This football season has not been fun. Losing is not something that’s supposed to happen in Manhattan.
Yet here we are in week 10, and K-State is sitting at ninth in the Big 12. It’s safe to say that players, coaches and fans aren’t sure how to handle a six-game losing skid.
It’s basically been the same story every Saturday. Someone needs to step up on offense and start making big plays. The secondary needs to make an interception. As a whole, the team needs to execute better. The team knows what they need to do, and they’ve shown they can hang with the top teams in the Big 12.
The results, however, are just not there.
What have the people of Manhattan done to anger the college football gods? Are the Wildcats simply just plagued with a streak of bad luck?
Head Coach Bill Snyder came into Tuesday’s press conference with a ceramic mug instead of his usual Styrofoam cup. The mug had a colorful cartoon picture of one of his daughter’s horses on it. Snyder put down the idea that this was his way of trying to reverse any bad karma; it just happened to be the mug he brought to work.
There is a list of things that need to be done to turn K-State’s season around, and it doesn’t include changing up a daily routine or any kind of radical attempt to reverse bad luck. It starts with the 16 principles that have formed the foundation of the K-State football program.
“If you were to look down through those 16 goals, there is hardly one that doesn’t apply to where we sit on this given day,” Snyder said.
Snyder encouraged his players to take 10 minutes to look over the goals to see how each goal applied to them individually.
For junior defensive linebacker Will Davis, the goal that stuck out to him was leadership.
“We really need to show our leadership and bring the team up from the depths,” Davis said.
Offensive lineman Dalton Risner, redshirt freshman, said he sees the connection between the 16 goals and life; he finds himself referencing the goals on and off the field sometimes without realizing it.
“You’re out there on that field and you remember,” Risner said. “Whether I know it or not, I think about them more than I think.”
Three games remain in the regular season, and bowl eligibility is still a possibility for the Wildcats. The 16 goals are giving the team a road map on how to weather the losses and prepare for the future.
The fans, however, need to focus in on goal No. 10: don’t give up on K-State. There is still football to be played.
