MANHATTAN, Kan. — The college football landscape has changed dramatically since 1998.
The legacy of Joe Paterno is viewed far differently now. The system for deciding a national champion has been massaged. The very rules of the game, even some altered just this year, have created a different product on the field.
One thing that has not changed is Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, and that’s a good reason why the second-ranked Wildcats look strikingly similar to the team he had in 1998.
“He was really all about accountability and being consistent and being able to play at your highest potential," said wide receiver Aaron Lockett, who was a freshman on that K-State team.
“He wasn’t really into the individual superstar or the stats," Lockett said. “It was all about momentum and all about feeding on one another — work your hardest not to be the weakest link, and if you did that everybody would be successful."
The Wildcats certainly were successful that year.
They rolled to an 11-0 record and won the Big 12 North, and they had a big fourth-quarter lead on Texas A&M in the conference title game. They were that close to playing for a national championship — but the Aggies staged a dramatic comeback and won in overtime.
That is where these Wildcats want the similarities to stop.
Kansas State, ranked No. 1 in the BCS standings, is off to the first 10-0 start since that ballyhooed team led by Michael Bishop, the runner-up for the Heisman Trophy. The current team has another Heisman candidate in quarterback Collin Klein, and the same kind of rugged defense led by a talented linebacker corps that terrorized opposing offenses in the late 1990s.
But these guys want to finish the job. The Wildcats (7-0 in the Big 12) play at Baylor this Saturday before a week off, and then they have a high-profile season finale against Texas.
“You know, they lost a game, we’re not trying to do that," said wide receiver Chris Harper. “We’re trying to set ourselves apart. We want to come out of the shadow of that ’98 team."
It’s a big shadow, to be sure, and the ties that bind the 1998 Kansas State team to the current one run deep — Lockett’s nephew, for example, is sophomore wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who has made just like his uncle with his propensity for returning kickoffs for touchdowns.
Brown leads the current team in tackles, earning the nickname “The Judge," while the 1998 team had future NFL draft picks such as Mark Simoneau — who will soon be enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame — patrolling the field.
Then there is the play behind center.
Bishop set the school record for pass efficiency, and his 2,844 yards through the air made him one of college football’s most dynamic players. It was little wonder he was invited to the Heisman Trophy ceremony, where he finished second to Texas running back Ricky Williams.
“Michael was a quality leader for that team in a far different way than Collin is," Snyder said. “Still, his teammates responded to him quite well in a positive way. People responded to him because he made plays."
Klein, too, can make plays.
The wide receiver-turned quarterback has put up pass efficiency numbers similar to Bishop’s, and he has proven to be more elusive on the ground. The result has been record-setting touchdown totals and front-runner status for college football’s most coveted individual award.
“Collin’s leadership goes beyond that," Snyder said. “They respond to him, not only by what he does, but also what he addresses them about in the areas other than just football, and Michael’s thing was just on the football field."
Klein’s example off the field is just as meaningful as his example on it, and it affects the behavior of his teammates in a positive way.
“Just being around him kind of makes you want to be a better person as well," said fullback Braden Wilson. “I’ll find myself doing things I normally wouldn’t just because I’m around him, and he’s influencing me for the better."
Wilson provided this example: Klein does not swear, so even though he doesn’t police what other people on the team say, they tend to avoid cursing in an effort to follow in his footsteps.
“That relates to just doing the little things right, as far as everything’s concerned, not just things when you think somebody’s watching you," Wilson said.
Of course, the 1998 team had similar leaders. Aaron Lockett remembers teammates like Travis Ochs, running back Brian Goolsby, kick returner Lamar Chapman and defensive end Joe Bob Clements — currently an assistant coach — and the way they rallied the team on a week-by-week basis.
“They walked the walk," Lockett said.
Just like this year’s Kansas State team.
