet’s eventual departure.
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Stormont Vail Healthcare is in a legal battle with the state government, alleging the Medicaid program was wrong to refuse payment for the hospitalization of a pregnant patient with complications.
At issue is a disagreement between the Topeka hospital and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment over whether inpatient health care services were medically necessary for the Medicaid patient’s last two weeks of pregnancy.
The Kansas Court of Appeals did not resolve that dispute, but it did side with Stormont Vail in a May 8 decision. The unanimous three-judge panel reversed a decision by Shawnee County District Court Judge Thomas Luedke and vacated an order from KDHE’s State Appeals Committee. The matter now goes back to the appeals committee for reconsideration.
The appellate panel was comprised of Judges Jacy Hurst, Thomas Malone and Stephen Hill, which heard oral arguments on Aug. 5. Hurst wrote the court’s opinion.
The lawsuit stems from a 2018 case of a pregnant patient, who is not named in appellate court documents. She was 28 years old at the time and had an intellectual disability among other complications, including rapid weight loss caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.
The woman was originally admitted at Newman Regional Health in Emporia before she was transferred to Stormont Vail. Part of the hospitalization during her third trimester was covered.
But the final two weeks were not because Sunflower Health Plan, one of the managed care organizations in the state’s privatized Medicaid program known as KanCare, refused to reimburse for the patient’s continued hospitalization through the day the child was born via cesarean section.
“We are here because the Kansas Medicaid program has wrongfully refused to pay for some of an inpatient hospitalization while a Medicaid beneficiary was at Stormont Vail,” said Amanda Wilwert, an attorney for the hospital, during oral arguments. “Stormont believes the inpatient care was medically necessary as defined by the Kansas Medicaid regulations.”
Court records and oral arguments show the state expected Stormont Vail to look into having a home health agency care for the patient in Emporia instead of continued hospitalization — even though home health generally does not take care of pregnant patients and her doctors believed the expectant mother was not stable enough to discharge.
“The way it’s supposed to work,” said Darren Sharp, an attorney representing KDHE, “is the managed care organization, in this case Sunflower Health, on behalf of KDHE reviews the medical records, asks about the appropriate level of care and whether there’s any other interventions that would be more cost effective or appropriate depending on the level of or depending on the patient’s records and the patient’s status.”
Sharp argued medical records showed the patients was getting better because of total parenteral nutrition, or TPN.
“This is when a tube, a PICC, is inserted and your minerals and your electrolytes and all of your nutrition is then intravenously provided,” Sharp said.
He said the treatment “was eliminating her vomiting, her diarrhea, she had no fever, her glucose levels were stabilized.”
In their ruling, the judges indicated the KDHE appeals committee primarily cared about the cost saving of using home health versus hospitalization while disregarding the treating physician for insufficient reasons and ignoring evidence on potential benefits or harms to the patient.
But the judges declined to resolve the dispute. Rather, unless the decision is appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court, the matter goes back to the KDHE administrative process.
There, the agency’s appeals committee must reconsider the case consistent with the Court of Appeal’s ruling. The published decision sets new precedent interpreting state laws and regulations on the Medicaid program.
“While this court provides no opinion on whether the disputed inpatient healthcare services met the definition of medical necessity,” Hurst wrote, “the record shows that some of the (appeals committee’s) factual findings were not supported by the record as a whole and that the (appeals committee) inaccurately applied the law when it failed to consider (the patient’s) individual characteristics and assess the harms and benefits of the healthcare intervention.
“In making a medical necessity determination, the reviewing agency must make an individualized determination based on the record as a whole.”
Jason Alatidd is a Statehouse reporter for The Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached by email at jalatidd@usatodayco.com. Follow him on X @Jason_Alatidd.
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