Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder was happy to see Wildcat fans pull down the north goal post at Wagner Field following the Nebraska football game in mid-November 1998.
That pretty much said it all.
“It means so much to them, for those people who stuck through it, through thick and thin,” said Snyder, in his 10th season as the Wildcats’ coach.
“Thick and thin” meant 49 seasons since Kansas State had beaten the Huskers. And for a footnote, the Wildcats hadn’t won in Manhattan since 1959. Such was the significance of 40-30 on the scoreboard.
On the other hand, of course, the goalpost coming down was a crushing disappointment to Nebraska’s first-year head coach Frank Solich. Even so, “I am tremendously proud of our football team and the effort they displayed out there today, and the character they displayed,” Solich said. “I thought they played tremendously hard, and at times, played tremendously well.”
“Tremendously well” didn’t apply to the third quarter, during which the Huskers managed only 9 total yards. But Ralph Brown returned a fumble 74 yards for a touchdown with 1:05 remaining in the quarter to keep the Huskers in the hunt. The touchdown and Kris Brown’s extra-point kick tied the score at 24.
“We were pinned down pretty well in the third quarter and couldn’t get out of it,” Solich said. “Things just didn’t fit very well for us in the early going in third quarter.”
The fumble Brown returned was Kansas State’s sixth of the game, including three by quarterback Michael Bishop in the first half. One, recovered by Jason Wiltz, came at the Husker 1-yard line.
Even so, Bishop was a thorn in Nebraska’s side, rushing for 140 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries and completing 19-of-33 passes for 306 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception.
“Bishop’s a tremendous athlete,” Solich said. “He made plays when he had to make them.”
The Wildcats’ final touchdown came on a 23-yard fumble return with 3 seconds remaining. Martin Gramatica kicked two field goals and four extra points.
The fumble was quarterback Eric Crouch’s. But like Bishop, one play didn’t define the redshirt freshman. Crouch ran for 108 yards on 22 carries and completed 10-of-21 passes for 139 yards and three touchdowns, including two to tight end Sheldon Jackson, also with one interception.
Spilt end Kenny Cheatham caught the other touchdown.
“Crouch, I thought, gave a tremendous performance,” Solich said. “I was really proud of his performance in a game like this that was demanding a lot of attention around the country.”
Kansas State was second in the Associated Press poll, Nebraska 11th.
Crouch “played tremendously composed,” said Solich. “So my hat’s off to him.”
Nebraska finished with 351 yards of offense, 255 of them in the first half, against a Wildcat defense ranked second in the nation, allowing 219.7 yards per game. Even more impressive, Kansas State’s defense led the nation in scoring defense, allowing an average of 7.7 points per game.
Thirty points weren’t enough to get the job done, however.
The Wildcats had 512 yards of offense, running 12 more plays from scrimmage. Mike Brown led the Nebraska defense with 12 tackles. Jay Foreman had 10. Carlos Polk had the Huskers’ only sack.
“We weren’t able to stop them at key times in the game, and certainly that was costly. But on the other side of it, there were things we could have done better offensively, and certainly a few things in the kicking game we could have done better,” said Solich.
“I don’t think you put the blame on anybody.”
In anticipation of the victory, Kansas State greased the goal post crossbar. But that didn’t stop the fans. “I feel very good about the win,” Snyder said. “I’m humbled by it, in all honesty, because of how long it took.”
