Kansas writer sends Jayhawk fans consolation for Sunflower Showdown loss after Texas Tech beats K-State 43-20 originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
It’s not the best news for Kansas Jayhawk fans after the K-State Wildcats won the 2025 Sunflower Showdown 42-17, but it was something. The Wichita Eagle’s Kellis Robinett shared a mystifying reality for Wildcat fans after a 43-20 loss to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Week 10:
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Kansas State can’t keep its head on straight after giving its all to beat Kansas in the annual intrastate rivalry game. And it’s a full-on trend for Wildcats head coach Chris Klieman.
“K-State has won 17 straight games against rival Kansas in the Sunflower Showdown, including all seven during the Chris Klieman era. But the week after that game has not been kind to the Wildcats,” Robinett wrote.
“After Saturday’s loss to Texas Tech, K-State fell to 2-5 the week after its annual matchup against KU. It has now lost its past three games after the rivalry matchup.
“That is enough of a trend for fans to question how Klieman handles the aftermath of that game. Are the Wildcats experiencing too much of a hangover? Are they putting too much into the rivalry?”
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In this case, Kansas State actually played a focused game in the first half. In the end, Texas Tech’s $28 million roster was too talented to subdue for two halves. Especially when Avery Johnson turned the ball over several times in the first half and was bailed out by a Wildcats defense that similarly applied pressure to Red Raiders quarterback Behren Morton, who was returning from a several-week absence due to injury.
On KU’s end, the Jayhawks blew out the Oklahoma State Cowboys 38-21 in Lawrence. 5-4 Kansas has three chances for bowl eligibility the rest of the way: against the Arizona Wildcats and Iowa State Cyclones on the road, and against the Utah Utes at home.
K-State, meanwhile, has to win two against Oklahoma State, Utah, and the Colorado Buffaloes to reach a bowl game.
