Kansas State Wildcats football The Kansas State Wildcats football program ( variously " Kansas State " , " K - State " or " KSU " ) is the intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Wildcats . The program is classified in the NCAA ' s Division I Bowl Subdivision , and the team competes in the Big 12 Conference . The team had an all - time record of 476 – 612 – 41 as of the conclusion of the 2011 regular season . Since 1968 , the team plays in Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium in Manhattan , Kansas . The Kansas State University Marching Band , also known as the Pride of Wildcat Land , performs at all home games and bowl games . History . According to some sources , Kansas State ' s football team began play on Thanksgiving Day 1893 . A team from Kansas State defeated St . Mary ' s Academy 18 - 10 on that date . Other sources name Kansas State ' s first game as a 24 - 0 victory over a team from Abilene , Kansas , on November 3 , 1894 . However , the first official game recorded in the team ' s history is a 14 - 0 loss to Fort Riley on November 28 , 1896 . In its earliest years , the program had a different coach every year – generally a former college football player who had just graduated from college . Often , the coaches also played with the team during the games . Some of the coaches during this era include Fay Moulton , who went on to win Olympic medals as a sprinter ; Cyrus E . Dietz , who became a justice on the Illinois Supreme Court ; and Wade Moore , who later was a successful minor league baseball manager . The pattern changed when Mike Ahearn became the first long - term coach in 1905 . Ahearn coached for six seasons , leading the team to winning records each year , and concluding in the 1910 season with a 10 - 1 mark . Ahearn also won two conference championships in the Kansas Intercollegiate Athletic Association , in 1909 and 1910 . Ahearn was followed by Guy Lowman , who led Kansas State to another conference championship in 1912 . Early success . The team experienced sustained success in the 1920s and 1930s . Elden Auker was part of a group of excellent athletes that attended Kansas State around the time of the Great Depression , which also included Ralph Graham , Henry Cronkite , George Maddox and Elmer Hackney . These athletes were coupled with a series of Hall of Fame coaches . The first of these coaches was Z . G . Clevenger , who arrived in 1916 , when Kansas State essentially swapped head coaches with the University of Tennessee . Clevenger is in the College Football Hall of Fame for his playing abilities , but he was also recognized as a brilliant coach and administrator . Clevenger was followed as football coach in 1920 by Charlie Bachman , who stayed until 1927 , and earned his way into the College Football Hall of Fame with his coaching prowess . Bachman was also responsible for permanently endowing Kansas State ' s sports teams with the nickname of " Wildcats . " His successor , Alvin " Bo " McMillin , the coach from 1928 – 33 , is also in the College Football Hall of Fame as a player , but he too was a successful coach who , after leaving Kansas State , was recognized as national collegiate coach of the year and then served as head coach for two NFL teams . After McMillin left , Kansas State hired Lynn " Pappy " Waldorf , who was also later enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach . With this combination , Kansas State found a rare sustained stretch of success on the football field . In 1931 the football team was on track for a potential bid to the Rose Bowl , the sole bowl game in the country at the time , until Ralph Graham was injured . In 1934 , Kansas State won its first major conference football championship . That same year , the " New York Times " referred to Kansas State as " an established Middle Western leader . " But then coach Waldorf abruptly left , and the winning stopped . On October 28 , 1939 , Kansas State hosted the second televised college football game ( and the first televised homecoming game ) , losing to Nebraska 25 – 9 . Mid - century . Over the next sixty years , Kansas State would experience very little success on the football field . From 1935 to 1990 , Kansas State would have only four winning seasons . According to longtime Wildcat radio announcer Dev Nelson , part of the problem was that Kansas State was one of the few major schools that didn ' t make a significant investment into its football program after World War II . Indeed , for many years the Wildcats spent far less on football than any Big Eight school ; in 1987 - 88 , Oklahoma ( the conference ' s second smallest school ) spent half a million more dollars on football than did Kansas State . Typical of this era was a 28 - game losing streak from 1945 – 1948 ( second longest in NCAA Bowl Subdivision history ) , additional losing streaks of 18 and 17 games in the 1960s , and being outscored 188 - 0 by Kansas from 1960 to 1965 . However , there were a few shining moments during these decades . In the mid - 1950s , coach Bill Meek started to rebuild the program . In 1953 , Kansas State posted a 5 – 3 – 1 record , the first winning season at the school since Wes Fry ' s 1936 team . Upon starting that season 5 – 1 , K - State also made the school ' s first appearance in the top 20 polls for college football , at # 18 in the Coaches Poll on October 28 , 1953 . The following year was even better , with Kansas State posting a 7 – 3 record and playing for an Orange Bowl berth in their final game . But Meek left Kansas State following the 1954 season , when the school refused to give raises to his assistants . In the late 1960s , coach Vince Gibson also briefly started to turn the program around . Behind sophomore quarterback Lynn Dickey , the 1968 squad earned the school ' s first ranking in the AP Poll and shut out the University of Nebraska in Lincoln for the school ' s first victory over NU in a decade . That same season , Kansas State also moved into newly built KSU Stadium . The 1969 season was even better . The team started 2 – 0 before second - ranked Penn State University arrived to play in Manhattan , Kansas . Penn State would ultimately finish the 1969 season undefeated , but Kansas State provided them with one of their toughest tests in a 17 – 14 game . Following the loss to Penn State , Kansas State reeled off three straight victories , including a win over defending conference champion Kansas in the first Governor ' s Cup game , and a 59 – 21 blowout of eleventh - ranked Oklahoma , which was Kansas State ' s first win over OU since 1934 . ( It was also the largest loss in Oklahoma ' s history . ) After the Oklahoma game , Kansas State sported a 5 – 1 record and a # 12 national ranking in the AP Poll . This was the high - point of the season , as the team lost its last four games to finish 5 – 5 . Nevertheless , in only his third season , Gibson had dramatically improved the program . Prior to the 1970 season , Gibson was named the pre - season national coach of the year by Playboy Magazine . The season that followed was up - and - down but ultimately disappointing despite a winning record and a second - place finish in the Big Eight Conference . Kansas State won at Oklahoma and defeated eighth - ranked Colorado , but the season was soured by nonconference defeats and a blow - out loss to Nebraska in the final conference game of the year with the conference title on the line . The worst news of the season came on October 7 , 1970 , when the conference issued penalties against Kansas State for recruiting violations . The Wildcats were placed on three years ' probation , including a one - year ban from bowl games and live television . Gibson would never have another winning season , and left the school in 1974 . He later said that the sanctions - - the product of what he called an immature quarrel between himself and Jayhawk coach Pepper Rodgers - - destroyed everything he ' d built over his first four years . Despite these fleeting moments of glory , by 1989 the school was statistically the worst program in Division I - A with an overall record of 299 - 509 - 41 . Kansas State had become the first NCAA team to lose 500 games in 1988 . Things changed in 1989 , when the athletic department hired Iowa ' s offensive coordinator , Bill Snyder , to replace Stan Parrish as head coach . First Bill Snyder era . Bill Snyder took over a program that had the worst record in Division I - A and had gone winless in its prior 27 consecutive games . Snyder then presided over one of the most successful rebuilding projects in the history of college athletics . In 1991 , Snyder ' s Wildcats finished 7 – 4 and narrowly missed receiving the school ' s second bowl bid ever . The team also finished with a winning record in conference play for only the third time since winning the conference title in 1934 . In Snyder ' s fifth season in 1993 , Kansas State posted the first victory in a bowl game in school history . Success and high rankings continued over the next decade , including six top - ten finishes in the AP Poll and a perfect ( 11 – 0 ) regular season in 1998 ( before stumbling in the Big 12 Championship Game against Texas A & M ) . As the team improved , recruiting also improved , and Snyder was able to bring in athletes such as quarterback Michael Bishop , the runner - up for the Heisman Trophy in 1998 , and running back Darren Sproles , who led the nation in rushing in 2003 and holds the Big 12 record for all - purpose yards in a career . The run of success culminated in a Big 12 Conference championship in 2003 with a 35 – 7 victory over the # 1 ranked Oklahoma . ( The 69 years since the last conference title in 1934 was the longest span between football titles in Division I history . ) In his first 17 years as head coach at K - State , Snyder won 136 games – as many as his predecessors had won from 1935 to 1988 – and led Kansas State to eleven consecutive bowl games ( 1993 – 2003 ) , including six wins . Snyder ' s legacy at K - State also includes winning or sharing four Big 12 North titles ( 1998 , 1999 ( Tie ) , 2000 , 2003 ) . Snyder also led the Wildcats to a 44 – 7 record from 1997 to 2000 , and six 11 - win seasons overall . In 1998 , Snyder was recognized as the National Coach of the Year by the Associated Press and the Walter Camp Football Foundation , and was awarded the Bear Bryant Award and the Bobby Dodd Coach of the Year Award . Coach Snyder was also selected Big Eight Conference Coach of the Year by the Associated Press three times ( 1990 , 1991 and 1993 ) , joining Bob Devaney as the only two men in Big Eight history to be named Coach of the Year three times in a four - year period . Snyder was named Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year twice , in 1998 ( Associated Press , coaches ) and 2002 ( coaches ) . The winning attitude under Snyder was represented by a stylized wildcat , called the " Powercat " ( shown at top ) , that was added to the football team ' s uniforms in 1989 . The emblem became so popular that by the late 1990s it had essentially replaced " Willie the Wildcat , " a character designed by art department students in the late 1950s . Snyder retired following the 2005 season , and on December 5 , 2005 , Ron Prince was named the new head coach . Ron Prince era . On December 5 , 2005 , Ron Prince was hired as the 33rd head football coach of the Kansas State Wildcats . Prince was formerly an assistant coach and offensive line coach at the University of Virginia . In 2006 , Prince ' s first year at the helm of the Wildcats , he led Kansas State to a 7 – 6 record and the team ' s first winning season since 2003 . The signature win of the regular season was a 45 - 42 upset victory over # 4 - ranked University of Texas on November 11 , 2006 . Kansas State finished the season with a 37 – 10 loss to the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University in the inaugural Texas Bowl on December 28 , 2006 . The Wildcats compiled a 5 – 7 record in the 2007 season . Coach Prince got the 2007 team off to a quick start , with a 3 – 1 record and a # 24 ranking in the AP Poll after four weeks – the first ranking for Kansas State since the 2004 season . This start included another victory against a top 10 - ranked Texas team , this time by 20 points . However , in the next five games , the team alternated wins and losses . In the fifth game of the season , the Wildcat team was upset 30 - 24 by its cross - state opponents , the University of Kansas , and fell from the Top 25 . The following week , Kansas State defeated the University of Colorado 47 – 20 and reentered the poll at number 25 . K - State fell from the Top 25 permanently the next week after a 41 – 39 loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys , despite quarterback Josh Freeman having a career day , throwing for 404 yards and three touchdown passes to Jordy Nelson . A win against the Baylor Bears and four losses followed to close out the season . The 2008 season was Ron Prince ' s third at Kansas State . Coach Prince led the 2008 team to another 5 – 7 record . With three games remaining in the season , on November 5 , 2008 , the school announced that Ron Prince would not return as Kansas State head coach in 2009 . Bill Snyder returns . On November 23 , 2008 Kansas State University announced that Bill Snyder was hired to replace the recently fired Ron Prince . Snyder received a 5 - year , $ 1 . 8 million per season contract . On September 19 , 2009 , Kansas State became the fourth FBS teams to lose 600 games in its history after a loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl . K - State joined Northwestern , Indiana , and Wake Forest . In 2009 , Snyder lead the team to a 6 - 6 record , going 4 - 4 in Big 12 play , and falling one game short of winning the Big 12 North . The team failed to make a bowl game for the third consecutive season . Snyder led the 2010 team to a 7 - 6 record , with a 3 - 5 record in conference play , good for third in the North division . The season ended with a loss to Syracuse in the 2010 Pinstripe Bowl . It was K - State ' s first bowl appearance since Ron Prince lead the team to the 2006 Texas Bowl . In 2011 , Coach Snyder led the team to a 10 - 2 record in the regular season and a second - place finish in the Big 12 Conference . The team earned a berth in the Cotton Bowl against the Arkansas Razorbacks . It is the first ten - win season since the 2003 season . In Snyder ' s second stint , K - State has accumulated 23 wins and 14 losses . Home stadiums . Kansas State ' s first playing field was called Ahearn Field , and it was used from 1897 to 1921 . The first permanent addition to the field was apparently a roofed grandstand , built in 1901 . In 1922 , Kansas State opened Memorial Stadium , at a cost of $ 500 , 000 USD . Its name was a tribute to Kansas State students who died in World War I . The capacity was 20 , 000 . By 1967 , the school ' s allegiance outgrew the old stadium , and the team moved to KSU Stadium in 1968 . Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium . KSU Stadium opened its doors September 21 , 1968 . The original seating capacity was 35 , 000 . An expansion in the summer of 1970 added 4 , 000 permanent bleachers on the east side and 3 , 000 temporary bleachers on the west side . Following the 1998 season , the addition of a deck and sky suites on the east side of the stadium increased capacity to more than 50 , 000 . In the 1990s , Kansas State was dominant at home , posting a 26 - game winning streak from 1996 to 2000 . On November 11 , 2000 , 53 , 811 fans witnessed Kansas State ' s 29 - 28 win over Nebraska ; this remains the largest crowd in the stadium ' s history and also the largest attendance for a collegiate sporting event in the state of Kansas . KSU Stadium was renamed " Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium " after head coach Bill Snyder retired at the end of the 2005 season . Bowl games . Kansas State has participated in 14 bowl game s , with an overall record of 6 – 8 . The team ' s first bowl game was the 1982 Independence Bowl , under coach Jim Dickey . The Wildcats lost to the Wisconsin Badgers by a score of 14 – 3 . The Wildcats did not make another bowl game until 1993 . Under Bill Snyder , the Wildcats had a streak of eleven straight bowl appearances that lasted from the 1993 season to the 2003 season . The Wildcats have played in one BCS game , the 2004 Fiesta Bowl , where they lost to the Ohio State Buckeyes . K - State also played in the Fiesta Bowl in 1997 , the year before the BCS was created . The school has played in the Cotton Bowl Classic three times , first in 1997 , again in 2001 and also in 2012 . Not included in this tally of bowl games is Kansas State ' s first " post - season " game , played in 1931 against Wichita State as a fundraiser during the Great Depression . Kansas State won that game 20 – 6 . Also not included is the 1992 " Coca - Cola Bowl " played in Tokyo , Japan , against Nebraska , which was a regular season game . Pageantry and traditions . School color . The official color of the University is Royal Purple , as highlighted in the official fight song , Wildcat Victory . The athletic department commonly uses white or silver as complementary colors . K - State is one of a handful of colleges and universities to have just one official school color . Ring of Honor . In 2002 , the athletic department inducted the first class into its Ring of Honor . The first class consisted of Sean Snyder , Lynn Dickey , Steve Grogan , Jaime Mendez , Gary Spani and Veryl Switzer . In 2008 , a second class was inducted , consisting of Terence Newman , Martín Gramática , David Allen , and Mark Simoneau . The honored players ' names and jersey numbers are on the facade of the east side of the stadium . The numbers of the players not considered retired and can be worn by current players . Uniforms . K - State ' s home jersey is purple with white lettering , two white stripes around the sleeves , TV numbers on the shoulders and a white powercat under the collar . K - State ' s away jersey is white with purple lettering , two purple stripes around the sleeves , TV numbers on the shoulders and a purple powercat under the collar . K - State ' s pants are silver with white stripe and purple trim going down the sides of each leg , and a purple powercat on the front left side of the pants . K - State uses the same pants for both home and away games . K - State ' s helmets are silver with a dark purple powercat on each side , with a white stripe and purple trim from the top of the face mask to the rear of the helmet . On each side of the helmet ' s stripe is the number of the player wearing the helmet ; if the player has a number between 1 and 9 there is a zero on the left side . Also , the word " Wildcats " is written on the back of the helmet at the very bottom . K - State uses the same helmets for both home and away games . The tea has worn these uniforms from 2010 to present , and previously from 1989 to 2007 . In 2008 , the Wildcats introduced purple pants while playing road games . These debuted in the first road game of the season at Louisville . The team wore purple pants every road game in 2008 until the final road game of the season at Missouri , when the Wildcats wore gray pants . On November 15 , 2008 , Kansas State wore purple pants with purple jerseys at home against Nebraska , marking the first time since 1988 that the team wore all - purple uniforms . The Wildcats warmed up for the Nebraska game with their traditional purple jerseys with gray pants , but came out for the game wearing purple pants . Mascot . The official mascot for the Kansas State Wildcats is Willie the Wildcat . Willie the Wildcat appears at every football game , home and away , as well as every home men ' s and women ' s basketball games , volleyball games , and select baseball games . Willie does one push - up for each point the football team scores , followed by the traditional " K ! - S ! - U ! Wildcats ! " cheer . Fort Riley day . Once a year ( usually on the second non - conference home game of the season ) soldiers from nearby Fort Riley are given free tickets to the game . During the game they receive special recognition . Since 2008 Willie has donned digital US Army fatigues in place of his usual football pants and jersey . The Fort Riley game often has high attendance numbers . Good for a " first down " . In 1992 , K - State installed a new $ 3 . 3 million press box , and the public address announcer began what would become a K - State tradition . After a Wildcat first down , the announcer would say , " Good for a Wildcat first down . " Throughout the 1993 season , the P . A . announcer did this ritual alone . However , he said at the beginning of the 1994 season the crowd started to shout it with him . Now , with the addition of the first down and touchdown arm motions , K - State ' s P . A . announcer no longer even needs to finish the phrase , as the Wildcat fans finish it for him . The practice has spread across the country , and is heard in college and NFL football stadiums , and there is no way it originated at Kansas State . EMAW . EMAW stands for " Every Man a Wildcat , " dates back decades of history , and symbolizes that one is a part of the Wildcat nation . Harley Day . During Harley Day , Willie wears a leather vest or jacket with leather chaps on top of his usual football jersey and pants and rides into Bill Snyder Family Stadium on a Harley Davidson motorcycle , followed by around 50 other K - State fans on motorcycles . Rivalries . Kansas State vs . Kansas ( Sunflower Showdown ) . Kansas State and Kansas first played in 1902 and have faced each other every season since 1911 , making this the third - longest uninterrupted series in college football history . The two rivals compete annually for the Governor ' s Cup trophy . Dating back to the beginnings of Kansas State and Kansas football , neither school had sustained excellence consistently . The first time both schools met as ranked teams was not until 1995 , when the University of Kansas came into the game 7 - 0 and ranked # 6 in the AP Poll , while Kansas State University was 5 - 1 and ranked # 14 . Kansas State beat KU decisively 41 - 7 in that game . KU leads the all - time series 64 – 40 – 5 after the 2011 game , but the rivalry has been very even since the Governor ' s Cup series began in 1969 , with Kansas State holding a 23 - 19 - 1 lead . The University of Kansas disputes the series record because it does not acknowledge its forfeit of a 1980 victory . Kansas State vs . Iowa State . Kansas State has played Iowa State every year since 1917 . The series record is the closest for Kansas State against any of its old Big Eight Conference rivals , with Iowa State holding a 49 - 42 - 4 lead following the 2011 game . The name alludes to the two schools ' agriculture programs . In 2009 , the two schools began playing a series of neutral site games in Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City , Missouri , and fans and media adopted the name " Farmageddon " for the series . Kansas State University won the first Farmageddon game in Kansas City by the score of 24 - 23 , on October 3 , 2009 . K - State also won the 2010 match - up , 27 - 20 and the 2011 match - up of the final regular season , 30 - 23 . K - State has won 18 of the last 22 games between the two schools . Kansas State vs . Nebraska . Kansas State and Nebraska were conference rivals for decades , from 1913 to 2010 . With only 115 miles separating the two schools , they were the closest cross - border rivals in the Big 8 and Big 12 conferences . The two schools played for the first time in 1911 , and then played every year from 1922 , making it one of the longest uninterrupted series in college football , until Nebraska moved to the Big Ten Conference in 2011 . However , Nebraska long held a commanding lead in the series , keeping the rivalry limited . All - time , Nebraska leads the series 78 – 15 – 2 . Kansas State lost 29 consecutive games to Nebraska until November 14 , 1998 , when # 1 Kansas State beat # 11 Nebraska 40 – 30 . The record between the two schools after that game was much more even , with Kansas State again beating Nebraska in 2000 , 2002 , 2003 and 2004 . During that era , the Wildcats and Cornhuskers consistently competed for the Big 12 North championship . The 1939 contest between the two teams was televised locally in Manhattan , becoming only the second televised college football game . The 1992 contest was played in Tokyo , Japan , as the Coca - Cola Classic . Players . National awards . The following Kansas State players are in the College Football Hall of Fame : Kansas State players and coaches have won the following national awards : Heisman Trophy history : David Allen , Jonathan Beasley , Monty Beisel , Michael Bishop , Josh Buhl , Jerametrius Butler , Chris Canty , Rock Cartwright , Tim Colston , Jarrod Cooper , Henry Cronkite , Lynn Dickey , Zac Diles , Demarcus Faggins , Mario Fatafehi , Josh Freeman , Yamon Figurs , Martin Gramatica , Steve Grogan , Ray Hahn , Darren Howard , Kevin Huntley , Jeff Kelly , Ben Leber , Nick Leckey , Ryan Lilja , Aaron Lockett , Kevin Lockett , Tyler Lockett , George Maddox , Chad May , Jon McGraw , Damion McIntosh , Shad Meier , Jaime Mendez , Quincy Morgan , Frank Murphy , Jordy Nelson , Terence Newman , Terry Pierce , Thomas Randolph , Jamie Rheem , Ell Roberson , Josh Scobey , Clarence Scott , Mark Simoneau , Sean Snyder , Gary Spani , Darren Sproles , Veryl Switzer , Daniel Thomas , Rashad Washington Individual records . Kansas State records through the 2009 season Passing Rushing Receiving Defensive Special Teams All - time records versus conferences . Current Division I conferences . < / div >