Manhattan ? Kansas State already knew its Big 12 North title hopes were between slim and none.

Now, as the old one-liner goes, slim has left town.

Saturday’s 23-20 loss to Colorado, which lifted the Buffaloes to a No. 25 ranking and gave them sole possession of the division lead, also eliminated Kansas State from contention. But the Wildcats still can salvage a bowl bid with two victories in their last three games, and they insist they can do it.

“It’s tough. The locker room is down, but we know we’ve still got a chance to make it to a bowl game,” safety Marcus Watts said. “We only need two wins in our next three games, so we’ll come back. We’ll come back ready to practice on Monday.”

It won’t be easy, though. Kansas State (4-4, 1-4), which has lost three straight, sits in fifth place in the six-team division, ahead of only Kansas University.

The Wildcats already have played the Jayhawks, meaning their last three games will come against teams ahead of them in the standings – and gunning for bowl berths of their own.

Kansas State plays this weekend at Iowa State, which is coming off a 42-14 rout of Texas A&M. The Wildcats go to Nebraska after that, then close out the regular season at home against Missouri.

“The spirit on this team, the effort, the improvement is still there,” linebacker Brandon Archer said. “I believe we can pull out two wins.”

Meanwhile, Colorado (6-2, 4-1) controls its destiny in the North. A home victory over Missouri this week, combined with losses by Nebraska and Iowa State, would put the Buffaloes back in the conference title game for the second straight year and the fourth time since 2001.

It almost didn’t play out that way, though.

Saturday’s game was within 55 seconds of overtime, the score knotted at 20, when Kansas State’s Jermaine Moreira muffed a punt and Terry Washington recovered at the Wildcats’ 26.

With 6 seconds left, Mason Crosby drilled a 50-yard field goal to win it.

“You come into a hostile environment, and you play a team that’s ready to play, and your team makes a lot of mistakes, and you still win, you’ve got to be real thankful and feel real fortunate,” Colorado coach Gary Barnett said. “And we do.”

For Kansas State, though, it was just one more disappointment in a string of them. Their first back-to-back home losses since 1989 have come by a total of five points.

“We want good things to happen to our football team, and those will only happen when we make them happen,” coach Bill Snyder said. “We did not play well enough, and we did make those kinds of goofy mistakes that we’ve made somewhat consistently. Those are the things that will keep you from winning.”

Moreira was injured on the play and was taken to a hospital by ambulance.

Garry Bowman, Kansas State’s sports information director, said Sunday that Snyder had visited Moreira and reported the player was doing well.

It was not clear when Moreira would be released.