Column: Keeping the Faith

Last Saturday, the ninth ranked Oklahoma Sooners traveled to Manhattan Kansas to play the eight ranked Kansas State Wildcats. The entire season for the Wildcats rested on this single game, win and have a shot at the national championship, lose and fall out of contention. It was not to be, as my childhood dreams of a national championship vanished, all because of a 58-17 loss.

Even as most newspapers and sports radio channels are proclaiming the death of the Kansas State defense and claiming it is the end of the best season in a decade, I disagree. It doesn’t matter to me that over the course of two weeks, K-State will play both the 3rd and the 21st ranked teams in the country. All that matters to me is that Bill Snyder has brought the Wildcats back from the brink of extinction.

Snyder has brought back a team that was a mess thanks to former coach Ron Prince. He composed a team not of five-star recruits but of junior college transfers and walk-ons. The Wildcats will always have what it takes to pull off amazing upsets thanks to the gritty, back-to-the-basics coaching style of Bill Snyder. Because of all this, K-State has the chance to keep on improving.

With a game tomorrow against third ranked Oklahoma State Cowboys, K-State has the chance to bounce back. With a record of 7-1, the Wildcats are already bowl eligible. At this point, they are working towards the most competitive bowl possible.

Some people might say that the season is over and there is no hope for the rest of the season, but I feel differently.

I will always have hope in a man who was born during the heart of the Great Depression, I will have hope in a legacy of players with the last name Lockett, and yes, I will always have hope in a team made of junior college transfers and walk-ons.

Wildcats, I still believe.