CBS SportsLine wire reports
Sept. 5, 1998

MANHATTAN, Kan. -- There are lessons to take even from 66-0 routs. The winners and losers both said this was true.

"We

Related Links Game summary Top 25 roundup Week 1 with the Wiseguys Dodd: Irish restore luster to Dome Buck: Williams starts with bang Kahn: Buffaloes far from extinct 1998 College Football Preview Dennis Dodd on college football: The only real title contenders Tulane is 1998's team to watch Top 10 lists to ponder in '98 Forum: How good are the Wildcats?

came down here to play against this kind of competition and to show our players what the best football is," Indiana State coach Tim McGuire said Saturday night after No. 6 Kansas State humiliated his Division I-AA Sycamores 66-0 in his coaching debut.

"We're a I-AA team and they're one of the best (I-A) teams in the country. But we belonged in this football game."

The Wildcats, beginning a season ranked in the top 10 for the first time in their history, came within a single point of the school scoring record.

"The thing we have to learn from this game is humility," Kansas State guard Jeremy Martin said. "We have to learn that, hey, we went out there and won 66-0, but that doesn't mean anything. We've got 10 more games to go. We've got to go out there and play hard for the rest of them, too."

MICHAEL BISHOP RAN FOR two touchdowns and threw for a third and the kicking teams scored twice for Kansas State, which did not let the outclassed Sycamores of the Gateway Conference have a first down other than by penalty until 2:22 remained.

Kansas State running back Eric Hickson scored the third touchdown of the first quarter, a 7-yard run. (AP)

The final score was one point shy of the record 67-0 shutout of Akron in 1995 and exceeded the 59-3 whipping Kansas State put on the Sycamores in 1996. Their nine touchdowns tied the school record.

But Martin denied that anybody in a Kansas State uniform was wishing for a tougher opening opponent.

"We'll play whoever the coach puts out there," he said.

Kansas State, returning 18 starters from last year's 11-1 team and hoping to contend for its first national championship, went up 21-0 in the first quarter on Bishop's 1-yard run, DeAndrea Robinson's 6-yard return of a blocked punt and Eric Hickson's 7-yard run.

In the second quarter, Bishop hit passes for 14 and 24 yards in a 64-yard drive capped by his 8-yard scamper up the middle of the defense of Indiana State.

AFTER BISHOP'S RUN made it 28-0 with 7:26 left in the half, David Allen took an Indiana State punt and broke three tackles en route to a 63-yard touchdown return.

A few minutes later, Martin Gramatica made it 38-0 with a 55-yard field goal, tying his career long.

"At different points in the game we was playing like a national championship team," Bishop said. "But at other points we had some missed assignments. We just have to keep going and correct our mistakes."

The Wildcats scored on their first play of the second half when Bishop stepped back and rifled a 58-yard scoring pass to Gavin Peries, who was wide open when he hauled in the ball on the 15.

Tight end Brian Goolsby scored on a 7-yard run with 6:51 left in the third.

A FEW MINUTES LATER, David Conley ran five yards around end after third-team quarterback Toby Deal's first fumble, capping a four-play, 25-yard drive. Marlon Charles, the Wildcats' third-team running back, went 39 yards through the exhausted Indiana State defense to make it 66-0 with 11:43 remaining.

Following Deal's second fumble, the Wildcats had Monty Beisel, a sophomore defensive end, running the ball.