The 1998 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1998 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head football coach was Bill Snyder. The Wildcats played their home games in KSU Stadium. 1998 saw the Wildcats finish with a record of 11â€"2, and an 8â€"0 record in Big 12 Conference play.
The Wildcats finished the regular season undefeated (11-0) and were ranked second in the nation ahead of their matchup with tenth-ranked Texas A&M in the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game in St. Louis. Kansas State would go on to lose the game in overtime, losing their chance at a national championship.
After the Big 12 Championship Game, Kansas State did not receive a spot in the inaugural Bowl Championship Series despite being ranked in its top four as well as the highest ranked non-champion from any conference. They also were not invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic in Dallas, as the conference runner-up typically would be, or the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, which at the time was contracted to invite the third place team in the conference; those bowls chose Texas and Nebraska instead. The Wildcats were thus invited to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Instead Kansas State was invited to the Alamo Bowl, where it lost to the unranked Purdue Boilermakers, who drove 80 yards for a touchdown in the final minute to defeat Kansas State 37-34.
Following the end of the season, a new rule was created. Nicknamed the "Kansas State Rule", the #3 ranked team would always have an automatic bid to a BCS bowl game.
The Wildcats finished the season as the top scoring team in NCAA Division I-A (at 48 points per game), and set a school record for points scored with 610.
Schedule
1998 #11 Nebraska at #1 Kansas State 1 of 1 - This video is a telecast, broadcast, and production of ABC. I claim no ownership of this material, and do not profit from it in any way. This video is intended for historical and educational...
Table references
Rankings
Postseason Awards
- Bill Snyder â€" Named Big 12 Coach of the Year, Paul "Bear" Bryant Award, Walter Camp Coach of the Year, AP Coach of the Year, Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award
- Michael Bishop â€" Davey O'Brien Award, Heisman Trophy runner-up, All-American, First-Team All-Big 12
- Jeff Kelly â€" Consensus All-American, First-Team All-Big 12
- MartÃn Gramática â€" Consensus All-American, First-Team All-Big 12
- David Allen â€" Consensus All-American, First-Team All-Big 12
- Ryan Young â€" First-Team All-Big 12
- Darnell McDonald â€" First-Team All-Big 12
- Darren Howard â€" First-Team All-Big 12
- Jarrod Cooper â€" First-Team All-Big 12
Players in the 1999 NFL Draft
References
