Joe on K-State Sports

Gary Spani was part of the inaugural class of the Kansas State football ring of honor in 2002.  Spani was born in Santana, Kansas but was raised in Manhattan and graduated from Manhattan High School in 1974.  He was a dominant player not only at K-State but in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs as well.... "Arguably the greatest football player in Kansas State University history" ...College Football Hall of Fame website JM:  Spani was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2002 and the excerpt above is the first sentence of his Hall of Fame write-up.  Could he be considered the greatest football player in K-State history?  At first, I thought "no way," but as I looked into the numbers and his many accolades, it would be hard to make an argument that he is not. "Gary Spani dominated the defensive side of the ball and is the first player from the school to be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame." ...College Football Hall of Fame we

Kansas State is playing Stanford in the college football Kickoff Classic in Dallas, Texas on September 4, 2021.  This is an important game for both teams and it reminds me of some similar "kickoff" games that K-State has played in the past.  I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the biggest regular-season non-conference victories that Kansas State has had in the past.  I narrowed it down to the top five.  Enjoy! 5)   Kansas State 10 USC 6, September 8, 2001, Los Angeles, CA K-State signed to play a two-game series with USC when Paul Hackett was the head coach of the Trojans.  Hackett was fired after the 2000 season and Pete Carroll was hired to replace him.  The 2001 game was the second game Carroll coached at USC.  K-State was ranked number 12 in the country at the time and quarterback Ell Roberson made his first career start.  Carson Palmer was USC's starting quarterback.    I remember this game being rather boring and K-State running the ball a lot. 

Within the last couple of months, college football playoff expansion has once again been a hot topic.  In late April, the College Football Playoff management committee was presented with "some 63 possibilities for change," with options including from six to 16 teams.  Within the last week, Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby has made comments that the committee is considering expansion, but that nothing has been finalized. Late last night, Pete Thamel of YahooSports wrote that multiple sources have told him that a 12-team playoff model is leading the way and is the most likely course moving forward. I believe playoff expansion is inevitable to at least eight teams and maybe eventually 16 teams.  There have been a lot of formats suggested, some that I agree would work and some that I do not think would work.  I recently received a playoff scenario from a friend of mine, Mark Mendenhall, (I told him I'd give him credit) that I think is at least intriguing and one that I haven&#

  Sean Snyder was a member of the inaugural class of the K-State football ring of honor in 2002.  He was also inducted into the K-State athletics hall of fame in 2016. Here's a little bit of information I found about his career as a football player and as a coach. "Born Sept. 21, 1969 in Anaheim , Calif.." ...www.kstatesports.com JM:  Sean was born when his Dad, Bill Snyder, was coaching at Foothill High School in Santa Ana, California. "Earned first-team all-area and second-team all-district honors as a punter and kicker at Greenville ( Texas ) High School... In a game against Garland , he kicked field goals of 45 and 37 yards, and added two punts of over 50 yards... Also played baseball." ...www.kstatesports.com JM:  Bill was the offensive coordinator at Iowa when Sean graduated from high school and Iowa recruited Sean. He punted at Iowa in 1989 before transferring to K-State when Bill was hired as head coach in Manhattan. "A Consensus 1992 First Team

From 2015 to 2020, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Iowa State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Baylor, and Texas all had teams ranked in the top six in the country at some point during those years.   They entertained us with some great games.  Once again it was very hard to narrow down the top games of this time period.  Whether you agree or disagree, I hope you enjoy taking a look back at some of the best Big 12 games of the last six years. Oklahoma 62 Oklahoma State 52 November 4, 2017  Number 11 Oklahoma State hosted number five Oklahoma in this classic game.  Both teams entered the game with one loss, meaning the winner of this game had the upper hand to finish first in the conference.   Oklahoma State had the ball in Oklahoma territory down 55-52 with under two minutes left in the game, but turned the ball over on downs. For Oklahoma, quarterback Baker Mayfield threw for 598 yards and five touchdowns, running back Rodney Anderson rushed for 111 yards, receiver Marquise Brown had 265 yards and a tou

K-State great Jaime Mendez was inducted into K-State's Ring of Honor in 2002 as part of the inaugural class with Lynn Dickey, Steve Grogan, Sean Snyder, Gary Spani, and Veryl Switzer.  Mendez is also a member of the K-State Athletics Hall of Fame and the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame.  He still holds the K-State record for interceptions in a game (4) and career (15). There is not a lot of information out there about Jaime Mendez, but here are some interesting tidbits that I found.... "Jaime Mendez became Kansas State’s first defensive consensus All-American under Bill Snyder in 1993. Playing safety, Mendez was a three-time All-Big Eight player who helped the Wildcats to their first bowl in the Snyder era. He came to K-State from Youngstown, Ohio." ...Wichita Eagle, June 8, 2016." JM:  Jaime Mendez was the unquestioned leader of the K-State defense during the early Snyder years.  Punter Sean Snyder was a consensus All-American in 1992. Having back-to-back consensus Al

The five years from 2010 to 2014 were not only entertaining on the field, but conference realignment affected the Big 12 conference in a big way.  2010 was the last year that all of the original Big 12 teams played in the conference.  Nebraska and Colorado left after the 2010 season and Missouri and Texas A&M played their final Big 12 schedules in 2011.  TCU and West Virginia joined and began playing in the league in 2012, which is the configuration that remains to this day. Kansas State, Baylor, TCU, Oklahoma, West Virginia, and Oklahoma State all had teams ranked in the top five in the country while playing for the Big 12 during these years.  I hope you enjoy a look back at some of the top Big 12 games from 2010 to 2014. TCU at Baylor, October 11, 2014 Number five Baylor hosted number nine TCU in Waco in this classic game.  Baylor kicker Chris Callahan kicked a 28-yard field goal as time expired to give Baylor the 61-58 victory.  TCU had a 58-37 lead in the 4th quarter, but Baylo