After starting 3-1 in the Big 12, playing Oklahoma tough on the road and beating Kansas at home, it’s hard to believe the season is already over for the Kansas State football team.
In Bill Snyder’s return to coaching, the Wildcats improved as the season went along, showed incredible toughness following a lopsided loss at Texas Tech and brought excitement back to the gridiron before finishing with a 6-6 record.
K-State got better in several aspects this season, and when Missouri and Nebraska were playing sub-par football while the Wildcats were sitting all alone atop the North standings, it really looked they were going to win the division.
But as it turned out, they were simply the first North team to get its act together.
Snyder and his tireless work ethic gave K-State an early jump on the field, but once Nebraska found its groove and took down Oklahoma, the Cornhuskers became the team to beat in the North.
Once Missouri got Blaine Gabbert and Danario Alexander healthy and on the same page, the Tigers had way too much offense for K-State to handle.
Both teams out manned K-State in the talent department, and it showed during the final two games of the season. The Wildcats put up good efforts in both contests, but goal-line fumbles and other red-zone miscues were too much to overcome.
There were better games before that ending. But there were worse moments too.
There were plays that cost the Wildcats a trip to a bowl game this season. But there were also plays that gave them reason to look positively ahead to next season.
So in the end, perhaps it is best to break down the season into three parts.
1. The Beginning
The beginning was tough because an avoidable loss at Lousiana-Lafayette cost the Wildcats a trip to a bowl game. Talk about playing two Division I-AA teams all you want, but if K-State hadn’t lost to a Sun Belt opponent it would be 7-5 today and headed to a nice bowl.
And it wouldn’t have taken much to win that game. Another field goal, an extra second on the clock, a different quarterback … Any one of the three could have swung the game K-State’s way.
2. The Middle
Once Snyder made the transition from Carson Coffman to Grant Gregory, K-State became a much, much better football team.
It beat Iowa State in his first game as a starter, it stopped making silly mistakes and went on a roll defeating Texas A&M, Colorado and Kansas in the next few weeks.
Though he won’t be considered for the Big 12′s All-Conference team, Gregory was serviceable all season long.
At one point, the Wildcats won five of seven games behind his leadership. If not for falling behind by 21 or allowing Oklahoma to pick up a first down despite facing a 1st-and-45 in the second half, they would have won six of seven. (Aside from the loss at Louisiana-Lafayette, that was the moment I think K-State would like back more than any other).
Jeffrey Fitzgerald started to look like a pro on the defensive line, Emmanuel Lamur and Tysyn Hartman shined at the safety positions, Daniel Thomas became the Big 12′s leading rusher and morale improved across the board.
It really is remarkable how much of an impact his toughness/leadership had.
3. The End
Some will call the end of K-State’s season disappointing, and by not earning a spot in the postseason bowl lineup that is a fare assessment. But I would label it understandable.
The Wildcats went winless in true road games this year, and they were double-digit underdogs in Lincoln.
Missouri was out to prove something having just lost to Baylor, and played its best game of the season against K-State.
Without a disastrous series of plays, starting with a Brandon Banks fumble at the goal line, maybe K-State could have beaten Missouri. But it still would have been tough.
K-State’s toughest North games came in the final two weeks. It was just the draw of the schedule.