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For those old enough to remember, was 1998 Kansas State seen as 2025 Indiana is now?
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:09 pm
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:09 pm
Like Indiana’s turnaround under Cignetti, Kansas State was the worst D-I football program before Snyder arrived. 1998 was the apex with a Heisman-level QB in Bishop, 8 All-Americans, and 25 future NFLers. From what I’ve read, they were the favorite to win the national title, particularly after their closest equal that season in Ohio State got upset by a Saban-helmed Michigan State team.
Every neutral seems to have rallied around this Indiana team in a way I’ve never seen. It’s a rare overlap of the best story also being the best team. Did 1998 Kansas State garner similar national support among neutrals?
Every neutral seems to have rallied around this Indiana team in a way I’ve never seen. It’s a rare overlap of the best story also being the best team. Did 1998 Kansas State garner similar national support among neutrals?
19
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:11 pm to karmew32
No.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:14 pm to karmew32
1998 KSU definitely would have benefited from a playoff. But I don’t think it widely believed that KSU was going to be a consistent power.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:14 pm to karmew32
Kansas State had a run of good teams with some top talent where they were preseason top 5. Doesnt seem to be the same at all.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:15 pm to karmew32
‘98 was kind of viewed as a culmination of what Snyder had built. But KST had gone 48-11 in the five years prior to ‘98, so it wasn’t like Indiana today, where it happened overnight.
This post was edited on 1/4/26 at 2:52 pm
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:17 pm to karmew32
They had been good for a number of years at that point. Wasn’t out of nowhere
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:27 pm to karmew32
By 1998 Snyder had been there almost a decade and had gradually built them up already. Just checked to find the exact numbers but he was hired in 1989:
1989: 1-10
1990: 5-6
1991: 7-4
1992: 5-6
1993: 9-2-1
1994: 9-3
1995: 10-2
1996: 9-3
1997: 11-1
By 1998 people had gotten used to the idea that KSU was a good team and Snyder was a good coach that had built them up. Cignetti went 11-1 and made the playoffs his first year. Obviously the transfer portal didnt exist back then so you can argue it's easier to make a quick turnaround these days than it was back then. Still, I don't think anyone expected a bunch of James Madison transfers to go to Indiana and become title contenders. There isn't really a comparison to what we've seen these past couple of years.
1989: 1-10
1990: 5-6
1991: 7-4
1992: 5-6
1993: 9-2-1
1994: 9-3
1995: 10-2
1996: 9-3
1997: 11-1
By 1998 people had gotten used to the idea that KSU was a good team and Snyder was a good coach that had built them up. Cignetti went 11-1 and made the playoffs his first year. Obviously the transfer portal didnt exist back then so you can argue it's easier to make a quick turnaround these days than it was back then. Still, I don't think anyone expected a bunch of James Madison transfers to go to Indiana and become title contenders. There isn't really a comparison to what we've seen these past couple of years.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:29 pm to karmew32
KSU was decent for a time but what Indiana is doing is mostly unprecedented.
This post was edited on 1/4/26 at 2:29 pm
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:33 pm to karmew32
They were really good but they also lost a championship game to Texas A&M.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:39 pm to boston vol
quote:
98 years was kind of viewed as a culmination of what Snyder had built. But KST had gone 48-11 in the five years prior to ‘98, so it wasn’t like Indiana today, where it happened overnight.
Yup. When I was old enough to really know CFB, K State was already a solid team. They were basically #3 behind Nebraska and Colorado in the Big8/Big12 North. Then CU faded a bit, and KSU had that massive win in 98 against Nebraska. That was the monkey off their back.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:50 pm to karmew32
Them losing to a really strong A&M team was a huge upset in the conference championship games. Nebraska was somewhat down after going undefeated the year before, Slocum had his last great team was nearing the end of his run at A&M, Texas, Missouri and Colorado were good not great. OU was mired in a decade long decline.
In 1996 the Big 12 was the first attempt at a super conference when the Big 8 took the four best programs of the imploding SWC. It was probably the strongest conference in football for a few years and in 1998, Kansas State was definitely their best team before losing the conference title game.
In 1996 the Big 12 was the first attempt at a super conference when the Big 8 took the four best programs of the imploding SWC. It was probably the strongest conference in football for a few years and in 1998, Kansas State was definitely their best team before losing the conference title game.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:52 pm to Basura Blanco
The Big 12 was a great idea they just didnt account for how much Texass would ruin it.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 2:53 pm to Basura Blanco
It definitely feels like the 1998 Big 12 CCG has endured the most in the public consciousness out of all the big CCG upsets. Probably because it was Kansas State and not a more traditionally successful program like Nebraska/Texas/Tennessee/Oklahoma.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 3:00 pm to karmew32
There is nothing anyone can say, no argument anyone can make that will change my mind that if they had the playoff system then that they have now K-State would have won the national title that year.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 3:01 pm to karmew32
First “old enough to remember.” GFY.
2. Not even close.
2. Not even close.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 3:10 pm to 88Wildcat
quote:
There is nothing anyone can say, no argument anyone can make that will change my mind that if they had the playoff system then that they have now K-State would have won the national title that year.
They were probably the best team in the country at the end of the regular season. Even though the A&M loss was a huge upset, A&M's two losses to that point were to #2 Fla St in the opener and at Texas by two points on a last second FG the last game of the season.
Losing to a shite Purdue team (even with Brees) in the Alamo Bowl doesn't help your case though.
Posted on 1/4/26 at 3:35 pm to karmew32
A million miles different; everyone knows what's up now with NIL...
Turnarounds aren't shocking...only thing shocking is pundits on air treating Indiana like Lee Corso is still coaching there, like Paul Finebaum picking Alabama to win the Rose Bowl..."I'll believe it (Indiana) when I see it"...uh, what have you been watching all year Paul? What bygone sport are you covering?
Everyone can pay players now Paul, not just Alabama.
Seems the good folks covering the sport are still living in the past on tradition, pedigree and assumptions, kinda like the CFB Committee... The sport changed OVERNIGHT... Just look at the Bowl records and the demise of the SEC. A great coach and $$$$ can flip teams in a year...the Process has been fast-tracked and streamlined...its greenbacks, now out in the open...blue bloods are finally realizing the not so secret $ advantage is over.
Turnarounds aren't shocking...only thing shocking is pundits on air treating Indiana like Lee Corso is still coaching there, like Paul Finebaum picking Alabama to win the Rose Bowl..."I'll believe it (Indiana) when I see it"...uh, what have you been watching all year Paul? What bygone sport are you covering?
Everyone can pay players now Paul, not just Alabama.
Seems the good folks covering the sport are still living in the past on tradition, pedigree and assumptions, kinda like the CFB Committee... The sport changed OVERNIGHT... Just look at the Bowl records and the demise of the SEC. A great coach and $$$$ can flip teams in a year...the Process has been fast-tracked and streamlined...its greenbacks, now out in the open...blue bloods are finally realizing the not so secret $ advantage is over.
This post was edited on 1/4/26 at 3:41 pm
Posted on 1/4/26 at 3:39 pm to karmew32
Bill Snyder was Hayden Frys OC at Iowa when they turned it around after 17 straight losing seasons. Iowa and Fry never really recovered offensively from him leaving and I’m confident had they turned it over to Snyder and Fry retired after a decade at the helm, Snyder wins a national title at Iowa.
Snyder’s turn around there was using lots of JUCO guys, which produced quicker results. He had a lot of haters for using so many JUCO. You couldn’t turn the worm 20% as fast then as you can now. I don’t think they had the fanfare that Indiana has today, destroying Alabama after beating Ohio State—the two most hated and successful programs in the nation—in back to back games will win hearts.
Snyder’s turn around there was using lots of JUCO guys, which produced quicker results. He had a lot of haters for using so many JUCO. You couldn’t turn the worm 20% as fast then as you can now. I don’t think they had the fanfare that Indiana has today, destroying Alabama after beating Ohio State—the two most hated and successful programs in the nation—in back to back games will win hearts.
This post was edited on 1/5/26 at 9:39 am
Posted on 1/4/26 at 5:15 pm to Basura Blanco
Florida State was #4 in the BCS, needed #2 UCLA and #3 Kansas State to lose that day.
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