Monday, November 9, 2009
If you’re in college right now, you likely spent your formative years in the ’90s. You remember Pokémon, the Backstreet Boys, and those T-shirts that featured Bugs Bunny and Taz wearing baggy clothes and hats turned backwards. You, like me, probably think those things should remain where they were born — in the ’90s. But more than boy bands or any other vestige of that decade, the specter I most wanted to stay in the past was that of Sunflower Showdown football.
Beginning in 1993, the word “showdown” became little more than a courtesy title — massacre would have been more appropriate. With coach and Central Kansas deity Bill Snyder at the helm, Kansas State trounced the Jayhawks repeatedly. Even the changing of the millennium didn’t stop the trend; the Wildcats kept partying (and dominating) like it was 1999. Finally, in 2004, a former Snyder assistant named Mark Mangino ended the streak. Kansas State did win the following year, and when Snyder retired in 2005, he had a record of winning 13 of 14 against Kansas. Then began the Ron Prince era. For Kansas fans, it was a brief-but-glorious time that meant never having to say “just wait until basketball season” to the neighbors to the west.
Dissatisfied with its football fortunes under Prince, K-State sought out Snyder to resurrect the program once more. At the time, observers quickly deemed the move foolish. There seemed to be no chance that Snyder could return the Wildcats to their ’90s status as a top-10 program. It seemed more likely that Snyder would struggle mightily and then drift off into the sunset once more. Jayhawk fans saw him as a ghost of a long gone decade. As the game between the Wildcats and the Jayhawks approached, Jayhawk fans mocked him more than feared him.
In a sense, those expectations were fulfilled Saturday. Snyder didn’t make magic. At no point did K-State appear to be anything more than a solid team playing a smart, close-to-the-vest game. No one would mistake Snyder’s current bunch for his past juggernauts.
It was the Jayhawks, rather, who looked scary. And not in a good way.
There are any number of superlatives that could apply to how Kansas’ offense looked this Saturday, and none are flattering. But in this case, words paint a paltry picture when contrasted with the crass truth presented by raw numbers.
Kansas turned the ball over three times, one leading to a K-State touchdown. Over the last four games — all losses — Kansas has committed 12 turnovers. These have resulted in nine touchdowns for the opposition. A quick scan of the boxscore reveals other disturbing trends: a poor rushing attack, a failure to capitalize when the ball is in possession, an inability to stifle the other team’s ground game, etc.
All of those things together resulted in the only statistic that truly matters — Kansas’ conference record, a horrifying 1-4. It’s extra horrifying because it’s a flashback to the ’90s — Kansas finds itself in the Big 12 North cellar, while Kansas State sits atop the standings. The thought of such a thing manifesting in the present is as horrible as the reappearance of the Backstreet Boys. Let’s just say: sorry, Backstreet Boys, I don’t want it that way.
— Edited by Brenna M. T. Daldorph
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