2011 Kansas State Wildcats Football Preview

The return of famed head coach Bill Snyder back to the sideline in Manhattan ushered in a sense of consistency which had been sorely lacking since he retired a few years before. In the second season of his second go-round as Kansas State’s head football coach, Snyder reminded his adoring fan base why – and how – he lifted the Wildcats to such heights in the first place. Once again in control of the program he resurrected during the 1990s, Snyder pushed his charges forward, coaxing enough out of a limited ballclub to get the Wildcats a bowl bid. Indeed, KSU qualified for a postseason berth for the first time since 2006. That’s the progress Snyder delivered to the Little Apple in his first stint, and that’s the progress he’s bringing back to America’s breadbasket.

With all that having been said, there is something different about The Bill Snyder Story, Part Two, at Kansas State. Very simply, Snyder’s an older man who – by choosing to rebuild what he once erected – is starting from square one. In the few years that Snyder was removed from the scene in Manhattan, recruits lost track of Kansas State’s consequential and visible place in the larger college football cosmos. The awareness that KSU and Snyder were one win away from a berth in the first BCS National Championship Game (the 1999 Fiesta Bowl) is not prevalent among today’s 17-year-old high-school seniors. Neither is the realization that Kansas State wrested the 2003 Big 12 championship from the mighty Oklahoma Sooners, stomping OU in a stunning title-game upset at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City just when many pigskin pundits were crowning the Sooners as one of the greatest teams in college football history. Kansas State’s multiple Fiesta Bowl appearances are not at the forefront of recruits’ minds anymore. The brilliance of agile dual-threat quarterbacks such as Michael Bishop and Ell Roberson is also a part of the past. Snyder can’t just sell recruits on history. He has to be able to point to the present moment, and even though Nebraska is gone to the Big Ten, the former members of the Big 12 South – the schools from the states of Oklahoma and Texas – have begun to leave a large imprint on the 10-team Big 12. Kansas State is clearly in the lower tier of the league, trying to play catch-up. The odds are stacked against the white-haired coach who pulled off one miracle, and now has to deliver another if he wants to play important January bowl games in the near future.

The 2011 season will test Snyder’s ability to revamp the offense yet again. Gone is stellar running back Daniel Thomas and his 1,500 yards. Graduated is quarterback Carson Coffman. The Wildcats return six offensive starters and will look to Collin Klein to lead the squad at quarterback. Klein played quite a bit last season and his versatile collection of abilities will be used in the offensive package.

The Wildcats return seven players on defense and must improve their ability to limit points. Kansas State gave up nearly 30 points per game last season, and with a relatively inexperienced offense to break in, the defense will be asked to do quite a bit of heavy lifting. The schedule is as favorable as one could ask for with the new nine-team round-robin Big 12 schedule. Oklahoma, Texas A&M, and Missouri are all at home while the Wildcats must travel to Oklahoma State and Texas. A non-conference road battle with Miami in week three may be a stumbling block for the Wildcats as well, but at least they have the right coach to take on these challenges.

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