Virtually every year of Snyder 2.0, K-State has had at least one concerning (perhaps too kind of a word) performance early in the season. For the most part, those games (like yesterday's, for example) have not given a good indication of what the season would turn out like.
2009: Take your pick. Won the season opener 21-17 against UMass, lost at Louisiana 17-15 in week two and at UCLA 23-9 in week three. Ended the season 6-6 and missed a bowl, but went .500 in the Big 12 and still had a shot to win the Big 12 North at Nebraska in the season's finale game.
2010: Beat Iowa State 27-20 in Arrowhead in the third game of the year, had to rally to knock off UCF 17-13 at home in the fourth game of the year. Finished 7-6, made a bowl but went just 3-5 in the Big 12.
2011: Rallied late for a 10-7 win over Eastern Kentucky in the season opener. This team ended up winning 10 games, challenged for a Big 12 title all year long and ended up making it to the Cotton Bowl.
2012: This year might be the exception, although a 35-21 home win over North Texas in week three wasn't really comforting. Still, if there's going to be an exception, it makes sense it came from a team that won the Big 12, played in the Fiesta Bowl and was ranked #1 in the BCS in the second to last week of the season.
2013: Pretty easy to remember this one, lost the season opener to North Dakota State. This team eventually won six of its last seven games, beat Michigan in the BWW bowl and finished with 8 wins.
2014: Needed a miracle to knock off a terrible Iowa State team in week two and lost to what proved to be an inferior Auburn team in week three. Went on to spend most of the year ranked in the top 10 and in the Big 12 title race all year long.
2015: Took 3 OTs to knock off Louisiana Tech. And this isn't a terrible Tech team. Won nine games last year, hammered Illinois in the bowl game, brought back a little over half its starters and added Jeff Driskel. This is a far better team than some of the others named above (UMass, Louisiana, Eastern Kentucky, North Texas, etc.) and not as good as some (Obviously Auburn & UCLA, probably NDSU & maybe UCF).
I guess my point is that it's difficult to use yesterday's game as much of a predictor for the rest of the year. I know it's a message board - that's what we do here - but history shows us things could easily go either way, and that this type of game happens basically every year of Snyder 2.0. Sometimes, a little perspective is nice. I think both the optimists, pessimists and realists all can make great arguments and cases for how they feel right now, however, and it's going to be an interesting season to watch play out.
2009: Take your pick. Won the season opener 21-17 against UMass, lost at Louisiana 17-15 in week two and at UCLA 23-9 in week three. Ended the season 6-6 and missed a bowl, but went .500 in the Big 12 and still had a shot to win the Big 12 North at Nebraska in the season's finale game.
2010: Beat Iowa State 27-20 in Arrowhead in the third game of the year, had to rally to knock off UCF 17-13 at home in the fourth game of the year. Finished 7-6, made a bowl but went just 3-5 in the Big 12.
2011: Rallied late for a 10-7 win over Eastern Kentucky in the season opener. This team ended up winning 10 games, challenged for a Big 12 title all year long and ended up making it to the Cotton Bowl.
2012: This year might be the exception, although a 35-21 home win over North Texas in week three wasn't really comforting. Still, if there's going to be an exception, it makes sense it came from a team that won the Big 12, played in the Fiesta Bowl and was ranked #1 in the BCS in the second to last week of the season.
2013: Pretty easy to remember this one, lost the season opener to North Dakota State. This team eventually won six of its last seven games, beat Michigan in the BWW bowl and finished with 8 wins.
2014: Needed a miracle to knock off a terrible Iowa State team in week two and lost to what proved to be an inferior Auburn team in week three. Went on to spend most of the year ranked in the top 10 and in the Big 12 title race all year long.
2015: Took 3 OTs to knock off Louisiana Tech. And this isn't a terrible Tech team. Won nine games last year, hammered Illinois in the bowl game, brought back a little over half its starters and added Jeff Driskel. This is a far better team than some of the others named above (UMass, Louisiana, Eastern Kentucky, North Texas, etc.) and not as good as some (Obviously Auburn & UCLA, probably NDSU & maybe UCF).
I guess my point is that it's difficult to use yesterday's game as much of a predictor for the rest of the year. I know it's a message board - that's what we do here - but history shows us things could easily go either way, and that this type of game happens basically every year of Snyder 2.0. Sometimes, a little perspective is nice. I think both the optimists, pessimists and realists all can make great arguments and cases for how they feel right now, however, and it's going to be an interesting season to watch play out.
