For the first time in five years, Kansas State will begin the year at 0-1 after losing to Iowa State in the 2025 college football season opener. Fans are less than pleased with the rough start and have not hesitated to throw head coach Chris Klieman under the bus.
After a turnover-filled first half, the teams opened up late in the game, scoring more than half the game's total points in the fourth quarter. Iowa State came out on top of the late back-and-forth battle with a 24-21 victory.
IOWA STATE GETS THE DUB IN DUBLIN 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/Q7vbj8kgXt
— ESPN (@espn) August 23, 2025
While Cyclones fans were proud of the team's defense and head coach Matt Campbell's leadership, Kansas State fans took the opposite approach. Wildcats supporters blamed Klieman for the loss due to questionable play-calling late in the game that led to easy Iowa State touchdowns.
“Chris Klieman is so a**,” one dejected fan tweeted.
“Chris Klieman is the 2nd worst thing to happen to K-State in 50 years,” another fan reacted.
“Have to add ‘8-4' between Chris and Klieman,” another fan commented.
Fans were also critical of quarterback Avery Johnson, despite his strong statistical performance. Johnson started the game poorly but used a strong second half to end with 273 passing yards and two touchdowns, with 21 rushing yards and an additional score on the ground.
Kansas State HC Chris Klieman doubles down on gutsy play-calling
Despite drawing fan ire on social media, Klieman expressed no regret with his decision-making late in the game. The Kansas State football coach claimed he would make the same decisions again, despite them almost directly costing his team the game.
“I would do the same thing again, based on how the game was going with us struggling to slow those guys,” Klieman said, via Kellis Robinett of the Wichita Eagle.
Kansas State had five possessions in the second half; two drives ended with long touchdowns, but two also resulted in a turnover on downs. One of Klieman's aggressive calls was particularly called into question when the Wildcats attempted to go for it deep in their own territory. Iowa State stuffed a Johnson keeper on fourth-and-one and scored a touchdown to go up by 10 just four plays later.
