Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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DEFENSIVE LINE FRONT ROW: Tony Williams, Billy Ray Smith, Jody Kilian. SECOND ROW: Rodecap, Anthony Williams, Matt Ediger, Ekwensi Griffith, Evan Simpson, Scott Marshall, James Calvert, Dustin Blankman. BACK ROW: Steve Moten, Jason White, Sean Dabney, Bob Cope, Eric Clayton, Kelly Greene, Robert Hubbell, Blair Detelich, Jim Spani. DEFENSIVE BACKS FRONT ROW: Carl Pelini, Tom Byers, Eric Rice, Chris Sublette, Omar Jaime Mendez. SECOND ROW: Keith Galindo, Chuck Culver, Darin Mahloch, Mike Moore, Rogerick Green, William Price, Thomas Randolph, Lew Whitson. BACK ROW: Bobby Stoops, Greg Patterson, John Briestensky, Derrick McBride, David Bowman, C.J. Masters, Danny Needham, James McDonald. The head out of the locker room to start the game against The Cornhuskers won 64-3. (Photo by David Mayes) Paul Watson, (14), looks for an open receiver against the Oklahoma Sooners defense. K-State lost 34-7. (Photo by Margaret Clarkin) 254 FOOTBALL

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RECORDS SET, GOALS MET BY TEAM It was a season of firsts. At least it was the first time in a long time. K-State had its first winning home season since 1984 and the highest winning percentage since 1917 with its 5-1 home record. Head coach Bill Snyder was named Big Eight Coach of the Year, a feat not accomplished since Jim Dickey did it in 1982. K-State was the first team in the Big Eight to have two quarterbacks and two junior receivers with over 1,000 yards. It (the season) was the first time for so many things virtually everything, Snyder said. I remember sharing as Carl Straw, (10), looks for an open receiver under pressure from Okahoma ' s Blevins, (35). The ' Catsfell to the Sooners 34-7. (Photo by David Mayes) the season progressed that if you do this, it will be the first time in 20, 60, 80 years that it had been accomplished at I recall so many instances. Whether it was an thing or as a team, there were just too many to mention. The season opened against Western Illinois and the ' Cats looked for their second win since they battled the Leathernecks in the last home opener win in 1986. During the Western Illinois game, junior wide receivers Michael Smith and Frank Hernandez each grabbed five for over 100 yards each to become K-State ' s first two receivers to do so. The game looked to be a shutout until the Leathernecks completed a 40-yard pass with 6:45 left in the game to make the final score 27-6. The ' Cats ' last shutout was against Wichita State in 1976. (Continued on page 255) FINAL STANDINGS COLLEGE KSU Western Illinois 6 27 New Mexico State 7 52 North Illinois 42 35 New Mexico 6 38 Nebraska 45 8 Oklahoma St 17 23 Missouri 31 10 Kansas 27 24 Iowa State 14 28 Oklahoma 34 7 Colorado 64 3 Wildcat running back Pat Jackson, (3), breaks free for a big gain against Oklahoma State. Jackson completed his senior year with 1,001 yards, making him the first player in school history to break the 1,000-yard mark in two (Photo by Mike Venso) FOOTBALL 253

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Players huddle around defensive coordinator Bob Cope to listen for further instructions. (Photo by David Mayes) (Continued from page 253) Fans showed little restraint as they swanned onto the field to dismantle the goalposts. With a win under its belt and confidence built up, K-state faced New Mexico State. Following his f our touchdowns in the New Mexico State game, junior running back Pat Jackson was honored as Big Eight Offensive Player of the Week, the first time since 1981 that a K-State running back received that title. rushed 21 times for a career-high 156 yards, which also tied a K-State record set in 1969 and 1971. The ' Cats came away with another near-shutout and a 52-7 win, the first time they scored over 50 points since beating Oklahoma in 1969. With two wins and a large margin of victory, skepticism and questions in scheduling were directed at Snyder. It doesn ' t make sense to me that we should schedule to lose, Snyder said. To Snyder, scheduling had a lot to do with the players ' feelings and the reactions he received from supporters, not skeptics. I ' ve received 7,000-8,000 letters, all of which express pride in being a K-State person and that they have a interest, not only in the program because of the that it is going, said Snyder. The majority of them are K-State people in some fashion and there are no or footnotes that say, ' Your schedule is too light. But the streak came to a halt when the ' Cats traveled to their first away game at Northern Illinois. Ahead most of the game, it looked as if the season would continue as it had begun. But late in the fourth quarter with only a few minutes left, Straw threw an interception that unfortunately led to a touchdown drive and a victory for the Huskies. Snyder took the loss in stride and recognized that positive came out of it. Having won three of the first four games and having lost the one that we did in such a way, we were up by two and couldn ' t get the brakes put on, couldn ' t stop them and consequently they (Continued on page 257) DEFENSIVE ENDS FRONT ROW: Mike Burghart, Kevin Ramsey. BACK ROW: Wayne Krause, LINEBACKERS FRONT ROW: Jeff Placek, Laird Veatch, Kirby Hocutt, Brooks Barta. BACK ROW: John Butler, Reggie Blackwell, Elijah Alexander. Chris Patterson, Jim Leavitt, Sam Mays, James Enin-Okut, Mike Bouchard, Jeff Lowe, Joe Boone. FOOTBALL 255