Sixty-Three to Three, and Six Years of Kansas State Finally Settled
Cleveland State63
Kansas State3
- Game
- 2030 Week 2
- Site
- Home
- Result
- Win
- Record
- 2-0
VIKINGS 63, KANSAS STATE 3. AT HOME.
Folks, I want you to remember with me. In 2024, our second game ever under Coach Dolan, Kansas State came into our building and beat us by eleven. In 2025, we went to Manhattan, Kansas, and lost by thirty-one, and I wrote a column so sad that Donna hid the newspaper from the neighbors. Six years I’ve carried those two games around like a stone in my shoe.
Sixty-three to three. Sixty points of daylight. The stone is out of the shoe. I’ve thrown it in the lake.
Chester, at the counter Monday, said something. Three words. Chester has said two full sentences in five years and both of them were about this team. Monday he put down his coffee, looked at the TV replay of the final score and said, “That’s for 2025.” Then he picked his coffee back up. The counter council gave him a standing ovation. Gerald stood up too, then sat down very fast, because he wasn’t sure he was allowed.
Five pierogi. Maybe six. Kansas State owed us. Kansas State paid.
Sixty-three to three. I’ve checked whether Kansas State showed up with its starters. It did. I’ve checked whether the score was entered correctly. It was.
What I’ll say about the Vikings’ first two games: they’ve allowed six points, and both games were against teams with real football players. That’s a new defensive coordinator, Lonnie Arnold, in his second game. Either he’s very good or the Big 12 hasn’t figured him out yet. Probably both.
My sister Dana texts me “relax” during every game. She’s been doing it for years, from Columbus, regardless of the score. On Saturday, with the Vikings up fifty-three in the fourth quarter, she texted “relax.” I wrote back, “I am relaxed. We’re up fifty-three.” She wrote, “You don’t look relaxed.” She can’t see me. She lives two hours away. She’s right anyway.
Teresa’s weekly record pick: a mariachi album, “for the beard.” I don’t follow the logic. I’m told I’m not supposed to.
Back and forth
Chester said, “That’s for 2025.”
That’s three words. Chester’s verbal output is accelerating. Should we be concerned?
Six points allowed in two games!
I noticed. I’m not saying anything. Dana says relax.
Kansas State paid back two old debts in one afternoon, Chester spoke for the whole counter, and Ken’s sister diagnosed him from two hours away.
Split Decision is fiction. Mickey Bridges, Ken Hogmanes and The Lakefront Ledger are invented; the games and scores are not.