The 2009 Kansas State Wildcats football team (variously "Kansas State", "KSU", "K-State", or "Wildcats") represented Kansas State University in the 2009 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games in Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium, in Manhattan, Kansas as they have done since 1968. It was the 114th season in school history.
The non-conference schedule kicked off with a home game against the UMass Minutemen, and culminated with the second trip in school history to Los Angeles, California to play UCLA in the Rose Bowl. (They played at USC in 2001). The Big 12 Conference schedule began with a trip to Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri to play the Iowa State Cyclones. It was K-State's third trip to Arrowhead Stadium to play a regular season game. They played the Iowa Hawkeyes in the Eddie Robinson Classic in 2000 and the California Golden Bears in the BCA Classic in 2003. Kansas State has also participated in two Big 12 Championship Games at Arrowhead Stadium, in 2000 and 2003. They finished the regular season on November 21 with a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska and faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Preseason
Bill Snyder returned to the sidelines as head coach after three years of retirement. He replaced Ron Prince, who succeeded him in 2005. This was Snyder's 18th season as the Wildcats' head coach. He was rehired to the position on November 24, 2008, making him one of the few college football head coaches to have non-consecutive tenure at the same school.Snyder hiring He compiled a 136–68–1 record from 1988 to 2005 in his previous stint, considered by most as the greatest turnaround in college football history. In 57 seasons prior to Snyder's arrival, Kansas State's football program had only been able to muster 137 wins, one more than Snyder won in just 17 seasons there.
Kansas State was picked by some publications to have a record of 8–4, or as low as 5–7, with a 2–6 record in conference play. Carson Coffman won the starting quarterback role during the preseason, but lost his job to Grant Gregory at the start of conference play. Deon Murphy left the team in the offseason for personal reasons. The Wildcats lost three-year starter, Josh Freeman who was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 17th pick in the first round of the 2009 NFL draft.
Schedule
Game summaries UMass
The season opener against the UMass Minutemen marked the return of head coach Bill Snyder, and was dubbed as the Kansas State "Family Reunion". Over 300 former Kansas State players were in attendance, and 50,750 fans (the largest crowd to witness a season opener in Manhattan) watched the Wildcats beat UMass, 21–17. K-State quarterback Carson Coffman completed 14 out of 27 passes, totaling to 182 yards, including two passing touchdowns and a rushing score. This was the second all-time meeting between the Wildcats and Minutemen.
Louisiana–Lafayette
This was the first ever trip for the Wildcats to Lafayette, Louisiana. K-State was favored by 7 points going into the game. Tyler Albrecht's first career field goal attempt was a memorable one as the junior nailed a 48-yarder with 32 seconds left to give Louisiana-Lafayette a 17–15 victory over Kansas State.
The Ragin' Cajuns, unbeaten through their first two games for the first time since 1990, trailed 15–14 before driving from their 33 to the Kansas State 30. Louisiana-Lafayette had only two first downs in the second half before quarterback Chris Masson completed four passes for 30 yards in the final drive. Kansas State (1–1) rallied from a 14–2 deficit with two fourth-quarter touchdowns.
Wildcat running back Daniel Thomas threw for one score and ran for one, throwing a 3-yard jump pass to Jeron Mastrud off a direct snap on the first play of the final quarter.
Seven minutes later, Thomas capped an 86-yard drive with a 3-yard run, and Josh Cherry hit the extra point for the 15–14 lead with 8:08 left. Thomas finished with 136 rushing yards, 92 in the second half. The Wildcats took a 2–0 lead when Masson ran out of his own end zone after a bad snap with 2:43 left in the opening quarter.
Masson, who finished 20-for-36 for 185 yards, came back to guide the Ragin' Cajuns on a 61-yard drive that was capped by Undrea Sails' 9-yard touchdown run with 9:37 left in the first half. Louisiana-Lafayette drove 73 yards in the final 2:19 of the half to take a 14–2 halftime lead on Masson's 1-yard pass to Luke Aubrey.
The Ragin' Cajuns had three first-half turnovers, but the Wildcats couldn't take advantage despite having five first-half possessions in Ragin' Cajun territory. Kansas State was 0-for-8 on third-down conversions in the first half.http://www.kstatesports.com/ViewArticle.dbml?SPSID=3065&SPID=212&DB_OEM_ID=400&ATCLID=204793145 Louisiana Lafayette recap
UCLA
UCLA had a 2–0 record at game time, winning over San Diego State 33–14 at home and beating Tennessee 19–15 on the road. UCLA was favored by 11½ points going into the game in the Rose Bowl. It was the first ever game between the two schools. Senior quarterback Kevin Craft took over from injured Kevin Prince for the Bruins.
Craft passed for 186 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bruins to a 23–9 victory over the Wildcats. Freshman Johnathan Franklin rushed for a career-best 119 yards on 23 carries and Kai Forbath kicked three field goals in the victory. Craft completed 13 of 24 passes with one interception including a game-clinching 51-yard scoring pass to Terrence Austin with 6:18 remaining.Final Stats, UCLABruins.com, September 19, 2009. Accessed 2009-09-20. Archived 2009-09-26.
Josh Cherry kicked a 26-yard field goal in the first quarter and Daniel Thomas had a 7-yard run in the third quarter for the Wildcats. Ryan Doerr's PAT pass failed. UCLA's one fumble loss and eight penalties for 80 yards were the ugly part of the victory. The Wildcats had two fumbles and four penalties for 50 yards. Alterra Verner had two interceptions and returned them for 47 yards for the Bruins.
Tennessee Tech
Senior Brandon Banks became the 12th player in NCAA history, including the first Big 12 player, to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game, as Kansas State rolled past Tennessee Tech, 49-7 Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
Banks, whose 303 all-purpose yards ranks fifth in school history, broke a 7-all tie with a 91-yard kick return with 2:28 remaining in the first quarter then jump-started the second half with a 92-yard return to give the Wildcats a 28–7 lead. Banks also had three receptions for 90 yards, including an electrifying 64-yard reception to set up a 2-yard score by junior running back Daniel Thomas in the second quarter. The last player to achieve the feat of two kickoff returns for touchdowns was UCLA's Brandon Breazell against Northwestern in the Sun Bowl on Dec. 30, 2005.
Banks' banner day overshadowed another fine outing by Thomas, who recorded his third 100-yard rushing game of the season with a career-high 139 yards to go with two touchdowns. Two other rushers - seniors Keithen Valentine (73 yards on 10 carries) and Grant Gregory (58 yards on nine carries) - tallied 50 or more yards to help the Wildcats post their highest rushing total since 2005.
Junior quarterback Carson Coffman was also solid on the day, completing 8-of-9 passes for 131 yards. He also capped K-State's second offensive scoring drive with a 5-yard score in the second quarter.
Backup signal caller Grant Gregory saw his most significant action of the season, playing most of the third and fourth quarters. Gregory was a perfect 2-of-2 passing for 21 yards to go with 58 yards rushing. He scored his first career touchdown as a Wildcat on a one-yard run with 10:50 left in the fourth quarter that capped the scoring.
The Kansas State offense finished with a season-high 49 points, which was four more than it had totaled in its three previous games of the season. The squad also collected season bests for total yards (448) and rushing yards (296). The 296 yards rushing were the most since the Wildcats had 305 yards against North Texas on Sept. 24, 2005.
The defense was again stellar on the afternoon, holding the Golden Eagles to just 107 yards of total offense including negative 19 yards rushing to go with three sacks. It was the fewest yards yielded an opponent since allowing 53 yards against Ball State on Sept. 16, 2000, while it was lowest rushing output by an foe since Baylor had minus 37 yards rushing on Oct. 26, 2002.
Iowa State
Iowa State was favored by 2 points going into the game. Kansas State sophomore defensive back Emmanuel Lamur blocked the tying extra-point with 32 seconds remaining to help Kansas State earn its first Big 12 win with a 24–23 victory over Iowa State at Arrowhead Stadium.
Senior quarterback Grant Gregory threw two fourth-quarter touchdowns in his first career start as a Wildcat, completing 16 of 23 passes for 206 yards to go with 29 yards rushing on 14 carries and one touchdown. The go-ahead score came with 5:36 remaining in the game in which Gregory rolled out to avoid the rush before hitting senior wideout Brandon Banks on a 54-yard strike.
Junior running back Daniel Thomas nearly collected his fourth 100-yard game of the season, posting 96 yards on 25 carries. He also had five catches for 38 yards, including a 13-yard catch. Banks, the reigning Big 12 Special Teams of the Week, totaled 164 of all-purpose yards, including four catches for 66 yards and a touchdown and three kickoffs for 67 yards.
The offenses were nearly identical with Iowa State (3–2, 0–1 Big 12) holding a narrow advantage on total yards, 371–360. The Wildcats (3–2, 1–0 Big 12) had 206 yards passing to go with 154 yards on the ground. Once again, K-State held the edge in time of possession (33:33 to 26:27) and converted eight of 16 third-down conversions.
Gregory got the scoring started with a 2-yard run to cap a 13-play, 89-yard drive on its opening possession that consumed seven minutes of the first quarter. Thomas got the ball on the first five possession and totaled 30 yards on seven rushes.
Iowa State responded with a 32-yard field goal from Grant Mahoney with 9:39 left in the second quarter then took a 10–7 lead on a 22-yard touchdown pass from Austen Arnaud to Derrick Catlett with 3:55 left in the quarter.
However, the Wildcats tied the score at 10-all with a 39-yard field goal from Josh Cherry just five seconds before the half. Gregory was stellar on the 10-play, 48-yard drive, completing four of seven passes for 39 yards. He hit senior Attrail Snipes for a 24-yard touchdown on a key third down play to put the Wildcats in Iowa State territory.
The third quarter belonged to the Cyclones, who went ahead 17–10 on a 3-yard run by Arnaud that capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive.
However, just minutes into the fourth quarter, sophomore David Garrett forced a fumble after a 12-yard catch by Derrick Catlett and Tysyn Hartman recovered on the Iowa State 36. Seven plays later, on third and goal from the 16, Gregory connected on a 16-yard pass to wideout Lamark Brown tie the game up at 17 apiece.
K-State then went ahead on the dramatic 54-yard catch by Banks with 5:36 remaining in the game.
After the Wildcat defense forced a third-and-out, K-State tried to run out the clock with a six-play drive that cut the time to 1:49. However, Arnaud converted a key 4-and-5 play with a 22-yard pass completion to Marqui Hamilton for a first down at the Kansas State 23. He then connected on a 23-yard strike to Jake Williams over two defenders to cut the deficit to 24–23. On the next play, Lamur blocked the Grant Mahoney's extra point to give the Wildcats the win.
The defense was led by the play of linebacker Alex Hrebec, who had a team-high eight tackles. Defensive back Joshua Moore had 5½ tackles and a break-up, while Jeffrey Fitzgerald totaled five tackles. Linebacker John Houlik posted 4½ tackles and one fumble recovery and defensive back Stephen Harrison had four stops and two pass break-ups.