Around the Big XII, Part 4. Kansas State

Head man Bill Snyder

Never has a fan base or a school had a bigger inferiority complex than Kansas State.  And that even includes my team and fellow fans, the Missouri Tigers.  K State was horrible for so many years, say about 100 or so, that when he arrived in 1989, they'd been pretty much beaten to a pulp.  However, he quickly began a turnaround that led to a Big XII title, several north division titles and a semi domination of the Nebraska Cornhuskers for a few seasons.  During the last of his time there they began to fall off, due to higher standards in the Big XII as far as who you could accept.  He rode off at the end of the 2005 season and the Ron Prince era began.  When "Scary Smart" flamed out 3 years later, Snyder rode back in on his mule and attempted another resuscitation that so far has been only moderately successful.

Arthur Brown

Gone will be Daniel Thomas, the Wildcats All Big XII running back who will likely be replaced by transfer Bryce Brown who left Tennessee to join his brother Arthur, a linebacker who transferred from the University of Miami after being buried on the Hurricane depth chart, but won the defensive player of spring football earlier this year.  Quarterback Carson Coffman is gone and should be replaced by Collin Klein, a junior to be who is an amazing rusher but has yet to show any sign of being a capable passer.  He did put on a nice show in the spring game, but that was also against the K State defense who stopped almost no one last year.  Both starting offensive tackles return, but the interior of the line will have to be rebuilt.  6 starters on defense, mostly unknowns will return, which might or might not be good considering they gave up numbers like 47 points to Baylor, 36 to Colorado and 41 to mighty North Texas.  If K State is to have a winning season and a 2nd consecutive bowl trip, the defense must improve.

Willie the Wildcat

The schedule opens easily enough with home games against Eastern Kentucky and Kent State before a trip to Miami of Ohio.  During the conference season the Cats will travel to Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State.  The only easy trip for them will be to cross state rival kansas who the Cats beat 59-7 last season.  Home games against Oklahoma, Missouri, Baylor and Texas A&M will be no walk in the park   They'll also meet Iowa State on December 3rd in Arrowhead in the 3rd edition of Farmageddon.  I expect the Wildcats to open 2-0 with a decent opportunity to make it 3-0 facing a Hurricane team that will still be breaking in a new coaching staff.  To reach a bowl game however, they'll have to pull an upset or two to go with what should be wins against the beaks and Cyclones.  I will never discount a Bill Snyder coached team, but he still has to prove he can win without using partial qualifiers.  My gut feeling is the year ends with a record of 5-7 and questions about whether Snyder can summon up the energy to once again bring Wildcats to the upper half of the conference.
That's all for this week.  Next time we'll take a look at another school that plays 2nd fiddle in their own state, the Oklahoma State Cowboys.