 "Photo: Matt Binter")
The Wildcat football team managed to win the game Saturday afternoon, but they did not please head coach Bill Snyder.
While the win gave the Wildcats a two-game lead over everyone in the Big 12 North except Iowa State, Snyder was focused less on the standings and more on the improvement of his football team while addressing the media after the game.
“I am proud wherever we are in the conference and that we have won however many games we have,” Snyder said. “If that was the only deal, I would be a happy camper. But that is not what we are about and that is not what we are trying to be about. And I do not want them to feel good about playing poorly or coaching poorly.”
Coach Snyder was particularly upset with the play of the offense, which fell apart after halftime, scoring no points after the break. When asked about the play of his quarterback, senior Grant Gregory, he said only two words:
“Stinks. Bad.”
Gregory later echoed his coach’s assessment of the offense’s performance.
“At halftime we were feeling pretty good. We felt like we could duplicate what we did in the first half but we didn’t do much on offense,” Gregory said. “Colorado played well defensively, but we did not do what we needed to do offensively.”
While the offense fell apart, the defense gave up only six points and was able to come up with three turnovers, with the fourth coming on special teams. Holding quarterback Tyler Hansen to 89 yards and no touchdowns was a positive point for the defense, especially with his mobility creating havoc early on. It also helped that the Buffaloes are terrible on the road, going 2-17 in their last 19 road contests.
In the end, the Buffaloes turned to quarterback Cody Hawkins to orchestrate the offense at the end of the game. He didn’t fare much better, although he did lead a drive the length of the field before throwing the game-ending interception that allowed K-State to run out the clock.
Winning this game was good for the Wildcats. Moving to 3-1 in Big 12 Conference play with home games remaining against Kansas and Mizzou gives the Wildcats a decent shot at bowl eligibility.
Before then, the Wildcats must take on the Oklahoma Sooners (4-3, 2-1 Big 12) in Norman, Okla. Even without last season’s Heisman-winning quarterback Sam Bradford, who will likely be out for the remainder of the season with an injury, the Sooners are a talented team. The Wildcats have their work cut out for them; they haven’t beaten Oklahoma since the 2003 Big 12 Championship game.
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