Kansas State Football
Game No. 15
33rd Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
No. 8/10 Kansas State (11-3)
vs. No. 7/6 Ohio State (10-2)
Date: Friday, Jan. 2, 2004
Kickoff: 6:12 p.m. (MT)/7:12 p.m. (CT)
Site: Sun Devil Stadium (73,471)
Location: Tempe, Ariz.
Television: ABC - Tim Brandt (Play-by-Play); Ed Cunningham (Analyst); Sam Ryan (Sideline)
Radio: Mid America Sports Network - Wyatt Thompson (Play-by-Play); Stan Weber (Analyst); Chris Allison (Sideline)
Arrival
Kansas State is scheduled to arrive at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix via charter during the early evening on Wednesday, Dec. 26.
Wildcat Bowl Headquarters
The Scottsdale Plaza Resort will serve as Kansas State’s home base for the duration of its stay in the Valley of the Sun.
Media Headquarters
The Camelback Inn Marriott Resort will serve as the official media hotel for the 33rd Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl. A Media Workroom will be provided for all working press in the Town Hall Room of the resort.
Camelback Inn Marriott Resort
5402 East Lincoln Drive
Scottsdale, AZ 85253
Phone: 480.948.1700
Fax: 480.951.8469
Website: www.camelbackinn.com
Media Opportunities
Sunday, Dec. 28 - 8:30 a.m.
Offensive Coordinator(s)/Four Offensive Players
Camelback Inn Marriott Resort
Monday, Dec. 29 - 9:30 a.m.
Defensive Coordinator(s)/Four Defensive Players
Camel Back Inn Marriott Resort
Tuesday, Dec. 30 - 9:30 a.m.
Media Day - Entire Team/Coaches
Sun Devil Stadium
Wednesday, Dec. 31 - TBA
Practice Site Press Conference
Scottsdale Community College
Credentials
All credentials are granted at the sole discretion of the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and will be distributed in the Media Registration Room (Peace Pipe Room) of the Camelback Inn Marriott Resort from Saturday, Dec. 27, through Thursday, Jan. 1 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. All credentials not claimed at media registration may be picked up at Media Will Call, located on the South side of Sun Devil Stadium, beginning at 4 p.m. on Jan. 2.
Fiesta Bowl Media Contact
Shawn Schoeffler
Vice President - Media Relations
Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
120 South Ash Avenue
Tempe, AZ 85281
Phone: 480.350.0909
Fax: 180.350.0930
E-mail: sschoeffler@fiestabowl.org
Website: www.fiestabowl.org
Cats, Buckeyes ready to Fiesta
Six years after painting the Southern Arizona desert purple, Kansas State returns to Tempe, Ariz., for a first-time matchup with Ohio State in the 33rd Annual Tostitos Fiesta Bowl on Friday, Jan. 2, 2004.
Winners of seven straight by an average of more than four touchdowns, No. 8/10 K-State (11-3) will be out to secure its school-record 12th win and in the process pickup its second Fiesta Bowl victory.
Standing in its way is a battle-tested No. 7/6 Ohio State squad that came within a game of capturing its second straight Big Ten title. The defending national champion Buckeyes (10-2) have won 24 games over the last two seasons and possess the nation’s top run defense.
The matchup of top 10-ranked teams will be televised nationally by ABC beginning at 6 p.m. (MST)/7 p.m. (CST). Tim Brandt will call the play-by-play, with former Washington Husky Ed Cunningham providing the color analysis. Sam Ryan will serve as the telecast’s sideline reporter.
Feeling hot, hot, hot
There could not be a more fitting bowl destination for the 2003 Wildcats than a state synonymous in the national psyche with heat.
Big 12 champion Kansas State is perhaps the hottest team in the country entering the bowl season, having outscored its last seven opponents by a hefty 271-66 margin, including previously top-ranked and unbeaten Oklahoma, 35-7, in the league’s title game on Dec. 6.
It has been a stunning turnaround for K-State, which opened the 2003 campaign in the top seven of both polls and won its first four games before suffering a trio of mid-season heartbreakers, dropping out of both rankings and all but disappearing from the national scene.
But the Cats played with the determination of champions down the stretch, clawing their way to their fourth share of the Big 12 North Division crown and their first conference title since 1934.
I guess you could say that Kansas State has now nearly come full circle in 2003. Unranked by the Associated Press on Nov. 9, it has taken the Wildcats less than a month to climb back into the top 10. And a win over No. 7 Ohio State would complete that cycle.
Bowling Kansas State Style
Kansas State is making its 11th straight postseason bowl appearance and 12th overall in school history. The string of consecutive bowl appearances places K-State in elite company as only six other programs in the nation -- Nebraska, Michigan, Florida State, Tennessee, Florida and Virginia Tech -- have played in at least 11 straight bowls.
The Wildcats, who defeated Syracuse, 35-18, in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl, are 6-5 all time in bowl games, including a 6-4 record under current head coach Bill Snyder.
Including last year’s 34-27 victory over Arizona State in the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl, K-State has won three of its last four bowl games. The Wildcats defeated Washington, 24-20, in the 1999 Holiday Bowl and Tennessee, 35-21, in the 2001 Cotton Bowl, before falling to Syracuse, 26-3, in the 2001 Insight.com Bowl. K-State made it first bowl appearance in the 1982 Independence Bowl.
Odd bowl success
Kansas State has been virtually unstoppable when playing in bowl games following odd number seasons. The Wildcats are 4-1 in odd-numbered seasons, recording victories in the 1993 Copper Bowl, the 1995 Holiday Bowl, the 1997 Fiesta Bowl and the 1999 Holiday Bowl. K-State’s lone loss in an odd-year bowl game came in the 2001 Insight.com Bowl, when the Wildcats fell to Syracuse, 26-3.
Grand Canyon State-ment
Kansas State, which is making its second appearance in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, is 2-1 all time in bowl games played in the state of Arizona. The Wildcats defeated Wyoming, 52-17, in the 1993 Copper Bowl and Syracuse, 35-18, in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl. K-State also dropped a 26-3 decision to Syracuse in the 2001 Insight.com Bowl.
Overall, the Wildcats are 3-11-1 when playing in the Grand Canyon State, but 2-2 under current head coach Bill Snyder.
K-State is 1-5 all-time at Sun Devil Stadium -- 1-1 under Snyder -- with its lone victory coming in the 1997 Fiesta Bowl. All five of its losses occurred in road games vs. Arizona State, most recently in 1989, Snyder’s first year at the helm in Manhattan.
Against the Big Ten
Ohio State is the first Big Ten opponent for Kansas State since the Wildcats defeated Iowa on Aug. 26, 2000, in the Eddie Robinson Classic at Arrowhead Stadium. The Wildcats are 5-22-1 all time against the Big Ten, but 3-1 vs. the league under current head coach Bill Snyder.
The 2004 Tostitos Bowl marks Kansas State’s third meeting with a Big Ten opponent in a bowl game and the first since 1998. The Wildcats are 0-2 against the Big Ten in the post season, falling to Purdue, 37-34, in the 1998 Alamo Bowl and Wisconsin, 14-3, in the 1982 Independence Bowl.
Against the best
Kansas State is meeting its second top 10 opponent in as many games in No. 7 (AP) Ohio State. K-State knocked of its first No. 1-ranked team in school history with a 35-7 triumph over Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship game.
The Wildcats also got past a couple of other negative streaks in 2003, defeating its first higher-ranked opponent on the road (No. 18 Nebraska, 38-9) and its first higher-ranked opponent at a neutral site (No. 1 Oklahoma, 35-7).
Big 12 Champs at last
Against all odds, Kansas State captured its first Big 12 Conference championship, and its first league title in football of any kind since 1934, with its dramatic 35-7 dismantling of previously unbeaten and top-ranked Oklahoma. It was Kansas State’s third crack at the Big 12 title, tying Oklahoma, Nebraska and Texas for the most championship appearances in the league’s eight-year history.
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