VC Says: This may be Snyder's best coaching job yet!

Take a look. No I said take a look, not a glance, at these Kansas State Wildcats. This is something truly special that's developing.

Bill Snyder orchestrated the Miracle in Manhattan in his first go-round at K-State.

This may, I said may, just trump what he did in Act I.

This is nowhere close to being the K-State team of 2003 that shocked the college football world when it bested top-ranked Oklahoma 35-7 at Arrowhead Stadium for the Big XII Championship. OK, there may be one similarity. Darren Sproles vs. Daniel Thomas but that's about it.

The Wildcats are 5-1 entering Saturday's game at Baylor. Baylor may throttle K-State like it did Kansas a couple of weeks ago. I don't think so. Oh trust me, I think Baylor will probably win. Robert Griffin is very good and K-State has proven any running quarterback is going to have a field day against the Wildcats.

But Snyder doesn't get blown out. He might get pushed around, like Nebraska did earlier in a 48-13 beating in Manhattan.

I had no idea what to expect when KU-KSU met eight days ago in Lawrence. I truly believed - and I'm on record with Steve and Scott who were with me - that the first team to 15 points that night would win. I was right, K-State was the first team to score 15 points. I just didn't think they would add 44 points on to that total.

This team is not 5-1 material, folks. This team should be 4-2 or even 3-3. With Daniel Thomas, this probably is a 4-2 team at worst. This team should be thinking two more wins means a bowl game somewhere, you know one of those "dot-com" type games.

Before the season, I was on record on this very blog saying K-State would finish 7-5 and could end up at the New York Bowl or whatever that game is called that will be at Yankee Stadium. When the dust settles, this could still be a 7-5 team. I mean, let's think about this, Carson Coffman is not the Snyder-type signal-caller that excels in this system. And K-State's defense can't stop anything up the gut.

And yet here it is October 22 when I'm writing this and K-State is 5-1.

Remember Jack Hartman and how he took average ballplayers and athletes that nobody wanted and made them great athletes? Ed Nealy, a Bonner Springs native, quickly comes to mind as a Hartman protege. Hartman could take those average players and mold them into the athletes that made K-State great. And buddy do I remember Nealy calmly stepping to the free-throw line in Allen Fieldhouse and swishing two free throws to beat KU!

Yea baby!

That's exactly what Snyder is doing. This may, folks, be Snyder's best coaching job yet. He's still coaching a lot of Ron Prince's players. While Prince had Texas' number, he went 0-9 against the three most important games on K-State's schedule: Mizzou, Kansas and Nebraska. While Snyder has already lost to Nebraska and a road game looms at Mizzou, Snyder got the best of KU last week. It's a team Snyder knows is important to K-State fans.

Stan Weber, color analyst on the K-State Radio Network and a good friend of mine for 20 years, shared this on a Kansas City radio station recently. Two years ago, Snyder was in the booth next to Stan the day K-State played KU at Lawrence. Snyder was in the midst of his retirement but was in the visiting team's suite designated for the athletic director and their staff. KU pummeled K-State that day. At the end of the game, Stan said he looked over at Snyder. Snyder had been taking notes throughout the game and he left that day hurt.

A few days later, Prince was fired. Not long after that, K-State announced that Snyder was making his return. Stan Weber said Snyder's return actually began that day KU beat K-State. Snyder was back, taking notes, just like old times.

Beating KU is nice. Trust me, it's great, but folks there will be an even bigger game that will go in K-State's favor this year. Perhaps the Cats beat UT in Manhattan. Possibly they beat Mizzou, doubtful, but possible.

I'm still going to say 7-5 for this team. I think 8-4 is realistic if they can beat Baylor this weekend. Beat Baylor and Oklahoma State in back-to-back weeks and suddenly 9-3 is within reach, but I'm going to be conservative. Afterall, it is an Election Year! haha

Nice job, coach Snyder! This is your best job yet! I hope you're rewarded with a decent bowl. Eight wins will get him some votes for Coach of the Year at least in the Big XII! Nine wins will begin to earn him votes at the national award.

And don't even begin to think about Retirement Part II. You've got a grandson on the K-State team now. He needs your attention!

EMAW!