After two weeks of sitting on its first loss of the season, Kansas State football gets its chance to respond Saturday.
The Wildcats return home to face No. 22 Houston inside Bill Snyder Family Stadium, looking to bounce back from a 31-26 loss at Cincinnati in their last game.
Houston enters at 4-1 overall and 1-1 in Big 12 play, with its only loss coming against No. 11 Texas Tech. It also brings a familiar challenge for K-State in head coach Willie Fritz, who is 2-0 against the Wildcats after wins in 2022 while at Tulane and 2024 with Houston.
K-State coach Collin Klein has had a lot of respect for Fritz throughout his coaching career, and said he sees many of the same traits in this Houston team that he saw from Fritz’s 2022 Tulane squad.
“They’re really, really good in situational football,” Klein said. “They’re very, very fundamentally sound. They have a top-10 rush defense, and that doesn’t happen unless you are a good tackling football team and play incredibly hard.”
Houston has also been one of the nation’s best teams on third down, converting 65.5% of its opportunities to lead the country. K-State is right behind it at 65%, which ranks second nationally.
“They don’t beat themselves,” Klein said on Monday. “They stay on schedule on offense. They’re the No. 1 third-down team in the country, and they keep themselves in manageable situations, and do a really, really nice job there.”
That starts with quarterback Conner Weigman, a familiar face for Klein from his time at Texas A&M. Weigman started the 2024 season as the Aggies’ QB1 but was benched in favor of Marcel Reed, and Weigman transferred to Houston the following year.
“I’ve been so proud of him and so happy for his success,” Klein said. “You look at how he’s competing and leading that football team; it’s very, very impressive. He’s played really, really efficiently,” Klein said. “He’s protected the football. He’s kept drives alive and threatens people with his legs. He’s doing a heck of a job.”
Weigman will be operating behind a Houston rushing attack, namely running back Makhi Hughes, that could present another challenge for K-State after Cincinnati found some success with explosive runs in the Wildcats’ last game.
“They’ll run some outside zone, but they’re very multiple, and they do a good job of being patient with it as well,” Klein said. “They stay at it, don’t get bored, don’t get outside themselves, and then they do a really, really good job with their targeting to match up things based on your defensive contour, your secondary rotations and things.”
K-State will have to deal with a Houston defense that Klein believes is just as difficult to attack.
“I think it’s very stout across the board,” Klein said. “Their ends do a really, really great job of being disruptive. They have a really, really good idea of space and how to make you feel like it’s not there and take it away from a quarterback standpoint.”
The Wildcats’ quarterback Avery Johnson echoed that assessment.
“They’re a talented team,” Johnson said. “I think they’re really good in the secondary and up front. They rush the quarterback well and can cover pretty well. They kind of have what they do defensively, and they stick to it, and they’re good at it.”
Houston’s defense has created problems for opponents throughout the season, most recently holding Central Florida to 17 points in a come-from-behind 27-17 win in which the Cougars trailed 10-0 at halftime.
“They’ve caused a bunch of defenses problems this year,” Johnson said. “So we’re definitely going to have to come out and play some of our best football because they’re going to come in here with some fire.
“We’ve been able to look back at some things we didn’t do well a week and a half ago and just come out and try to show those things that we’ve improved on this Saturday.”
The Wildcats could have another weapon emerging at wide receiver.
Derrick Salley Jr. had the best statistical game of his K-State career against Cincinnati, catching seven passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. Klein said Salley could have more playing time moving forward.
“I think he’s definitely earned it,” Klein said. “I was not surprised at all with that performance that he had based on what he had done in practice. He has just continued to get better and better through the course of it.
“We’re going to need that depth and that level of competition coming through these next eight consecutive weeks,” Klein continued. “So, I would definitely see his contributions continuing.”
Klein revealed that K-State will have to move forward without tight end Will Anciaux, who will miss the remainder of the season with a lower-leg injury. Wide receiver Jaron Tibbs, meanwhile, has progressed well through the off week and is expected to be fine, Klein added.
The Wildcats and Cougars kick off at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The game will be televised on FOX and broadcast on the radio on 101.5 FM and KMAN (1350 AM, 93.3 FM and 93.7 FM).