Jimmy Coffman
Saturday, October 10th, 2026
KSU Recap: The Coogs Crush the Cats
MANHATTAN – The city of Manhattan was buzzing on Saturday morning as the Wildcats were set to face their first ranked opponent of the 2026 season in the Houston Cougars. But once the two teams took the field, the buzz quickly disappeared.
K-State’s first game off of a loss and subsequent bye week brought a lot of interesting firsts for new Head Coach Collin Klein. It was the first time Klein’s Cats had an extra week to adjust, first time they’d have to fight to get back to winning and it was the first time they’d played ranked competition. With all of these firsts, it felt like this game was going to say a lot about where this program is and who they could be. If that is the case, it may be a bad omen for the remainder of the season as the Cougars put up a 35-16 domination over K-State and the Cats fall to 0-2 in Big 12 play.
1st Quarter
Kansas State started the first quarter with a couple of miscues that cost the Cats early. In Houston’s opening drive, K-State’s defense bent hard as the Cougars made it all the way to the one yard line in less than four minutes. From there, K-State almost lasted four plays on the goal line to keep the Cougars scoreless, but a last second timeout from Coach Klein called back a fourth down pass break-up from Kaleb Patterson, giving Houston a second chance that they took for six.
From there, K-State’s offense tried to respond with a drive that saw two potential big plays fall incomplete due to a Brandon White drop and an Avery Johnson overthrow. Houston’s offense responded with another confident drive that ended in a missed field goal that bounced off of the left upright. K-State used the moment to get right, responding with a drive that led to a made field goal from 29 yards to end the quarter trailing 7-3.
2nd Quarter
The second quarter opened with another redzone drive for the Cougars, with some help from a questionable pass interference call against K-State’s Kaleb Patterson. UH’s Conner Weigman capped the drive off with a touchdown pass on an out route to Patrick Overmyer, giving Houston a 14-3 lead with less than ten minutes to play in the first half.
As Houston began to gain steam, the Cats struggled to move the ball, especially on the ground. Cats had a quick drive end in a punt to Houston, allowing the Cougars to pick up where they left off as they quickly found themselves back in Cats territory. K-State’s suspect run defense struggled against Makhi Hughes, giving up a 13 yard touchdown run to give Hughes 43 yards on only eight carries and Houston a 21-3 lead.
The first half was about as one-sided as it could be. Houston looked like a well-oiled machine on both sides of the ball and Avery Johnson struggled to get the air game going as he went 6/12 for 45 yards. K-State didn’t look sluggish or overly messy, they were simply being outplayed.
3rd Quarter
The third quarter opened in the same fashion the first half closed. K-State opened the half on offense, putting up a quick six play drive before punting back to Houston. From there, Conner Weigman had a couple of great passes to TE Patrick Overmyer, including Overmyer’s third touchdown reception of the afternoon.
As they reached the halfway point of the quarter, K-State found some offensive life through Rodney Fields Jr, who gained 41 yards over three plays to put the Cats in scoring territory. From there, Johnson found Garrett Oakley to give KSU their first touchdown of the afternoon. Though the touchdown was a high point, it was immediately followed by a failed two point conversion to keep KSU’s point total in single digits.
Where the Cats’ offense changed, the defense stayed the same. UH drove 67 yards in 10 plays to find Patrick Overmyer for another touchdown pass, giving Overmyer four receiving touchdowns in three quarters and Houston a 35-9 lead.
4th Quarter
The fourth quarter saw a rare defensive stop from the Cats, leading to a couple of big plays from the offense. But right as the offense looked to add to the scoreboard, a collapsing pocket led to Avery Johnson’s third interception of the year that killed any momentum gained in K-State’s favor.
K-State’s defense continued to hold as the offense found another touchdown to make it a 35-16 game. But by the time the offense found double digits, there was hardly any time on the clock. After the final touchdown, Houston simply let the clock run out as they took their third straight win and gave K-State their third straight loss.
Overall, K-State has a litany of issues to clean up on both sides of the ball. The run game has disappeared against Big 12 competition, the defense has struggled and Johnson and the receivers played out of rhythm. With that being said, this is the type of game a young head coach like Klein can learn from. Willie Fritz is an experienced, tough coach and it is normal for someone with that level of experience to outcoach younger coaches. Though the loss may not sit well with fans, it could pay off sometime in the future for Collin Klein.