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With word breaking that Virginia Tech would receive a Sugar Bowl invitation it became clear that K-State would not be making a BCS bowl game appearance. Should the team or it's fans be angry?
The Kansas State Wildcats have every reason to be upset this morning with just about everyone. The AP Poll and the USA Today/Coaches poll kept the team lower than they should have in their rankings and then the Sugar Bowl passed them over (along with Boise State) for the sake of a bigger name with a lower ranking. Thus, the Wildcats are positioned at No. 8 but were skipped over for a major BCS bowl. Bill Snyder's coaching job deserved a bigger platform after winning their tenth game, but it's clear that it will only be appreciated by a few compared to others on the national scene. Here's the full BCS rankings.
| BCS | Harris Poll | USA Today | Computer Rankings | ||||||||||||||
| RK | TEAM | AVG | PVS | RK | PTS | % | RK | PTS | % | AVG | A&H | RB | CM | KM | JS | PW | % |
| 1 | LSU | 1.0000 | 1 | 1 | 2875 | 1.0000 | 1 | 1475 | 1.0000 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1.000 |
| 2 | Alabama | .9419 | 2 | 2 | 2723 | .9471 | 2 | 1399 | .9485 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | .930 |
| 3 | Oklahoma State | .9333 | 3 | 3 | 2654 | .9231 | 3 | 1367 | .9268 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | .950 |
| 4 | Stanford | .8476 | 4 | 4 | 2504 | .8710 | 4 | 1286 | .8719 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 7 | .800 |
| 5 | Oregon | .7901 | 9 | 5 | 2372 | .8250 | 5 | 1232 | .8353 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 6 | .710 |
| 6 | Arkansas | .7687 | 8 | 7 | 2163 | .7523 | 7 | 1112 | .7539 | 5 | 7 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 4 | 4 | .800 |
| 7 | Boise State | .7408 | 7 | 6 | 2236 | .7777 | 6 | 1128 | .7647 | 9 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 12 | 8 | .680 |
| 8 | Kansas State | .6827 | 11 | 10 | 1733 | .6028 | 10 | 878 | .5953 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | .850 |
| 9 | South Carolina | .6553 | 12 | 9 | 1833 | .6376 | 9 | 971 | .6583 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 9 | .670 |
| 10 | Wisconsin | .6374 | 15 | 8 | 2060 | .7165 | 8 | 1085 | .7356 | 14 | 15 | 10 | 15 | 16 | 19 | 12 | .460 |
| 11 | Virginia Tech | .5190 | 5 | 11 | 1498 | .5210 | 11 | 835 | .5661 | 13 | 13 | 11 | 13 | 14 | 21 | 17 | .470 |
| 12 | Baylor | .4977 | 17 | 16 | 1228 | .4271 | 16 | 599 | .4061 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 11 | .660 |
| 13 | Michigan | .4794 | 16 | 12 | 1447 | .5033 | 12 | 789 | .5349 | 15 | 11 | 16 | 9 | 19 | 22 | 18 | .400 |
| 14 | Oklahoma | .4603 | 10 | 19 | 933 | .3245 | 19 | 437 | .2963 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 10 | .760 |
| 15 | Clemson | .4218 | 20 | 14 | 1351 | .4699 | 14 | 657 | .4454 | 16 | 19 | 15 | 18 | 20 | 17 | 13 | .350 |
| 16 | Georgia | .4119 | 14 | 18 | 1095 | .3809 | 18 | 538 | .3647 | 12 | 14 | 20 | 16 | 11 | 11 | 14 | .490 |
| 17 | Michigan State | .3883 | 13 | 13 | 1428 | .4967 | 13 | 735 | .4983 | 21 | 20 | 13 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 22 | .170 |
| 18 | TCU | .3869 | 18 | 15 | 1245 | .4330 | 15 | 631 | .4278 | 17 | 22 | 14 | 19 | 23 | 18 | 15 | .300 |
| 19 | Houston | .3504 | 6 | 17 | 1132 | .3937 | 17 | 542 | .3675 | 18 | 16 | 19 | 14 | 21 | 25 | 19 | .290 |
| 20 | Nebraska | .2606 | 19 | 20 | 717 | .2494 | 20 | 402 | .2725 | 19 | 17 | 18 | 17 | 25 | 23 | 20 | .260 |
| 21 | Southern Miss | .1918 | 24 | 21 | 711 | .2473 | 21 | 366 | .2481 | 24 | 0 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 0 | 16 | .080 |
| 22 | Penn State | .1305 | 21 | 23 | 383 | .1332 | 23 | 189 | .1281 | 23 | 21 | 21 | 20 | 0 | 0 | 23 | .130 |
| 23 | West Virginia | .1233 | 23 | 22 | 522 | .1816 | 22 | 278 | .1885 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 |
| 24 | Texas | .0876 | 22 | 25 | 6 | .0021 | NR | 1 | .0007 | 19 | 18 | 0 | 23 | 13 | 13 | 24 | .260 |
| 25 | Auburn | .0584 | NR | 24 | 15 | .0052 | -- | -- | -- | 21 | 25 | 24 | 0 | 17 | 14 | 21 | .170 |
Kansas State fans have long held a belief that their sports programs get overlooked and frankly not respected. Whether this feeling is justified or not depends on exactly who you ask ofcourse but Wildcat fans got more ammunition to their argument with the official BCS bowl selections on Sunday night.
Many Wildcat fans spent Sunday reading the projected BCS bowl projections which had placed K-State into the Sugar Bowl to square off against Michigan. Many pundits wrote of it as almost a sure thing.
Then roughly about one to two hours before the official BCS standings were released, news broke via multiple twitter accounts that Virginia Tech would be an at large choice for the Sugar Bowl. This is the same Virginia Tech team that lost to Clemson 38-10 in the ACC Title game and thus dropped out of the top ten slots in the final BCS rankings. This news virtually assured that K-State would be left out of the BCS and have to "settle" for the Cotton Bowl where they will take on Arkansas out of the SEC.
As any K-State fan can tell you this is not the first time that the Wildcats have been looked over by bowl selection committees. The Alamo Bowl was a long drop in 1998 for a team that came so close to playing for a national title and finished the year third in the final BCS rankings. This led to the "Kansas State Rule", which states that any team finishing third in the final BCS rankings automatically is assured of a BCS bowl bid.
The simple fact is everyone knows the BCS is and always has been a flawed and frankly stupid system so Wildcat fans should not spend their time getting upset. If anyone should spend some time venting to anyone and everyone who will listen to them it should be some combination of the Big 12 offices and Oklahoma State.
So K-State fans should not be angry but extremely happy and positive. This team has risen from being picked eighth in the preseason Big 12 rankings to being ranked in that position in the final BCS rankings. They made almost every game they played in very exciting and came out on top much more often than not.
The ride of the season was far too great for players, coaches and fans of K-State to end up being upset about the final destination.
They beat every team in the Big 12 conference that hails from Texas and now they get a chance to travel down to Dallas for the Cotton Bowl and play in Cowboys Stadium. Not only will it be a thrill for the players but naturally a great recruiting opportunity for Bill Snyder and his staff.
That being said maybe just maybe the players will take getting left out of a BCS bowl as a small slap in the face and give them some extra inspiration for not only Arkansas but for when they start preparing for next season.
As for the K-State fans, they will do what they always do when their team makes a bowl game which is travel in droves, party hard and make the location a bit more purple for a week.
BCS Rankings: Boise State's Chris Petersen Says 'Why Are We Even Voting?'
Chris Petersen asks a good question. It’s something that every college football fan has to be asking if they don’t root for either LSU or Alabama on the day after the final BCS rankings.
The Boise State head football coach wants to know, “Right now everybody’s going ‘nothing makes any sense.’ Six, seven, eight, nine, why are we even voting if they’re left our of games like that?”
Boise State is among a few schools left out in the BCS cold, without the reputation and prestige and, well, money that comes with an invite to one of the major four BCS games. Kansas State is yet another. It’s asking a girl to the prom only to dance with everyone else. In any situation like that, the question is naturally what Petersen wants to know: why bother?
Boise State is No. 7 in the current BCS rankings. They’re No. 6 in the USA Today/Coaches Poll. They finished the season 11-1 and yet they’re going to be playing in the MAACO Bowl Las Vegas against a team that’s 6-6 in Arizona State. Yes, the No. 6 team in the country earned a chance to play a team that fired its coach.
Petersen is keeping his head up about the whole thing saying, ""It’s not a good deal to go into a bowl game where there’s not a lot of energy and excitement. Wherever we go, these seniors deserve a really fun atmosphere in truly their last game as a Bronco."
Yet it’s also clear the system is beyond broken. It ends up rewarding the rich and connected for things they didn’t do while telling those who’ve rightfully earned a spot that the whole season really didn’t matter in the end. The BCS needs to be reworked if not destroyed and it starts by asking the right questions.
Dec 05 2:30p by Matt Conner