Does Cincinnati's Poor Showing Mean Kansas State Is In Trouble In Big 12?

Last week, well at least for the second half, the Cincinnati Bearcats looked like a contender in the Big 12 conference this season. 

They were so dominant the final 30 minutes they were able to hand the Kansas State Wildcats their first loss of the season. This was after the Wildcats opened with three impressive victories over the Nicholls Cowboys, Washington State Cougars and Tulane Green Wave. 

A week later, those talks about the Bearcats being a Big 12 heavyweight are likely over or at least slowed for a bit. They were on the receiving end of a blowout 34-7 loss to the Arizona Wildcats. Instead of a half, they outplayed for an entire game. 

Which raises the question: if the Wildcats lost to Cincinnati, how are they going to handle the rest of the conference? 

It's a good question but not worth putting too much stock into it. Again, the Wildcats are still adjusting to playing for first-year coach Collin Klein. This was also their first road of the game. And after a solid first half, they imploded after starting the third quarter with a costly fumble. 

This isn't making excuses for the Wildcats. The Cincinnati game was a winnable one. And the K-State should probably be 4-0 heading into Saturday's game against the Houston Cougars at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. 

But what if the Wildcats are a worse team than the Bearcats. Or maybe Cincinnati just had an off game against Arizona, just like K-State did in the second half last week? Regardless, we will soon find out. 

Kansas State is hitting the meat of the conference schedule. There are no more easy ones. Every game is going to be a struggle. The hope is the Wildcats just froze in the moment because of the newness. 

If not, this is going to be a long season in Manhattan. 

This week, they play a Houston team that is coming off an impressive win against the UCF Knights. That is followed by the rivalry game against the Kansas Jayhawks in the Sunflower Showdown. We will learn a lot of the Wildcats in the next two weeks. 

It basically comes down to this: Is Klein ready for the challenge of being a head coach now or is it going to take him a few more games, or next season, before he gets fully adjusted. 

Only time will tell, which makes the next couple of weeks even more interesting.