A season that began with national championship aspirations is now in danger of ending in disappointment.

Three weeks ago, the Kansas State Wildcats controlled their hopes of making the Big 12 title game and possibly the College Football Playoff. Now, they are just searching for another victory to salvage a once promising season.

“Obviously a disappointing performance on Saturday,” Kansas State coach Chris Klieman said about Saturday’s loss to Arizona State. “We had a long staff meeting yesterday and talked about a lot of things. We looked at offense, defense and special teams. I don’t think anybody could point a finger at anybody because I don’t think any unit played up to its capabilities.”

The Wildcats were in the driver’s seat after a victory against rival Kansas Oct. 26 in the annual Sunflower State Showdown. They were 7-1 with wins against Oklahoma State and Colorado, the lone blemish coming against BYU.

The victory against the Jayhawks was followed by two upset losses to Houston and the Sun Devils, which all but ended their chances of making the Big 12 championship game.

With two games left against Cincinnati and Iowa State, the Wildcats are basically playing for a more appealing bowl game.

“Our job this week is to right the ship, because we have another opportunity,” Klieman said. “I want our seniors to have an opportunity to go out well.”

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Kansas State On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

Follow our coverage on Facebook

X: @KStateOnSI

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No. 16 Colorado heads to Arrowhead Stadium to face Kansas on Saturday knowing full well where it stands in the Big 12 picture.

Beat the Jayhawks and conference bottom-dweller Oklahoma State and the Buffaloes will be playing for the title. Lose to Kansas and everything changes: They would need Arizona State and Iowa State to lose at least one more game, or BYU to lose its last two, and that would take their College Football Playoff aspirations out of their own hands.

Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders doesn’t sound as if there is any extra pressure on this weekend.

“Look at me, man. Do I look like I subscribe to pressure or do I look like I apply it?” Sanders asked. “We apply pressure.”

In the new-look and jumbled Big 12, the Buffaloes (8-2, 6-1) are tied in the standings with the Cougars, but they are just a game ahead of Arizona State and Iowa State — and curiously enough, did not play any of the three. And while the Jayhawks (4-6, 3-4) are well off the pace, by virtue of a dizzying stretch of last-second losses, they might be playing the best of anyone.

Kansas knocked off then-No. 17 Iowa State before dealing then-No. 6 BYU its first loss on the road last weekend. The back-to-back wins over ranked teams are a first in school history, and the Jayhawks would love to make it three straight on Saturday.

“They have not given up, regardless of what their record may state,” Sanders said. “The last two weeks, they’ve knocked some people off their feet. It’s going to be a tremendous task for us. (Lance Leipold) is going to have those guys ready to play. We’re going to be in an environment that’s not conducive to us being successful in Kansas City.”

Arrowhead Stadium

Kansas, which is playing its home finale Saturday, has been playing Big 12 games at Arrowhead Stadium while their on-campus stadium is renovated. Sanders played there once with the Falcons, returning kickoffs in a 14-3 loss on Sept. 1, 1991. He also played at neighboring Kauffman Stadium, home of the Royals, going 3 for 13 in three games with the Yankees in 1990.

“I’m not as young as I once were,” Sanders said, “but I look forward to going there.”

Senior day

Kansas will be sending off 30 seniors in its home finale Saturday, many of whom were instrumental in taking the program from a winless laughingstock in 2020 to bowl games each of the past two seasons. Leipold is wary about focusing too much on the emotional sendoff when there is still a game to be played, and two wins needed to reach a third straight bowl game.

“It becomes an emotional drain, especially right before kickoff sometimes, so hopefully that’ll be a small positive of not being in Lawrence,” Leipold said. “I don’t want to take anything away from the guys, but if we can balance those things with what the day is, hopefully we can make a special day.”

Award watch

Sanders interrupted a question this week after being reminded of how he said earlier this season that his son and quarterback, Shedeur Sanders, and two-way Heisman hopeful Travis Hunter would be top picks in the upcoming NFL draft.

“A lot of people didn’t believe me, huh? Remember I said Travis and Shedeur have the opportunity (at) one and two?” he said. “Everybody just pulled out a double-barrel shotgun and shot at me when I said that, right? Now it’s all coming to light.”

Sanders has thrown 27 touchdown passes, one away from Sefo Liufau’s school record. Hunter is coming off a game in which the cornerback and wide receiver played 132 snaps — he has 74 catches for 911 yards and nine TDs, along with three picks.

Fast friends

Sanders and Leipold might at first seem like the most unlikely of buddies, given one was a Hall of Fame player and two-sport star while the other fought his way through the coaching ranks, beginning at Division III school Wisconsin-Whitewater. Yet when the Buffaloes joined the Big 12, Leipold reached out to Sanders and they became fast friends.

“I love him to life. He’s a friend,” Sanders said. “For these guys to, on their own account, reach out to me, to show me love and respect is tremendous.”

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Kansas City’s skyline is getting bigger. Starting next year, construction of a new high-rise apartment building will begin on the north side of downtown.

The 25-story, 385-foot-tall tower will be built at 800 Grand Avenue, where a parking garage currently sits. The developer, BR Companies, is excited to break ground in the KC market.

“You have to have the right environment for investment,” said Ryan Sullivan, BR Companies’ Chief Development Officer. “If you think about Kansas City and you’re playing bingo, you yell out ‘Bingo!’ pretty quickly.”

The tower is expected to have more than 300 units, as well as 24,000 square feet of retail space and parking. Construction is expected to begin in the second half of 2025.

“The city has a vision to make Grand ‘grand,’” Sullivan said. “It’s a civil project they’ve been envisioning for a while now.”

READ MORE: Jackson County leaders struggle to agree on issuing $70M in COVID funds as deadline nears

BR Companies is based out of Los Angeles. They say friendly local government, a strong local sports scene, and CPKC Stadium made Kansas City a market they wanted to build in. City Manager Brian Platt helped BR Companies make the announcement at the annual “State of Downtown” address Wednesday, Nov. 20.

“We’re welcoming everybody here to Kansas City,” Platt said. “It’s the coolest city in the country by far. We’re on the map in a lot of ways for a lot of different reasons. That energy, that vibe, is bringing people here. They want to move here, they want to live here, they want to be part of the action.”

This week, Kansas City is in the national sports limelight with CPKC Stadium hosting the NWSL Championship.

“It’s a massive, massive help and asset,” said Sullivan. “From our perspective, more is more. The more people that are participating in the market cement the reasons why people want to live here, work here, and spend time here.”

“The stadium is a national example of how downtown urban sports arenas, and other types of arenas, can drive new development,” said Platt. “The success of the stadium is leading to I think $1 billion of new development that’s coming afterwards, which is unprecedented in Kansas City.”

BR Companies said it is still the “schematic design phase” of the new apartment building, but the company expects to break ground in the third quarter of 2025.

Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.