Bill Snyder's Kansas State Wildcats were one of the most surprising stories of 2011, amassing 10 wins and receiving a bid to the Cotton Bowl Classic. Last season's success has earned them respect among pollsters ahead of their season-opener against Missouri State on Saturday.
Jason Kirk, the lead college football writer for SB Nation, compiled a college football composite ranking based on some of the most popular preseason ratings systems. Kansas State shows up at No. 25 in the mash-up of seven different polls:
Included in the composite Top 25 below are the coaches' and AP polls, BCS guru Samuel Chi's projected BCS standings (which contain the funniest fact out of everything included here -- there's a BCS computer that doesn't rank the Florida State Seminoles at all), the final preseason edition of SB Nation's BlogPoll (which logs polls from our dozens of college football communities), Football Outsiders' projected F/+ rankings, the SI.com Top 25*, and our own SB Nation Studios Top 25 Countdown (which was concocted via a secret formula less esoteric than the BCS').
The Wildcats received their highest ranking from SI.com, who put K-State at No. 16. The lowest ranking came from Football Outsiders, who have Kansas State all the way down at No. 47.
For more on the Wildcats, be sure to visit Bring On The Cats. And, for additional college pigskin coverage, head over to SB Nation's NCAA football hub.