SE: A Comeback to Cap a Dynamic Year

By Ell Roberson as told to D. Scott Fritchen

We were the highest-ranked team not selected for a Bowl Championship Series. We were seven points away from an undefeated regular season, and we outscored our final five opponents 253-30. Nobody wanted to play us. But when you put so much work into what you're doing, and you know that you fell just a little bit short, it was kind of hard for our 2002 team to get up for Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl.

We knew that we definitely could've been in the big game.

People talk about 1998, 2003 and 2012 being the best in K-State history, but we also had a dynamic year in 2002. We finished 11-2 and finished ranked No. 6 and No. 7 in the polls. Again, seven points kept us from an undefeated season.

After going 6-6 in 2001, we definitely wanted to show out for K-State Nation. We returned a good nucleus of guys. Darren Sproles and I had great chemistry, and we had guys like James Terry, Antoine Polite, Davin Dennis, Brian Casey and Thomas Hill. We had two future NFL players in Nick Leckey and Ryan Lija on the offensive line. We had the No. 1 scoring defense and gave up the second-fewest total yards in the nation. We had the best linebacking corps in the nation with three Texas guys — Terry Pierce, Josh Buhl and Bryan Hickman — and Terence Newman was the best defensive player in the country.

You think about it, and we had the win over No. 11 USC and had the two hiccups at Colorado (35-31) and against Texas (17-14), and then got our mojo back toward the end of the year, and we could've beaten anybody in the country. The world knew who we were. We were one of the top teams in the country.

So, it's a little hard when you're at one place and you want to be at another place after all the work you've put in. We were heavy favorites. The hard thing for us was trying to put all that behind us, re-identify who we were and make the most of it and finish strong, not just for us as players, but to finish strong for Coach Snyder and the coaching staff, and we wanted to finish strong for all the fans who followed us to San Diego. For Arizona State to be so close to the stadium, it meant a lot to see more K-State fans there.

K-State brought the house.

Just walking onto the field and seeing our support, it really woke us up, and put us in the mindset to go out and win.

We hadn't played from behind almost all season, so this was something new. We trailed 10-0 before Sproles had a 41-yard touchdown run and I had a 32-yard touchdown run. We trailed 20-14 at halftime. Our offense really didn't do much in the first half. Their whole thing was bringing pressure. Terrell Suggs had a NCAA record 24 sacks that season. He had a big impact. On the first or second play of the game, he got a big sack on me when I dropped back to the right. He was on my backside and just came off the ball really quick. I told Thomas Barnett I wasn't going to lose confidence in him. We knew Suggs would make some plays, which he did, but for the most part Barnett did a good job containing him. Screens and draw plays really helped us in the game.

Their pressure opened things up because JT and our wide receivers were getting man-to-man from their corners. We felt like we had a good matchup. Coach called some great plays, and they showed their blitzing tendencies on some plays. I hit some big plays because our guys took it upon themselves to beat the coverage and were getting some big plays. I hit two slants to JT on the left side because they were bringing all of their linebackers and one strong safety and playing man across the board.

We had TNew, and he did a little bit of everything. He had 10 tackles, caught three passes, ran the ball twice, returned three kickoffs and four punts. TNew was a dynamic player and got things going when we weren't getting plays down the field. What got us going was when I threw a 36-yard fade to TNew. TNew had crazy speed and their guys couldn't run with him. Our offense started moving a little bit.

TNew won all the awards and wanted to finish of his career in style. We knew who he was, and the world got to see it, not just as a cornerback, but in all areas of the game. We were tied up 27-27 late in the fourth quarter when TNew returned a punt to midfield, to and we knew we were going to win the game.

We made our way down the field on our final drive. Coach called the play — a slant. We had less than two minutes left in the game. It was the perfect play. JT had been beating his guy on slants down the left side. I knew that my slot receiver, Derrick Evans, had the potential because the linebackers were going to be blitzing. I dropped back, looked left to JT, and just as I thought, the corner was playing inside trying to take away the slant, so I looked to the right and Derrick put a move like he was going outside on the corner, then he cut underneath him, and he was right there.

I just went back and put all my strength into the pass and nailed him right in the chest with 75 seconds left in the game. And that was it. That was the defining moment. The rest was history. We won 34-27.

Being named Offensive MVP meant a lot. When you look at it, I had to work to become the starter, and we had a couple hiccups, and didn't get into the big game like we wanted, and we had to wake up and get it done. Just being able to go out there and show them what K-State was all about was huge. For me, just to cap off the year like that was big heading into my senior year. Sproles and I were the best one-two punch in the csountry. We were deadly. Our team was dangerous. We had an attitude. Our defense was nasty. We knew we were one of the best. I was going to be mentioned for the Heisman Trophy. I had the intangibles and just needed to continue to work. That 2002 bowl game just capped off everything.

There was no doubt in my mind we were going to come back and win that game.

It wasn't my best game, but when I needed to make the play, when it was all on the line, I made the play.

And nothing was going to stop me.

Kansas State University Athletics

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