No. 24 Kansas State has at least eight wins for a fourth-straight year and now awaits its bowl destination following a 29-21 loss to No. 18 Iowa State at Jack Trice Stadium in Ames, Iowa.

K-State, 8-4 overall and 5-4 in the Big 12, is one of just eight FBS schools to win at least eight games in each of the past four seasons, but the Wildcats fell just short of recording a nine-win regular season as the hard-charging Cyclones, 10-2 and 7-2, captured the first 10-win season in their 133-year history.

“Our kids battled their tail off,” K-State head coach Chris Klieman said. “That’s a good team, it’s a hard place to play, and our guys played their tail off, and just came up short.”

K-State and Iowa State, which met for the 108th time on Saturday, will open the 2025 season at the Aer Lingus College Football Classic on August 23, 2025, at Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland.

As history suggests, the game in Dublin should be entertaining.

But first, the Wildcats will look to finish out their 2024 season on top in a bowl game.

Klieman’s message to his players: Play in the bowl game.

“Get everybody to play in the bowl game,” Klieman said. “I grabbed Austin Moore and Brendan Mott and said, ‘This crew needs to play in the bowl game.’ I know this is a different world of college athletics and I understand that, but we still have more story to write with this football team, and I’m counting on those older kids to make sure we have guys playing, and our best guys playing.”

For a ninth time in the last 11 meetings, the rivalry game was decided by 10 or fewer points.

K-State fought. It never led but clawed to within three points three different times, including late in the third quarter, but the Wildcats suffered two turnovers, one blocked field goal, two failed fourth-down conversions, one safety, and ran out of answers despite an impressive performance by their defense.

Avery Johnson completed 12-of-28 passes for 220 yards and three touchdowns and added 13 carries for 64 yards. DJ Giddens had 14 carries for 72 yards. Jayce Brown had three catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns, and Garrett Oakley had four catches for 78 yards and one score.

K-State out-gained Iowa State, 364 to 324, and held Iowa State to just 4-for-16 on third downs.

Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht completed 13-of-35 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Jaylin Noel had six catches for 37 yards and one touchdown, and wide receiver Jayden Higgins had three catches for 53 yards and one touchdown.

“Both defenses played their tail off tonight,” Klieman said. “That’s a really good offense. They went 13-of-35 and we did a nice job in the rush game, they only had 137 yards, but the tail of the tape was we turned the ball over twice in the first half, which you cannot do, and that led to points, and on the flip side we had our hands on a couple of balls for interceptions and we didn’t make those. Against a team that typically doesn’t beat themselves you’ve got to make them pay when they do that.”

K-State’s challenges began on the first play from scrimmage. Johnson pitched the ball behind running back Dylan Edwards on an option play and cornerback Myles Purchase recovered the football at the K-State 27-yard line. Becht used six plays on the short field to take the Cyclones to their first score with a 15-yard touchdown pass to Higgins in the middle of the end zone with 12:24 left in the first quarter.

A brilliant play call and execution got the Wildcats on the scoreboard. Facing fourth-and-2 at the Iowa State 28-yard line, Johnson lofted a rainbow over the head of safety Jeremiah Cooper down the right sideline and into the awaiting arms of Brown for a touchdown to tie it at 7-7 with 5:39 remaining in the first quarter.

The K-State defense stepped up in allowing Iowa State just 29 yards on nine plays and the Cyclones settled for a 41-yard field goal from Kyle Konrardy with 13:31 left in the second quarter.

However, K-State suffered its second turnover of the first half when safety Ta’Shawn James stripped the football from wide receiver Keagan Johnson following a catch and defensive end Joey Peterson recovered the ball at the K-State 30. Becht drove the Cyclones down the short field and on third-and-7 rolled right and found Noel in the back of the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown for a 17-7 advantage.

K-State needed just 12 seconds to jump back into the game. After the Wildcats halted the Cyclones, Johnson unfurled a deep pass to Brown, who caught the ball down the middle of the field. He beat Cooper and outran safety Beau Freyler into the end zone for a 65-yard touchdown to cut the deficit to 17-14.

But Iowa State rebuilt a two-score lead behind two explosive plays late in the first half. K-State had held Iowa State to 100 total yards before running back Abu Sama raced 31 yards and Becht completed a short pass to Higgins, who spun around a defender for 21 yards to the K-State 9. Two plays later, Becht punched the ball into the end zone from 5 yards out to make it 24-14 with 43 seconds to go until halftime.

After the K-State defense again forced an Iowa State punt early in the third quarter, the Wildcats drove down the field behind a 36-yard run by Giddens and had the ball inside the 5 but was unable to reach the end zone. Chris Tennant saw his 21-yard field goal attempt blocked as Darien Porter came off the edge.

Iowa State punted again and this time the Wildcats answered. First, Oakley caught a 28-yard pass across the middle. Then Johnson found a lane and rushed 21 yards to the Iowa State 10. That set up a 7-yard touchdown pass to Oakley, as the Wildcats again crept within a score at 24-21 with 4:41 left in the third quarter.

Disaster struck for Iowa State when it saw its best drive of the game come to a shocking end. After going 68 yards on 10 plays, the Cyclones faced fourth-and-2 at the K-State 7. K-State cornerback Jacob Parrish defended Higgins perfectly in the end zone to return possession to the Wildcats.

But Iowa State scored on a fourth-quarter safety. On a third-and-7 play at the 22-yard line, Johnson scrambled into the end zone and threw a pass that failed to reach the line of scrimmage. He was penalized for intentional grounding and Iowa State took a 26-21 lead.

Once again, Iowa State moved the football — this one a 14-play, 60-yard jaunt — but the Wildcats stiffened and held the Cyclones out of the end zone three straight times inside the 3 — including a third-down play in which Parrish nearly intercepted the ball. Iowa State settled for a Konrardy 20-yard field goal and a 29-21 lead.

It proved to be too great of a margin for the Wildcats to overcome.