Watch Coach Klieman’s Press Conference  |  Listen to Coach Klieman’s Press Conference  |  Listen to Player Breakout Interviews

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and select players met with members of the media on Monday inside the Vanier Family Football Complex to preview Saturday’s matchup against No. 20 Oklahoma State. Links to video and audio of Klieman’s press conference – which was streamed live on ESPN+ – are above in addition to an audio link of player breakout interviews. A transcript of Klieman’s opening statement is below.

CHRIS KLIEMAN, HEAD COACH

Opening Statement…

“Good afternoon. A couple of things from Saturday – we had talked before we even went on the trip and early in the week about the margin for error was going to be really small. It is in general in conference play, and you kind of see that through the first week of conference games. The simple things – we had to win the explosive play battle, and we had to win the turnover battle. We weren’t able to do that. You can’t give up two non-offensive touchdowns. We didn’t do a good enough job when we had the opportunity in the first two drives. We drove the ball really well but penalties kicked us back out of goal-to-goal situations, and we get field goals. I say it all the time – field goals will never beat you. Sure enough, we kicked two field goals and felt really good being up 6-0 Then we forced them into a field goal, which was good, but the obviously in the last two minutes of the half, we turned the ball over a couple of times. We needed to shut them down that last one and try to go into half 13-6, but we didn’t. It was 17-6, and then didn’t have good things happen in the second half. So, now it’s our job as coaches that we have to get them to respond. I’m confident in the leadership in the football team that they will respond. We’ve got kind of a short week, coming back at 5 a.m. (Sunday) and then rolling again as we do with an early-morning start. That’s the schedule, and we’ve got to be prepared and be ready for it. So, I’m confident in our older guys and leaders making sure that our focus is good, that we have a good week of prep, but we’re playing a really good football team with Oklahoma State, too.”