Cats beat #11 USC, Heisman winner Carson Palmer in fans' No. 8 game
Jul 08, 2005 | Football
MANHATTAN, Kan. Southern California entered KSU Stadium with a lofty national ranking and eventual Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer under center, but it was Kansas State that stole the show as the Wildcats jump-started their 2002 season and handed USC what would be its only loss of the year in Powercat Passport's eighth-most popular game of the Bill Snyder era as voted by the fans K-State’s 27-20 win over the 11th-ranked Trojans. Ell Roberson, who did not start the game, came off the bench to rush for a touchdown and pass for another as the Wildcats notched their first ever victory over a ranked non-conference opponent at home.
The Wildcat defense, which would go on to end the season ranked No. 2 in the NCAA in total defense, held the mighty Trojan offense without a point through three quarters to help Kansas State complete a two-game sweep of USC before a national audience on Superstation TBS.
This Saturday’s webcast of the 2002 Kansas State vs. Southern California game is the third of a 10-game countdown to the start of the 2005 season on Powercat Passport, the premium multimedia service of k-statesports.com.
Over 2,000 fan ballots were received in online voting that began on April 27th. The Wildcats’ victory over Tennessee in the 2001 Cotton Bowl was chosen as the fans’ No. 10 pick, while K-State’s thrilling win over Nebraska from the 2000 season was selected as the No. 9 game. Both classics were webcast in their entirety on Powercat Passport.
The weekly countdown of the 10 most popular games of the Bill Snyder era will continue each Saturday through August 27th, when the fans' pick as the No. 1 game is webcast.
Each week’s game will be announced on Friday afternoon on k-statesports.com.
In conjunction with the Top 10 countdown, a one-year subscription discount of $10 is being offered on Powercat Passport, which provides hundreds of hours of video from Wildcat coaches' shows as well as game-day features, to season highlights, exclusive interviews with players and coaches and classic games like the Fan's Top 10.
Last season, Powercat Passport was the only site on the Internet for fans to access live streaming video of Wildcat football, basketball, baseball, and volleyball and promises to once again be the leader in live Internet coverage of Kansas State athletics in 2005-06.
Countdown to Kickoff: Top 10 Greatest Games of the Bill Snyder Era
As voted by K-State fans
- #10: January 1, 2001 (Cotton Bowl) - Kansas State 35, Tennessee 21
- #9: November 11, 2000 (Manhattan, KS) - Kansas State 29, Nebraska 28
- #8: September 21, 2002 (Manhattan, KS) - Kansas State 27, Southern California 20
- #7: Released July 16
- #6: Released July 23
- #5: Released July 30
- #4: Released August 6
- #3: Released August 13
- #2: Released August 20
- #1: Released August 27
