'It's going to be a fun time': Kansas State receiver Kade Warner excited for bowl game, but Wildcats want more

MANHATTAN — Forgive Kade Warner if he was extra pumped up last Saturday after Kansas State's 35-10 victory over Kansas.

Yes, the Wildcats had just knocked off their in-state rivals for a 13th straight year, but that wasn't why he was so excited. For Warner, it was the realization that for the first time in his college football career, he would end his final season at a bowl game.

"Honestly, it's just that I've never been to one and I've heard so many good stories and so many memories that have been made and the amount of fun that you get to have on them," said Warner, a senior wide receiver and graduate transfer from Nebraska. "So it's not only the fact that I've never been to one, but the fact that we've been close at Nebraska for the last couple of years going to one and we never could get there.

"So the fact that we're however many games in and already are going to go bowling, it's a great relief just to be able to go to a bowl game. And now I've got my whole family looking at bowl projections and this and that, whatever, and I've just got to focus on 1-0 every day. But it's going to be a fun time."

More: 'It means we're under their skin': Kansas State downplays KU's late hit on Skylar Thompson

The victory over Kansas was the third straight for K-State, which now is bowl-bound with a 6-3 overall record and is back to even in the Big 12 at 3-3. The Wildcats will try to pad that win total starting at 11 a.m. Saturday with a home game against West Virginia (4-5, 2-4) at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.

Kansas State football thinking bigger than bowl eligibility

But as pleased as they were to get back to a bowl after missing out last year, the Wildcats were steadfast in their determination to push for more.

"It's cool. I didn't even think about it until after the game and we realized that we were bowl eligible," super-senior center Noah Johnson said. "It's obviously awesome, (but) that's just part of the expectation at Kansas State (that) you make a bowl game.

"With the way last season went, it's really awesome for a lot of the younger guys that didn't get to experience that last year and went through last year's struggles. But we're not satisfied. A bowl game doesn't mean anything if we don't continue to attack the process and continue to improve and focus on going 1-0 every day."

More: Kansas State football vs. Kansas report card: No problem for Wildcats in Sunflower Showdown

As enthusiastic as Warner was about qualifying for a bowl, he acknowledged that the rest of the team was more blasé about it all.

"I haven't heard anybody talk about it," he said. "Just me and my family, just because they're so excited that I'm going to make one. But as a team, not really at all.

"As soon as we won the game, we (met) as wide receivers, and coach Mess (offensive coordinator Courtney Messingham) came in and he goes, 'If you came here to win six games and go to a bowl game, you came to the wrong place.' So that, to me, was a vote of confidence to know that's not what we're playing for. We're playing for bigger things and better things than that."

Quarterback Skylar Thompson, another super-senior, echoed that sentiment.

"That's not why, speaking to the team, why any of us came here, to just win six games and be bowl eligible," he said. "Yes, it's a great accomplishment, but we're here for more and we want to place ourselves in the best position to be in the best bowl game possible."

Time to move on

K-State head coach Chris Klieman did bring up the bowl eligibility in his postgame comments Saturday, but said Tuesday that the focus now has shifted to West Virginia.

"We absolutely need to move on, but I'm happy for those seniors that came back or the seniors that are deciding what they're going to do that they know that on their last go round, they're going to get a chance to play postseason football," he said. "I think that's really important to those guys.

More: How Kansas State football utilized a potent rushing, passing attack to dominate Sunflower Showdown

"In the same respect, I think we can still have a really special season. If we continue to keep trending in that direction of playing with more confidence, preparing every week like we have the last three weeks, believing that we're getting better and better and cutting it loose and playing with great technique and playing physical, those things, I think we can have a really special season."

For Warner and his family, it already is special.

"I've got my family looking like, 'Hey, are we going to play then, are we going to play here?' I don't know," he said. "We've just got to focus on winning these games and it will all kind of settle out.

"I'll let them worry about the vacations and where we're going to go, and I'll just focus on beating West Virginia."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas State football pleased to be bowl eligible but looking for more