Preface to Larry Carlson’s article on the pending Kansas State game.

Coach Snyder’s Kansas State football teams were composed of 2 or 3-star athletes who beat favored 5-star blue-chip teams with intangibles and a driven spirit not measurable by computer recruiting analytical tools. Like Royal, Coach Snyder gravitated to recruits with dreams of greatness, aggressive traits, and instincts to hit. Athletes who chose not to run out of bounds but stuck their cleats in the turf and pointed a face mask straight upfield. Recruits who were self-starters.

UT vs K-State: No More Bill (Snyder) To Pay

by Larry Carlson for Https://texaslsn.org

It’s the Thanksgiving season, Longhorn fans.

Be thankful that K-State doesn’t have Bill Snyder directing the boys from The Little Apple of Manhattan, KS. The grandfatherly, snowy-haired, bespectacled gent, now 84, was absolutely a Wildcat when it came to taking on Texas. Despite losing his last two shots against UT (under Tom Herman in 2017 and 2018), Snyder is the rare cat with a lifetime winning record in tussles with Texas. His teams won 7 of 13 in Big XII matches with the Horns, and probably never suited up a player who had a scholarship offer from UT. He took THE most moribund, most awful D-1 program in America when he began at KSU in ’89, and turned it into a winner. Snyder’s teams were seldom photogenic but always tough.

Now the Wildcats have Chris Klieman, a proven winner at North Dakota State who is 10-3 in his last year and a half in Manhattan. The defending Big XII champs are never an easy out for anybody, anytime, anywhere. Texas fans recall a litany of names, such as quarterbacks Jonathan Beasley, Michael Bishop and Heisman finalist Collin Klein, now the Wildcat offensive coordinator.

And insect-sized scatbacks Darren Sproles and Round Rock’s (Cedar Ridge) Deuce Vaughn have dealt plenty of problems to UT defenses, and K-State’s very own stop-em units are traditionally salty.

K-State at Texas on Saturday is the marquee game of the week in the Big XII circus. Five teams have a single loss in conference action with only a month to go till the title game at Jerry World.

That number of qualifiers will be shrinking soon. These games now are “loser go home.” Somebody’s gonna have to refocus on the Valero Alamo Bowl, the Pop-Tarts (I’m serious) Bowl or the TaxAct Texas Bowl.

For now, Texas and OU — fresh off a stinging loss to Kansas — can still zero in on playoff possibilities. That’s if the Okies can beat Okie State in Bedlam at Stillwater, and if UT can find a way to start converting shots in the red zone. Kansas State is smoking hot, coming off a thorough 41-zip woodshed whipping of Houston, one week after the Cougars had Texas on the spot in the final minute of play.

The Horns’ 35-6 “W” against BYU looked good on the scoreboard but the Texas offense continues to struggle mightily when it’s “goal to go” time. Maybe the Horns just need long passes, runs and punt returns for touchdowns, so as to avoid foul-ups and frustration when the large human beings on the O-line fail to get a push. Where are the gridiron ghosts of yesteryear’s pancake princes, Jerry Sisemore, Bobby Wuensch, Bill Wyman, Justin Blalock and Kasey Studdard when you need ’em?

Come Saturday, expect a strong K-State ground game to make for a bruising matchup with the rough UT run defense. Seismic collisions are in the forecast. Coach Sark might be advised to remind the current roster of Longhorns that historically, these Sunflower State guys are neither wallflowers nor pansies. Texas was 4-9 against the Purple People-Eaters in Big XII competition through 2016. Ouch.

But since the exit of Charlie Strong, the Longhorns have fought their way to six straight wins against the Wildcats.

Still, with the exception of an uncharacteristic 69-31 beatdown of KSU on the road in ’20, all of the victories have been one-score gut-checks. I remember well the gritty, agonizing 22-17 UT triumph of two years ago. Roschon Johnson put a then 4-7 Texas team on his back that Black Friday. The Longhorns had put the brakes on for an unthinkable six straight losses entering the season finale.

Johnson’s 183 yards on 31 carries gave UT just enough gas to get the W and take a measure of momentum into the long offseason.

Last year, Texas blew most of a 31-10 halftime lead. The Horns needed a last-minute fumble, forced by Keondre Coburn, recovered by Jaylan Ford, to seal a scary 34-27 verdict.

This week’s renewal of another rivalry that’s about to be snuffed, promises to be a smashmouth 60-minute contest. Texas has found a variety of ways to win this season, a far cry from the units that too often found creative ways to lose over the past 13 seasons. Major progress. And nobody in burnt orange wants to take two steps back right now. So the Horns must move forward.

Especially in the red zone.

(Larry Carlson teaches sports media classes at Texas State University. He is a member of the Football Writers Association of America.)