Kansas State deserves to be left remembering Alamo

Sporting News, The, Dec 21, 1998 by Mark Blaudschun

No one is happy in Manhattan, Kan. Seems the Kansas State Wildcats got jobbed by getting passed over for an at-large BCS bowl berth. Blame the BCS. Blame the media. Blame the polls. Blame the bowls. Blame anybody.

The argument goes like this: How does a team ranked No. 3 in the final BCS standings, whose only loss is a double-overtime defeat to Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game, drop from national champion contenders to the Alamo Bowl? Good question. We have some good answers.

Entering the season, everyone knew the rules. Conference champions from the Big Ten, Pac-10, Big East, SEC, Big 12 and ACC would receive six of the eight bids. Thus, Wisconsin, UCLA, Syracuse, Tennessee, Florida State and Texas A&M earned winning their league.

Fair enough. That left two at-large spots. Those went to Ohio State (which is headed to the Sugar Bowl after being Big Ten co-champion) and Florida (which is headed for the Orange Bowl after finishing second in the SEC East).

The Gators finished 9-2 and seem less worthy than the Buckeyes. But Florida's two losses were an overtime defeat to No. 1 Tennessee and a loss to No. 2 Florida State, both on the road. Florida also has a strong fan base in south Florida and has not been to the Orange Bowl since the 1966 season. The Orange Bowl wanted the Gators and was going to take them over Ohio State if it came down to it.

So, that left the Wildcats out of the mix. And before you rip the BCS, remember this: The BCS always has maintained that after it put together a 1-2 game, the bowls could mix and match as they pleased-to a degree.

Jilted for a BCS at-large spot, K-State still harbored hope for a big-time second-tier bowl bid. The Big 12 had spots guaranteed in the BCS, Cotton Bowl, Insight.com Bowl, Holiday Bowl and Aloha Bowl, as well as the Alamo Bowl.

According to the bowl pecking order in the Big 12, the Wildcats should have gone to the Cotton. But the Cotton Bowl was under the assumption that even if Kansas State lost to A&M, it would get a BCS slot. So, the Cotton made a deal for Texas and Heisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams.

Next up in the Big 12 bowl pecking order was the Holiday Bowl, but that bowl was intrigued by selecting a Nebraska team with plenty of fans ready and willing to come to San Diego and spend, spend, spend.

Kansas State can gripe about going to San Antonio for the Alamo Bowl, but maybe the Wildcats should question the Big 12 office, which slotted the games. And, mostly, Kansas State should look in the mirror. The team controlled its own destiny. The Wildcats had a 15-point lead with 9:20 left against Texas A&M. The Wildcats folded. The Wildcats lost.

It was that simple. If K-State had found a way to beat the Aggies, the Wildcats would be playing Tennessee in the Fiesta Bowl and Florida State would be on the outside looking in-although as ACC champion, the Seminoles would have had a BCS slot.

Let the bowls begin

If you want to criticize the bowl system, take a look at the Las Vegas Bowl. San Diego State played its way into the game by being co-champs of the WAC Pacific Division. But North Carolina finished 6-5. Why were the Tar Heels picked over 10-1 Miami (Ohio)? In case you forgot, one of those five losses by the Tar Heels was to the Red-Hawks. And the game was in Chapel Hill.

Check out the Motor City Bowl. Louisville vs. Marshall looks like a nice border war between teams from Kentucky and West Virginia. But it also should be one of the more entertaining bowl games of the season, matching Marshall's Chad Pennington and Louisville's Chris Redman in a duel of highly entertaining quarterbacks. Marshall proved there is life after Randy Moss. Louisville went 7-4 after posting a 1-10 mark in 1997. TSN

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