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Copper Bowl 1993
Kansas State 52 Wyoming 17 |
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In 1988, Kansas State was simply the laughingstock of college
football. Kansas State had fielded just five winning teams in a 54-year
span and eight times had gone winless. The school averaged an
All-American just once every 18 years. From 1984 to 1988, KSU went
3-40-1, was outscored by an average of 43-13, lost at home to schools
such as Austin Peay, Wichita State and Northern Iowa, and didn't have so
much as one all-Big Eight player in three years. Things were so bad that
the Big Eight Conference was even considering booting the Wildcats out.
After Kansas State foundered through another 0-11 season in 1988,
President Jon Wefald fired head coach Stan Parrish and hired a
highly-touted offensive coordinator from Iowa named Bill Snyder to take
on the challenge of building Kansas State's program from the ashes.
Snyder was a tireless worker prone to 100-hour work weeks who set his
goal at simply getting better every day as a players, persons and
students. The transformation from college football's laughingstock to
legitimate Big 12 Conference contender didn't happen overnight. In 1989,
Snyder's first year at the helm, the Wildcats went a very-K-State-like
1-10, including the usual 58-7 drubbing from Nebraska. The only win came
on a last-second touchdown pass against Division I-AA North Texas State,
20-17.
But Kansas State stuck to Snyder's philosophy and continued to get a
little better each day. In 1990, the Wildcats jumped up to a 5-6 record
and won their first two Big Eight games in four years. They followed
that with solid 7-4 and 5-6 campaigns in 1991 and 1992. Then came the
breakthrough year for the program: 1993.
K-State capped off its most successful season in 83 years, with its
first-ever bowl game. The 20th ranked Kansas Wildcats, making only their
second bowl appearance in school history, defeated the Wyoming Cowboys,
52-17 A sea of purple converged on the desert as 16,000 Kansas State
fans flooded Tucson to establish a new Copper Bowl attendance record of
49,075.
Wyoming took a quick 3-0 lead on a 35-yard field goal, but K-State
put its high-powered offense into overdrive and scored on its first
three possessions. J.J. Smith put K-State on the board with a two-yard
TD run and Tate Wright added a 22-yard field goal before K-State drove
76 yards on its third possession to take a 16-3 edge on a Chad May TD
plunge. All-American Andre Coleman closed out the first half with a
68-yard punt return to put K-State ahead 24-10 (video)
at the break then blew things open with a 61-yard touchdown catch just
54 seconds into the third quarter (video).
Freshman All-American Kevin Lockett put K-State ahead 38-10 midway
through the third quarter with a 30-yard
touchdown reception (video) before reserve
running back Leon Edwards added a 13-yard touchdown run and cornerback
Kenny McEntyre provided the game’s crowning moment with a 37-yard
interception return for a score (video).
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A spectacular night for Coleman. |
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Christopherson and Wyoming couldn't gain control. |
Leon Edwards was strong in relief of J.J. Smith. |
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For Snyder and K-State the turnaround was complete. |
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K-State Media Guide |
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Attendance- 49,075 |
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