The latest college football preview from SB Nation's Bill Connelly is a great one that breaks down the Kansas State Wildcats and the mystery of expectations surrounding them. Are they BCS bound once again? Are they overachievers who will finish in the lower half of the Big 12? No one can quite agree on what to expect because the team is simply not as good on paper as head coach Bill Snyder gets them to become.
The entire thing is worth a read, but Connelly's breakdown at the very end is what cements it:
At this point, if K-State goes 2-10 for every year between now and when Snyder retires, it won't change anything. Snyder will still have been one of college football's greatest coaches, one of its most accomplished magicians. He took over a program with nothing -- literally, nothing -- going for it in 1989 and turned it into a national power, then he came back and won 10 games again (at least once) just for old time's sake.
That said, it's safe to say that he doesn't think he is finished. Despite Klein, Brown, Malone and company, Kansas State faces a rough schedule with no margin for error once again. The head (and the numbers) think that repeating last year's success is probably too much to ask. The heart, though? Different story. Are you willing to bet against Bill Snyder at this point? Didn't think so.