MANHATTAN, Kan. — Not even a late charge could revive the downtrodden spell placed on the Tigers as they reached the uncharted territory of a losing record in Saturday’s 24-17 loss to Kansas State at Snyder Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.
In a game dominated by Kansas State almost entirely, Missouri (2-3, 0-2 conference) took a late bite of competitive spirit in adding two fourth quarter touchdowns to turn a 24-3 game into a 24-17 contest with eight minutes remaining.
Sophomore quarterback James Franklin and the Missouri passing game came alive down the stretch, as the Tigers built consecutive touchdown drives of 79 and 74 yards, both capped off by goal line touchdown runs.
But Missouri’s inability to make a final stop in the last five minutes sealed the Tigers’ fate. A late face mask penalty gave Kansas State the last first down it would need, effectively ending the game with the same level of frustration with which Missouri played the rest of the contest.
“It’s a very disappointing loss,” sophomore running back Henry Josey said. “We don’t want to lose. We hate losing. We did not come here to lose.”
The late comeback was unable to salvage a victory, but it did vastly improve upon a game that just wasn’t going Missouri’s way since the start. On the first play from scrimmage, Franklin threw an interception that set the Wildcats up at the Missouri 21-yard-line. Six plays later, Kansas State already had a 7-0 lead.
Through three series, Missouri amassed zero net yards of total offense. But even when the Tigers struck a run and pass balance in the second quarter, they were unable to translate production into points. Senior kicker Grant Ressel’s unforeseen struggles continued with two missed field goals, one each in the second and third quarters, and the Tigers were left with just three points through three quarters.
“We definitely need to pick that up and start faster,” senior tight end Michael Egnew said. “Everyone has talked about starting faster.”
As Missouri struggled to score, Kansas State exerted its will on the ground. The Wildcats rattled off a 12-play, 80-yard drive in the middle of the third quarter to extend their lead to two touchdowns. Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein found the end zone on the score and crossed the goalline for a third time at the beginning of the fourth to grab the 24-3 lead.
Like it did two weeks previous against Oklahoma, Missouri’s offense came alive and scored at will in the fourth quarter. In both games, the effort was too late to earn a victory.
Missouri coach Gary Pinkel tied the lack of consistency to a lack of team discipline.
“We’re just not crisp,” he said. “We’re not doing the little attention-to-detail things to win.”
Opinions among the players and coaches varied regarding problems. The consensus, though, was that the Tigers aren’t where they expected to be through five games.
“We’re a good football team and we can play better than we did today,” Josey said.