K-State football familiar with Tulane's new coach after facing his former team in 2023

MANHATTAN (KSNT) — K-State football is gearing up for its second meeting with Tulane in the past three seasons.

When the Green Wave last visited Manhattan in September 2022, it pulled off a 17-10 upset of K-State, which was ranked No. 14 in the country at the time. Both teams are largely different in comparison to two years ago, so coach Chris Klieman is not necessarily treating this like a revenge game.

"You can't think of it as that," Klieman said. "We're getting an opportunity to go on the road, I think it's important for this group to go on the road because we're going to have to win some games on the road to have a successful season."

In addition to both rosters being almost entirely different, Tulane also has a different head coach.

However, Chris Klieman and the Wildcats are already familiar with first-year head coach Jon Sumrall. K-State handed Sumrall and his former team, Troy, one of their only three losses of 2023. He led Troy to its second-straight Sun Belt title on his way to winning Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year.

From one defensive-minded coach to another, Klieman knows Saturday's matchup with Tulane won't be easy.

"Similar to us, we've got a lot of things we haven't shown yet," Klieman said of the defensive battle. "I think that's part of the chess match of early season football of what are you going to show in the first week ... I think they're in the same range as we are as far as we didn't show everything, they didn't. But it still comes down to, 'Do you get off blocks and do you tackle?' And they did last year and they always did at Troy."

K-State heads to New Orleans to face Tulane on Saturday, Sept. 7. Kickoff is set for 11 a.m.