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MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman and select players met with members of the media on Tuesday inside the Vanier Family Football Complex as the Wildcats travel to Austin this Saturday morning to take on Texas inside Memorial Stadium. Links to video and audio of Klieman’s press conference – which was streamed live on Big 12 Now 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…

“We’ve got a really good Texas team that we’re going down to Austin to try to compete with. I think they’re playing really well. I know that they had their quarterback injured maybe a week or so ago, but they’re playing at a really high level. They are really physical up front on both sides want to scrimmage, (they have) really good skill kids on both sides as well. Their special teams is the first thing I always look at. They just jump out as far as their coverage units getting down to their speed, not being blocked, and then having returners like they do. They had a big win against BYU last week. So, we’ve got a big challenge ahead in all three phases this week. The guys are confident and excited coming off another big win on Saturday. Great crowd. Great homecoming win. I think we’re getting better in all three phases. There’s some things that we need to work on for sure in all three phases, but when you shut a team out and haven’t allowed a touchdown for a handful of quarters, you’re doing some really good things on defense. Then on offense, our ability to run the football has been really good, and our ability to hang on to it. Third-down conversions have been good. One of the emphases that we’ve had all year is red-zone success and getting touchdowns in the red zone. We were 5-for-5 on Saturday, which was awesome to see. We’re excited about where we’re at. We know we have to play better and know that we can play better because it’s going to be a big challenge down in Austin.”