K-State reaches crossroads after a mediocre season

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Is Kansas State's golden age over?

If so, what a splendid run it was.

Nine-win seasons four years straight. A Heisman Trophy runner-up. Big 12 contenders. Bowl games, national prestige, annual predictions flying in from all directions that the Wildcats would be the team to beat.

Nobody is predicting a return to the bad old days of 1-10 and 0-11. And nobody is dredging up those old jokes about "Mildcats."

But Bill Snyder's Kansas State program has clearly come to a crossroads. Depending on what happens next year, this season's 6-6 record and 26-3 loss to Syracuse in the Insight.com Bowl was either a bump in the road or the end of an era.

As architect of what Kansas State fans proudly call the greatest turnaround in college football history, Snyder seems confident that repairs can be made.

"This is a program that's done some very special things and a program that's taken its lumps before," Snyder said after Syracuse held his offense without a touchdown for the first time all season.

"I don't think this ballgame by itself will make it any less hard during the out-of-season program. We've identified where we needed a great deal of work. They are things we were well aware of before tonight."

The most urgent need is evident to all -- improved quarterback play from either Ell Roberson or Marc Dunn, who both had good and bad moments in an inconsistent year.

But if the Wildcats are about to take a tumble, it won't be a result of what Snyder is doing wrong. It'll be a matter of what other Big 12 schools are doing right.

When Snyder arrived in the late 1980s and began what many considered an impossible task, his timing was perfect. Long-dominant Oklahoma was entering a period of sharp decline.

Kansas and Missouri were about to hit the skids. And thanks to an extraordinary commitment by Kansas State president Jon Wefald, Snyder had more money to spend on staff and recruiting than most of his Big Eight rivals.

Then, in his most telling gamble of all, Snyder resolved to take on all comers and go after the bluest of the blue chip recruits. Not content to make do with second-rate high school and junior college talent, he butted heads with Oklahoma and Texas for such top-rated players as Chris Canty, who became a star cornerback.

But now Oklahoma is back in gear and churning along just like it did in Barry Switzer's heyday. In addition, adding the four Texas schools to turn the Big Eight into the Big 12 has also made victories tougher to come by.

With the entire Big 12 conference engaged in a furious gridiron arms race, it's just a tougher neighborhood. In the Big 12's six seasons, there have been five different champions.