K-State showed plenty of fight Saturday afternoon, but the Wildcats once again were on the wrong end of the scoreboard, falling to Colorado, 27-24, in overtime.

The Wildcats got an incredible performance from quarterback Blake Barnett, who came in after Dillon Duff struggled early.

The defeat dropped the Wildcats to a 4-4 record on the season, and now are a disappointing 1-4 in the Big 12.

Barnett gave the offense some life and energy, finishing 18-of-28 for 224 yards and three touchdowns.

In the end, it wasn't enough and Collin Klein and his staff have a lot more work to do.

Here are 10 observations from K-State's loss to Colorado.

1. Decision to not go for 2 will be talked about for a while

Blake Barnett delivered an incredible drive late to tie the game, as he led the Wildcats in only 1:03 to cut the lead to 21-20 after hitting Garrett Oakley for a touchdown with only two seconds remaining.

The Wildcats had all the momentum, and originally, Klein had his team lined up to go for 2 and the win. However, after Colorado called a timeout, Klein changed his mind and decided to kick the extra point.

Hindsight is always 20/20, but the Wildcats had all of the momentum, having just delivered an incredible drive. Klein has been wildly aggressive at times this year, while also being conservative at times. He is going through the growing pains of making those big decisions, but the decision to not go for two will be a talking point in Manhattan for a while.

2. Blake Barnett delivered in a huge way for the Wildcats

Barnett stood out in a big way, as the Colorado native did everything he could to lead the Wildcats to a win. With how well he played, there should be questions about why he didn't start from the beginning.

Duff didn't look comfortable from the very beginning. The moment his first read was gone, he put his eyes down and didn't let the play develop.

With all of the questions out there with the quarterback health at K-State, one was answered today. If Avery Johnson and Jacob Knuth can't go, Barnett is without a doubt the guy moving forward.

3. Offensive line shows no improvement from last week

The offensive line struggled last week against Arizona State, and it wasn't better on Saturday . The Wildcats rushed the ball 39 times for 121 yards, just under four yards per carry. Rodney Fields Jr. led the way with 12 carries for 65 yards.

Last week, the Wildcats' offensive line gave up three sacks, and they gave up five more on Saturday to Colorado. With backup quarterbacks, it isn't always on the offensive line if there are sacks, but for the second straight week, the offensive line didn't give a backup quarterback any help.

Neither Arizona State nor Colorado has a great defense, but both teams won the line battle of scrimmage against the Wildcats.

4. It wasn't just the offensive line of K-State that lost the battle

As much as the offensive line struggled, the defensive line couldn't stop the Colorado offense from running the ball. The Buffaloes ran the ball 43 times for 222 yards and three touchdowns, led by Richard Young's 120 yards and two touchdowns.

To put that in perspective, the last time that Colorado had rushed for at least 200 yards in a game was in 2021.

You can't win in today's college football if you don't win on the line of scrimmage, and the Wildcats couldn't win on either side of the ball.

5. Linkon Cure flashed the potential K-State fans have been waiting for

K-State fans have been waiting for Cure to showcase his potential, and he did that in a two-play sequence on Saturday.

With the Wildcats trailing 14-7 in the third quarter, Barnett and Cure connected on back-to-back big plays. First, Barnett hit him for a 25-yard pass to put the ball at the Colorado 33. On the very next play, he duo connected again, this time for a 33-yard touchdown to tie the game up.

This was the first touchdown of Cure's career, and the way he finished the play to score was everything that K-State fans have been waiting for.

6. Brandon White has to be done as the punt returner

White did have a nice kickoff return for 48 yards, but he once again showed on Saturday why he shouldn't be the punt returner.

He had two fumbles in the game, and his decision-making in that area just wasn't good enough. The game against Colorado was his first game back as returner after losing his spot, but moving forward, it needs to be Sterling Lockett.

7. Luis Rodriguez finally sees his perfect season come to an end

One of the most consistent players this year has been kicker Luis Rodriguez. Entering the game against Colorado on Saturday, he was perfect on field goals.

That streak came to an end on Saturday, as he missed from 49 and 43 yards, which ended up playing a huge role in the loss. The second miss was especially disappointing, as the Wildcats could have cut the deficit to 21-17 if he made it.

Throughout the season, he had bailed the offense out on many drives, but Saturday wasn't his day.

8. Joe Jackson's role in the offense is too inconsistent

Jackson's role has been up and down in K-State's offense this year. Just two games ago against KU, he rushed the ball 27 times for 159 yards in the win against KU. SInce then, he has only 16 carries for 30 yards in the losses to the Sun Devils and Buffaloes.

At the end of last year, there wasn't a running back in the Big 12 playing better than Jackson, and the expectations were that he would only build on that. In the regular-season finale, he rushed for 142 yards and three touchdowns against the Buffaloes, but that wasn't the case on Saturday.

Instead, he isn't nearly as involved in the offense, which is especially confusing when Avery Johnson has been out the last two games.

9. Collin Klein has to find his identity when it comes to his aggressiveness

After the game, Klein was asked about not going for two.

“I mean, absolutely I wanted to do it,” Klein told reporters. “We initially thought we had a chance, but we’ve got to be smart, too, and credit them. ... they adjusted their alignment, called timeout. Talking about a couple of different options as a staff, we didn’t feel as good about it.”

In those types of situations, you have to stay true to who you are as a coach. He is going through growing pains, but he needs to find more consistency in when he is aggressive or conservative.

10. Defense is going to get tested in a huge way in Week 10

The Wildcats' defense has been struggling recently, and the test gets much more difficult in Week 10 against Drew Mestemaker and Oklahoma State.

The Cowboys played Colorado last week and won that game 57-24. They finished that game with 588 yards of offense. Quarterback Drew Mestemaker finished the game with 386 yards and four touchdowns.

If the K-State defensive line struggles as it did on Saturday, the Cowboys could be in for a huge game in Manhattan.