Samples: Kansas State is national title contender
Call it the Morgantown Mauling if you will. Massacre works as well.
But Saturday’s 55-14 beatdown of No. 13 West Virginia by No. 4 Kansas State did much more than simply expose the Mountainerr’s horrific defense and restack the Heisman Trophy race deck at Geno Smith’s expense.
It announced to the world, if you weren’t paying attention earlier this season, that Kansas State can win the national championship. It also reminded the casual football fan that KSU Coach Bill Snyder is, indeed, a rare breed of coach.
First to the title aspirations. When the season started, a lot of people mentioned K-State in the Big 12 title picture, but a lot of things had to “go their way” for them to get in a position to make a run. Texas, Oklahoma, West Virginia and TCU were the sexy pics to fight for the crown. Well, K-State has now thumped Oklahoma and West Virginia — both on the road — and with question marks abounding for both the other two top picks, it’s fair to say those battles may be more tilted in K-State’s favor than at the start of the season.
That’s not to say it’s a cakewalk for the Wildcats to get into a national championship tilt. They face a resurgent Texas Tech team Saturday, and Oklahoma State and Baylor are perennial dangers even if they ended last week out of the Top 25 rankings. However, if any team can handle the rapid in-season explosion of media attention and increased expectation, it’s any team Snyder leads. And that leads to my second point.
Prior to Snyder’s arrival (I should say his first arrival) in 1989, KSU football was nothing short of brutal. Wildcat football won 87 games from 1955 to 1988 and had more zero-win seasons (four) than winning seasons (two). Snyder retired in 2005 with a record of 136-68-1, impressive under any circumstances but shocking considering the woefulness that coined the nickname “Can’t State.” Shocking also when you consider Mike Ahearn is second on the all-time win list with 39.
Ron Prince took over as Snyder delved into mentoring programs…and Prince went 17-20, trending rapidly to the sloppy at best over the last two years of Prince’s reign. Snyder took the helm again, building the Wildcats in his image for the second time. If you didn’t watch Saturday night, you missed what Snyder has constructed: a relentless, well-prepared, disciplined, hungry, merciless team. Steak and Potatoes rather than flash and dash.
This might be Snyder’s last legitimate shot to bring a national title to Manhattan, but given that propensity to mold individuals into cohesive teams, never count him out.
Top-ranked Alabama hasn’t been tested yet. It has Mississippi State, LSU and Auburn among its last five games. BCS No. 2 Florida has been tested, and some offensive stumbles earlier this season haven’t cost the Gators yet. No. 4 Oregon has not been tested and, quite possibly, poses the most serious challenge to K-State — or Alabama or Florida, for that matter. But if you’re Nick Saban or Will Muschamp or Chip Kelly, if you’re facing Kansas State for all the marbles, you had better put in a lot preparation time. More than normal, actually. You’ll need every second.
