Kansas State head coach Bill Snyder talks to referees during the Wildcats’ 38-12 loss on Saturday. The Wildcats fell to 6-5 overall and 4-3 in the Big 12. Staff photo by Rod Mikinksi.

What won Kansas State six games this season cost it the game Saturday against Missouri. It sounds far-fetched, yes, considering the Wildcats lost by 26 points. But it's the reality.

Call it whatever you want: Boring, vanilla, conservative — that's what the K-State offense was against the Tigers. Missouri stacked the box with eight defenders throughout most of the game with the hope of shutting down K-State's powerful rushing attack.

It worked. The Wildcats were limited to just 112 yards on 43 carries in the game, an average of 2.6 yards per attempt. Daniel Thomas, the conference's leading rusher, was bottled up for just 79 yards on 23 carries.

Kansas State’s Lamark Brown gets tackled in front of the KSU bench on Saturday. Staff photo by Rod Mikinksi.

K-State tried to do what got them to where it was on the season. There's nothing wrong with that. But eventually, the coaching staff needed to adjust to soften up the Missouri defense. It failed to do so.

Sure, the Wildcats threw the ball 31 times, completing 20 of them, but 10 of those passes came when the game was far out of reach late in the fourth quarter.

This was a Missouri defense that ranked 17th nationally in rush defense, allowing a little more than 102 yards per game.

"They're a good defense," K-State offensive tackle Nick Stringer said. "They've kind of hung their hat on their run defense all year and they played well today and we didn't.

"We want to run the football and we've been pretty good at it. It was a big challenge for us and we didn't do very well."

Missouri boasted a secondary that ranked 89th in the nation against the pass. The Tigers had just allowed 427 yards to a freshman quarterback the week before. K-State needed to attack the secondary at a higher frequency.

Instead, the Wildcats insisted on trying to imitate Herman Edwards' style of coaching: Run, run, pass and then punt. Replace punt with field goal and it was the replica of what the Kansas City Chiefs have been doing for the past five years.

 "I thought that we stopped the run well," Missouri middle linebacker Will Ebner said. "It was a big stand for our defense and a big statement."

The Wildcat offense was limited to four field goals in the game. They were held without a touchdown for the first time this season, and produced their second-lowest scoring output of the season. The 112 yards on the ground were the second-lowest rushing total of the year, dating back to the UCLA game on Sept. 19.

The Wildcats simply tried to impose their will on Missouri and run the ball. The game plan failed.

"I'm not sure that we put the ball where it needed to go," K-State coach Bill Snyder said. "Missouri did a nice job of defending us with having to bring extra guys into the box. They defended quite well with their linebackers and their down linemen. They create a lot of movement and they used that to their advantage."

The Wildcats were just too stubborn Saturday against Missouri, and because of that, they squandered a great opportunity. And now, if K-State doesn't win in Lincoln this upcoming weekend, it will be home for Christmas.

But ultimately, K-State still controls its own destiny. However, if the Wildcats are going to win at Nebraska, they're going to have to throw the ball a little more.

"It's good because we have another opportunity to reach our goal," senior receiver Brandon Banks said. "We are still down about this loss though. Hopefully we can bounce back."