2003 Season In Review
Jan 24, 2005 | General
2003 Wildcats Shook the College Football Universe
The road map for Kansas State 's 2003 season may have turned out a little different than the Wildcats originally envisioned. But in the minds of K-State's players and staff, the destination was always the same Kansas City for the Big 12 Championship game and the program's first Bowl Championship (BCS) berth.
Ranked in the top 7 of both polls to open the year, most preseason prognosticators projected the Wildcats to arrive at the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game via a smoothly-paved interstate.
However, K-State ran into unexpected road blocks along the way and was forced to travel a route more akin to a pot hole-riddled country back road than modern superhighway.
Saddled with three consecutive losses all by a touchdown or less, including a pair of four-point setbacks to open Big 12 play Kansas State hit the season's midpoint in a position few thought it could recover from at 4-3 overall and winless in the conference at 0-2.
But the Wildcats showed a steady resolve and a never-give-up attitude down the stretch. And thanks to a six-game regular-season ending winning streak, arrived in Kansas City as the Big 12 North Division Champion ready to make history after having successfully maneuvered through a steady succession of detours along the road to the championship game.
Once there, Kansas State didn't just make history in the Big 12 Championship game, it effectively shocked the college football universe, steam-rolling a No. 1-ranked Oklahoma Sooner squad many were calling one of the best of all time.
Oklahoma, which entered the game a heavy favorite, had run roughshod through its 2003 campaign, averaging 48.3 points per game and ranking No. 1 nationally in both scoring offense and total defense. So impressive were the Sooners, that many had already penciled them in as the 2003 National Champion.
But on the evening of Dec. 6, 2003 in Arrowhead Stadium, it was Bill Snyder's Wildcats that looked like the best team in college football as K-State dismantled Oklahoma , 35-7.
The victory gave Kansas State its first Big 12 championship and first conference crown of any kind in football since Pappy Waldorf led the Wildcats to a Big Six Conference crown in 1934.
And though K-State's heart-pounding rally from 21 points down vs. No. 7 Ohio State in the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl would come up seven points short, the loss would not be enough to overshadow the number of other historic feats accomplished by the Wildcats on the road to their first conference title in 69 years.
Senior quarterback Ell Roberson, along with junior running back Darren Sproles and senior wide receiver James Terry, each broke a number of single-season and career K-State records.
Roberson completed his eligibility as the all-time leader in both total offense (7,197 yards) and touchdowns scored (40), while Terry became K-State's single-season yardage record holder (1,232 yards).
But it was Sproles, who was selected as K-State's first Associated Press first team All-American running back, that had the most impressive season of all. The Doak Walker award runner-up and the No. 5 vote-getter in the race for the Heisman Trophy, smashed just about every Kansas State rushing record during the season, including career yards (3,661), single-season yards (1,986) and single-game yards (273).
The junior, who finished as the nation's top rushing yardage producer for 2003, also led the nation in all-purpose yardage, setting a school record with 2,735 for a K-State career best 4,745.
However, the road to the title and the records were fraught with adversity. After rolling through the first four games of the season with victories over California , Troy State , McNeese State and Massachusetts , the Wildcats endured a home-loss to Marshall . The setback was the first of a three-game losing streak for the team and had doubters questioning whether the Wildcats could meet the lofty expectations placed upon them at the beginning of the season.
But instead of letting the season slip away, what ensued was possibly the most dominant seven game stretch in Kansas State football history.
Beginning with a victory over Colorado , and ending with the Wildcats hoisting the Big 12 Championship trophy, K-State went on a seven-game rampage that saw the team outscore their opponents 271-66.
During the winning streak, the Wildcats established a number of historic achievements that will not be forgotten by those who have followed the K-State football program through the years.
The streak opened with an impressive 49-20 victory over Colorado . In the game, a number of Wildcat records fell and the foundation was laid for a season-saving stretch run. Aside from ending a two-game losing streak vs. the Buffaloes and setting a new record for points in a single game against Colorado , Roberson climbed to the top of a pair of career categories.
His two touchdown runs in the game gave him 33 for his career, breaking the old mark of 31, established by Josh Scobey and Mack Herron. Roberson added another career mark when his 40-yard pass to Davin Dennis vaulted him past K-State Hall of Famer Lynn Dickey as Kansas State 's career leader in total offense.
Roberson's performance in the Colorado game was only the first of a number of historic accomplishments during the seven-game winning streak. The Wildcats' impressive 42-6 win over Kansas marked the 11th straight win in the series against the in-state rival.
The game also marked a return-to-form for the K-State defense. In the victory, the Wildcats held Kansas to only 160 yards of total offense and seven first downs and began the defense's climb up the NCAA defensive rankings.
A 38-10 victory over Baylor followed and more records fell as a combined effort by the defense and offense led to a third straight victory for the Wildcats. Sproles rolled-up the second-best single outing in school history with 308 all-purpose yards while James Terry recorded career highs with his fifth-career 100-yard receiving game on eight catches for 138 yards and three touchdowns.
In fact, the Baylor game marked the beginning of a number of career-highs for Sproles and Terry. Sproles ended the season as the first back in school history to record consecutive 200-yard rushing games. In the 24-14 victory over Missouri that clinched the Big 12 North title, Sproles set a the school record for rushing yards in a single game when his 273 yards on 43 carries shattered the old mark held by Mike Lawrence.
Although many thought the performance could not be topped, Sproles followed with an impressive 235-yard outing against the top-ranked defense and team in the country, the Oklahoma Sooners, that helped seal the conference championship for the Wildcats.
In the game, Sproles sliced and diced his way to 345 all-purpose yards, shattering the career-high he established against Baylor and setting a Kansas State single-game record.
With his 235-yard performance against Oklahoma , Sproles pushed his season total to 1,948 yards rushing, the 11th highest total in NCAA history.
Along the way, Terry climbed to first on the single-season receiving yardage list, surpassing Quincy Morgan with 63 yards against Oklahoma , giving him 1,174 yards on the season. Terry also climbed to second on K-State's single-season touchdown reception list with 13 on the year. A pair of Roberson to Terry touchdown receptions were 63-yard catches against Nebraska and Oklahoma .
Terry's reception against Nebraska helped guide the Wildcats to a 38-9 victory in Lincoln , Neb. , the first win on the Cornhuskers' home-turf since 1968.
While members of the offense were putting up numbers unheard of in the history of Kansas State football, the defense was turning in the dominating type of performances fans have grown accustomed to over the years.
While holding opponents to an average of 9.4 points per game during the team's seven-game winning streak, the defense climbed to fourth in the nation in scoring defense, fifth in total defense, eighth in passing defense and 15th in rushing defense.
To conclude the regular-season, Kansas State held Oklahoma 's top-rated scoring offense to only seven points. During the impressive run, senior linebacker Josh Buhl climbed to fourth on K-State's career tackle chart with 385 and senior defensive end Andrew Shull moved to fifth on the Wildcats' career sack list with 20 quarterback takedowns.
The number of strong performances throughout the year were only a small indication of why the Wildcats as a team accomplished so many historic feats in 2003. It was a year to remember and one that Wildcat fans across the nation will not soon forget as K-State made history and shocked the world.
