Remember the Alamo Bowl
Snyder worried K-State will suffer letdown after BCS snub
Posted: Tuesday December 08, 1998 11:34 PM
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Kansas State players were floored by Texas A&M in the Big 12 Championship game AP |
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Kansas State's players are so depressed
over being snubbed by the major bowls, their coach is worried they
might not give full effort in the minor game that did invite them.
"Yes, I am. I certainly am," Bill Snyder said Monday.
In less than 24 hours, the Wildcats (11-1) plunged from the
brink of the national championship playing Tennessee at the Fiesta
Bowl to playing unranked Purdue for nothing in the Alamo Bowl.
They remained third in the BCS rankings even after blowing a
15-point lead and losing 36-33 to Texas A&M in double-overtime
Saturday in the Big 12 title game. And they dropped only to fourth
in The Associated Press poll.
Had they beaten Texas A&M, they were assured of the Fiesta Bowl.
Yet, when other bids were handed out on Sunday, they were
snubbed by the other BCS bowls, the Orange, Rose and Sugar. And
then they watched Texas and Nebraska, which both lost to the
Wildcats, accept bids to the Cotton and Holiday bowls, the top
postseason games with ties to the Big 12.
"You'd like to be able to say life is fair. But obviously
that's not the case," Snyder said.
He even declined to urge disappointed fans to attend the December 29
game in San Antonio, Texas.
"I know our fans are reeling from this as well. They are hurt,
like our players," Snyder said during a conference call with other
league coaches.
"We just have to have some healing time. Now is not the time to
campaign for anything from our vantage point. The important thing
for us is to heal and get on with this."
Snyder was careful to praise both the Alamo Bowl and Purdue
(8-3).
"The Alamo Bowl ... is one of the up-and-coming bowls," he
said. "It certainly will be an honor for us to be there. Are we
disappointed we were not included in the BCS selection or in the
pecking order as it was described by the Big 12? Yes."
Snyder said the snub would be difficult to explain to his
players.
"The message we've always tried to communicate to our young
people is that there are systems in place in our culture and our
society and our program, and if the system is adhered to, if you do
things the way they're supposed to be done, then the system will
work for you.
"This might be an example where that is not the case. I'll ask
them not to lose faith in the system we have here, that it will
work for them if they do the right thing. This is obviously a
setback and a tremendous test. Perhaps a test of our character to
see how we're able to deal with this."
Snyder also emphasized he was not putting the blame on anybody.
"I can only blame myself for not having our team well enough
prepared to win a ballgame," he said. "Outside of that, I
wouldn't know where to start."
Texas A&M coach R.C. Slocum did not sound very sympathetic.
"That's the way the system works," said Slocum, whose Aggies
got a bid to the Sugar Bowl. "Last year a very fine UCLA team got
left out and Kansas State took their spot in the Fiesta Bowl. It's
hard to get away from the idea of somebody feeling they got left
out."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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