How Kansas State football is adjusting to going from underdog to defending Big 12 champion

ARLINGTON, Texas — Try as they might it is getting harder and harder for the Kansas State Wildcats to play the respect card. So just how do the Wildcats, now defending Big 12 football champions and a popular pick to return to the title game in December, handle success? Simple, says Chris Klieman, K-State's fifth-year head coach. "You don't shy away from it. You talk about it," Klieman said Thursday during Big 12 football media days at AT&T Stadium, the same venue where the Wildcats upset TCU, 31-28, in overtime last year for their first conference championship in a decade. "There are expectations, but that's why you came to Kansas State, to have high expectations. Kansas State football coach Chris Klieman speaks during his press conference Thursday, the second day of Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. The Wildcats are defending conference champions. Related:Defending champ Kansas State is no longer a sleeper in the Big 12 football preseason poll "To be the team that people want to beat. That's how we did it in the past, and it really worked because it just kept elevating, and that's what we want to continue to do." Klieman knows a little something about elevating and dealing with expectations. In his previous head coaching job, he led North Dakota State to four FCS national championships in four years. The word underdog was not part of the Bison's vocabulary. "I'm kind of excited about it, actually," he said of the target on the Wildcats' backs. The Wildcats still were not picked by media members to repeat as champions. That honor went to Texas, with K-State a close second in the preseason poll. But it's still a step up after they were the No. 5 choice in 2022. Senior offensive lineman Cooper Beebe, who passed up NFL money as a sure-fire draft pick in order to return for one more year, can tell the difference already. "We've always been projected toward the bottom, and we've always been hunting those teams at the top," he said. "Now it's just changing the mindset to where every team is going to give us their A game. "We've got to go in, do our work, day in and day out, and just elevate what we've been doing in the past. We've got to bring it every day, and if we don't, that's where teams get us." The Big 12 championship trophy was on display Wednesday and Thursday during Bib 12 football media days at AT&T Stadium. Kansas State is the defending champion and will look to return in December to defend the title. The Wildcats finished second in the conference during the regular season, but they put it all together in the championship game, handing TCU its first loss. K-State finished 10-4 overall, losing to Alabama in the Cotton Bowl. But while the Wildcats acknowledge they are now the hunted instead of the predators, they aren't ready to strut just yet. Many of the players stubbornly cling to the underdog mentality. "That's definitely part of it, but we're trying to say that we're still the hunter," said senior quarterback Will Howard. "We're always going to look at ourselves as the underdog. I feel that's kind of the K-State mindset, no matter what. "We won the Big 12, but people are still going to talk about Texas and (Oklahoma), and we like that. That's who we are. Kind of a blue collar, put our nose to the grindstone kind of school." Kansas State quarterback Will Howard does and interview Thursday during Big 12 Media Days at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. July 13, 2023. Senior safety Kobe Savage, who missed the last four games after suffering a season-ending knee injury, also refuses to give into the favorite's mantle. "I still feel like we're the underdog," he said. "Obviously we're being hunted, but I think everybody's still coming in with the same mentality, that we have something that we want to prove again." Beebe is a little more inclined to follow Klieman's lead and embrace the new role. "It's definitely a good feeling," he said. "We feel like we've never had the respect of this conference, whether we did good or not. But just to know that K-State is finally getting that limelight, getting out there as being one of the best teams in the conference, it's a good feeling. "But we've got to come in with a different mentality now. Everybody's going to be gunning for us." Related:Why the Big 12 football championship game isn't going anywhere for at least seven years Athletics director Gene Taylor, who hired Klieman as head coach at North Dakota State, and then again to succeed the legendary Bill Snyder at K-State, is confident Klieman is the man to keep the Wildcats on top. "Chris has a culture within the program that can feed upon itself, and I think it starts with the leadership of the locker room," Taylor said. "He's got some tremendous leadership, so when you bring in new recruits, they see that culture. "I saw that at North Dakota State under his leadership, and I think that's beginning to establish here. We're not going to be a team that's easily pushed around." That's also why Howard, who took over as the starter midway through last season, believes K-State can continue on its upward trajectory. "Coach Klieman, he's a winner," Howard said. "He knows how to win. He knows how to continue to win, and he knows how to be consistent with it. "I think just the way he runs his program is humbling. The family attitude and atmosphere he creates is just unbelievable." Arne Green is based in Salina and covers Kansas State University sports for the Gannett network. He can be reached at agreen@gannett.com or on Twitter at @arnegreen.