1998 Kansas State Wildcats football team


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 11-2, and an 8-0 record in Big 12 Conference play.
The Wildcats finished the regular season undefeated and were ranked second in the nation ahead of their match-up with tenth-ranked Texas A&M in the 1998 Big 12 Championship Game. Kansas State lost 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. 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, and set a school record for points scored with 610.

Schedule

Roster

Game summaries

Indiana State

Northern Illinois

Texas

Northeast Louisiana

Colorado

Oklahoma State

Iowa State

Kansas

Baylor

Nebraska

Michael Bishop threw for 306 yards and 2 touchdowns, and ran for 140 yards and two more scores as the Wildcats finally broke through against the Huskers.

Missouri

Texas A&M (Big 12 Championship)

Purdue (Alamo Bowl)

Kansas State had 125 yards in penalties, 7 turnovers, and allowed the Boilermakers to drive 80 yards in only 54 seconds for the game-winning touchdown.

Rankings

Postseason Awards

PlayerPositionRoundPickNFL ClubRef
Martín GramáticaK380Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Jeff KellyLB6198Atlanta Falcons
Ryan YoungOT7223New York Jets
Michael BishopQB7227New England Patriots
Justin SwiftTE7238Denver Broncos
Darnell McDonaldWR7240Tampa Bay Buccaneers