Kansas State coach Chris Klieman did not simply hold a postgame press conference last week. He let the entire sport see his heart.
After a 51 to 47 loss to Utah, a game where his team ran the ball with purpose and pride for four quarters, Klieman stood there fighting back tears. He talked about being crushed. He talked about how hard his players battled. He talked like a man who carries every one of his players on his shoulders.
Some coaches would have seen that clip and kept moving.
Deion Sanders did not.
“I love that dude,” Sanders said on Coach Prime’s Playbook with Romi Bean. “I love what he stands for. When I first saw him like that, I know that feeling. I know that feeling.”
Klieman postgame pic.twitter.com/PAoBMFBjRo
— CFB Rhules (@CFBRhules) November 27, 2025
MORE: South Florida is the one job Deion Sanders might reconsider if USF makes the call
And then came the line that only someone who has lived through both sides of heartbreak could deliver.
“When he broke at the end of it…I understand that feeling. He is all in, man.”
Two coaches. Two teams that expected more this season. One final Saturday.
Klieman’s Wildcats are 5-6. Win and they reach a bowl. Lose and the season ends empty. Sanders did not hide what that means.
“We want to be spoilers this week,” he said. “They win one more game and they are going to a bowl. We are not going to one. We want to make sure you are not going to one either.”
Kansas State just rushed for nearly 500 yards on Utah. They are coming downhill with real force and a physical style that demands every ounce of commitment. Sanders knows what is waiting.
“It is going to be 15 in the box,” Sanders joked. “Mama is probably going to have to play free safety this game and she better come down and hit.”
The admiration is real. The empathy is real. Prime had great respect for the man on the opposite sideline.
And while Saturday will not erase the frustration both coaches have felt this season, it does offer one more chance to compete with meaning. For Sanders and for Klieman, it is an opportunity to finish with effort, with pride, and with the kind of sincerity they both showed this week.