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Nov. 6, 1999 By Dennis Dodd SportsLine Senior Writer |
MANHATTAN, Kan. -- As much as Kansas State coach Bill Snyder restricts the
free flow of public information emanating from his program, he probably
can't control the public address system in his own stadium.
Probably.
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Game summary T O P N E W S
If it was at all possible, the all-powerful Snyder would loved to have hit the kill switch when the Minnesota's upset of No. 2 Penn State came over the loudspeakers at KSU Stadium. For the second time in 11 months, his team has reacted to a favorable out-of-town result with complacency bordering on premature celebration.
"I heard that," Snyder said as if looking for the P.A. announcer Saturday after beating Colorado 20-14. "You're 20 years old now. You ought to be able to handle that kind of stuff."
Maybe Snyder doesn't understand the typical 20-year-old, but it has become a rite of fall for Kansas State by now. The Wildcats get to within the brink of a national championship and, darn it, here come those results from around the country.
Last year, giddy K-State fans in St. Louis at the Big 12 Championship Game went wild when they found out UCLA lost to Miami. The door was opened, just a crack, for the Wildcats to get to the Fiesta Bowl. Purple people were spotted making travel arrangements to Phoenix on pay phones at halftime.
Then their team promptly blew a 13-point lead to Texas A&M in the fourth quarter and dropped to the netherworld of the Alamo Bowl.
There was another disturbing case of attention deficit disorder Saturday. No. 6 K-State had a foot on Colorado's throat with a safe 20-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Then 1,000 miles away No. 2 Penn State got upset by Minnesota. Mr. P.A. Guy did his job by announcing that score. Trouble was, the Wildcats didn't do theirs. Colorado scored a couple of late touchdowns and actually had a chance to win on its final possession of the game.
"We wanted to have a reaction (to Penn State losing), but we knew we couldn't," K-State linebacker Mark Simoneau said. "We had to focus on the game. For a second you're like, 'Wow.' Then you're like, 'We've got to focus. We've got to get this game.'
"I'm glad it wasn't a flashback."
The letdown looked so glaring because Colorado basically made only two plays all afternoon against K-State's rabid defense. There were two long Mike Moschetti-to-Javon Green touchdown passes in the final 6½ minutes. But they were surrounded around the Penn State score.
Colorado (5-4, 4-2 in the Big 12) even got the ball back on its own 38 with 1:59 left. The same hearts that were broken in St. Louis were racing in Manhattan.
"To this day, I don't ever want to revisit that," Snyder said. "To this day I don't think that had any impact last Dec. 6 or today."
Another day of infamy might be looming next week at Nebraska. This was supposed to be K-State's tune-up game for the game that will decide the Big 12 North in Lincoln. Kansas State, though, has larger goals. The Penn State loss at least allowed still undefeated Kansas State (9-0, 6-0 in the Big 12) to linger on the periphery of the national championship. The Wildcats were No. 6 in the BCS poll going into the game.
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| It wasn't pretty for Kansas State quarterback Jonathan Beasley, but the Wildcats get the win. (AP) |
The only statement Saturday in Manhattan was that both teams' offenses need a lot of work. Both starting quarterbacks were pulled, reinserted and then asked to win the game. The teams combined to convert one of 27 third-down situations.
K-State's Jonathan Beasley reverted to early-season form just when the Wildcats needed him to get ready for Nebraska. The junior quarterback was the Big 12 offensive player of the week last week after his performance against Baylor. On Saturday, he completed only 5 of 12 passes and threw an interception. K-State got the ball with 3:56 left after Colorado's second touchdown but could only manage one first down with Beasley at the controls.
Because of Beasley's shaky play, Colorado went from being blown out to almost blowing up Kansas State's title hopes.
"I think he gets jittery sometimes and he gets out of focus," K-State running back David Allen said of Beasley. "He should just calm down and play the game. Sometimes he might not make the right read or he'll mess up on a call. You can tell he's not intimidated but ... we were just hoping it wasn't a replay of the Big 12 championship when they announced the Miami game last year."
After rolling to a 14-0 halftime lead, K-State was outgained 180-78 in the second half. Perhaps wanting to hide the playbook from Nebraska, Snyder called for a series of quarterback keepers by backup Adam Helm. It wasn't entertaining football but it accomplished a couple of goals.
The clock ran at the same time Colorado -- 25 rushes, 10 yards -- couldn't.
"I thought it was pretty ugly," Snyder said. "I know that will be the headline. I'd rather be 9-0 ugly than 8-1 and look good. But for me to jump ship and all of a sudden and say the heck with how we played ... we're 9-0 that's all that counts. That goes against the grain."
If Kansas State is going to make anything out of its second consecutive 9-0 start, the defense is going to have to lead with its chin. The Buffs were so intimidated they tried a quick kick in the second quarter. A fake punt in the third quarter did work, to a point. Then Colorado's Robbie Robinson fumbled it back to the Wildcats after a 26-yard catch without being hit.
Up until Colorado's first touchdown, the Buffs ran 47 plays totaling 76 yards. Of those 47 plays, 26 were for no gain, a loss or an interception.
And still K-State was in danger at the end. Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett beat himself up for allowing Green to break free for the second Colorado touchdown with 4:12 left.
"You had half of them blitzing and half of them in a zone," Bennett said of his defense. "They were in a state of confusion. I gave them the wrong signal."
At this point, K-State is better at surviving an outlandish defense than an out-of-town score.