Kansas State 2016 Season Preview: Bill Snyder Seeks 200th Win
The Kansas State Wildcats will look to rebound this season after a disappointing 2015. The school’s 6-7 record represented their first losing season under head coach Bill Snyder since 2005; his last with the program before retiring. Snyder would return to Manhattan in 2009 and will look to get the team back on track in 2016. Injuries played a big role last season, but it’s going to take more than a healthy roster to compete in the Big 12 this season.
On the first offensive play of the 2015 season, starting quarterback Jesse Ertz tore his ACL for the second time. That left walk-on Joe Hubener, who started a grand total of zero games at QB in high school, as the next man up. Hubener struggled in relief, completing just 47 percent of his passes and throwing more interceptions than touchdowns. Snyder didn’t have a choice but to stick with him, as third-string QB Alex Delton suffered a season-ending knee injury in the second game of the year.
Despite the injuries, Kansas State started the season strong. The Wildcats won the first three games of the year, against South Dakota, Texas-San Antonio and Louisiana Tech, by a combined score of 103-36. The team entered conference play undefeated, however failed to carry any of that momentum into the Big 12 schedule.
The conference schedule makers didn’t do the Wildcats any favors as Bill Snyder’s club began Big 12 play with games against Oklahoma State, TCU and Oklahoma. Those schools would go on to finish the year as the top three teams in the conference. Kansas State kept the first two games close, losing to the Cowboys and Horned Frogs by two and seven points respectively. Reality came crashing down on Kansas State the following week, as Oklahoma came to town and pounded the Wildcats 55-0.
That would just be the beginning for Kansas State, as the team would go on to lose their next three conference games as well, dropping to 0-6 in the Big 12. At 3-6 overall, the Wildcats would have to win their final three games just to earn a bowl invitation. After beating cellar-dwellers Iowa State and Kansas, it all came down to a showdown against West Virginia.
The Mountaineers entered this game on a four-game win streak and held the lead after each of the first three quarters. Trailing in the fourth with wide receiver Kody Cook in at QB for an injured Hubener, the season appeared to be coming to an end. That all changed when Morgan Burns returned a kickoff 97 yards to give Kansas State a 24-23 lead. The defense would then stop West Virginia on a fourth-and-one to seal the deal and extend the season for one more game.
As the eighth-place finisher in the Big 12, Kansas State was invited to the Liberty Bowl to take on Arkansas of the SEC. Kansas State may have been able to get away with a WR playing QB against a middle-of-the-road Big 12 school, but not against an SEC defense. Kansas State struggled to move the ball offensively and couldn’t slow down the Arkansas running game on defense. The 45-23 loss dropped the Wildcats to 6-7 on the season.
If for no other reason, the 2016 season appears to be more promising because of the long list of players returning from injury. This is especially true on offense as the QB and WR positions were ravaged by injuries. Bill Snyder has a lot of work to do in order to make the Wildcats relevant on the national stage, but a seventh consecutive bowl bid is certainly within reach.
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