For weeks now, I have tried to play the waiting game. I have tried to give this coaching staff a chance to get things turned around. I have hoped we would see a more competitive coaching staff and team, a coaching staff and team that learned from its mistakes.
After yesterday, there are no more chances.
I could deal with last year's close loss, even in Manhattan, because the KU team we lost to was a pretty good team. I can deal with occasional losses, even to our arch-rivals, if they are fielding decent teams. But I cannot stomach four losses in five years to KU. I cannot stomach 31-point beatdowns delivered by a team that is likely on its way to 7-5 this season.
Let's take a short trip down memory lane to illustrate how bad things are. Do you remember 2004? It was Bill Snyder's worst season since the early 1990s, and we all thought the world was going to end. But even in that incredibly disappointing season, I never saw anything like what I've seen this season. In 2004, even with seven losses, we really only got blown out once. The Iowa State game wasn't very close, but ISU was decent that year and we had lost all hope for a bowl game by that point. I had hope that we could improve next year, which we did...barely.
I don't see that hope under this coaching staff. Our players look lost on defense, even nine games into the season. Our offensive playcalling is a joke. If we couldn't block kicks and punts, I'm not sure we'd have as many wins on the season as we actually do.
I'm not even going to bother with the usual format of this post. Usually, I like to make light of the positives and negatives I saw in the game. There's no point in doing that for this game. Under the positives, there would be "nothing," and under the negatives, there would be "everything." Here's the only part of the traditional post-game post that I'm going to keep:
What it means and where we're going...
Let's start with where we're going. We're going to Columbia, Mo., to play Missouri. On Senior Day. Remember, Chase Daniel and Chase Coffman are seniors. Mizzou will be honoring its greatest senior class ever, and will be working its way toward a second-straight division title. Oh, and remember what they did to Colorado a couple weeks ago? We are playing way worse than CU right now. To put it mildly, it's going to be ugly.
What does it all mean? It means that, other than maaaaaaybe the November 22 retard fight between us and Iowa State, we have won our last game of the season. We are heading for a blowout loss to Mizzou. Nebraska isn't very good, and they're going to be favored by double digits against us, even in Manhattan. So the end result is that we're headed for, at best, 5-7, and possibly 4-8.
It also means that I have lost all hope that Ron Prince and his coaching staff will be able to build the team we expect them to in Manhattan. We won't, and probably shouldn't, fire a coach before the season is over. But, and I cannot stress this enough, we cannot permit another season of this. And by "this," I mean everything we have seen. Terrible defense. Inconsistent offense and terrible playcalling. Blowout losses. Unsustainable recruiting practices.
It disturbs me more than watching the "Saw" movies to read things like this (see also here). I'm a humble blogger, but I want what I believe is best for K-State, which is why I implore Bob Krause to step up and do what's right for K-State. He needs to get the big boosters, primarily the Vaniers, on his side. We're going to have to buy Prince out, and we're going to have to throw some real money at Gary Patterson and a whole new staff of assistants. It won't be cheap. But unless we want to see what pre-1989 K-State football looked like, we must do it now.
Review of other Big 12 games is after the jump.
Texas A&M 24, Colorado 17: Two points here. Texas A&M is really showing steady improvement this season, and Colorado is in absolute freefall right now. On top of suffering yet another loss, the Buffs injury woes continued as promising freshman running back Rodney Stewart broke his leg. Colorado outgained TAMU by quite a bit, but also gave up three turnovers. I didn't see any of this one, so I can't really give you a whole lot more.
For more: I Am The 12th Man, The Ralphie Report
Missouri 31, Baylor 28: I expected Baylor wouldn't go down without a fight, but I didn't expect them to have this much fight. Again, I didn't see a single second of this one, but it's just about time everybody starts to really fear what Baylor could become with Robert Griffin at QB. The kid was 26/35 for 283 yards and two TDs. He also rushed for 75 yards before you subtract sacks.
For More: Rock M Nation
Oklahoma State 59, Iowa State 17: The Pokes easily dispatched ISU with a showdown in Lubbock looming next weekend. The Cyclones could only manage 240 yards total offense, while Okie State rolled up more than that rushing the football. What really sucks is that last year we lost a heartbreaker on a last-second field goal to Okie State; this year, we're in ISU's neighborhood.
For More: Clone Chronicles
Texas Tech 39, Texas 33: Quite simply, one of the best football games I've ever witnessed (other than Tech's mentally challenged students rushing the field, twice, with one second left on the clock. Graham Harrell's throw, and Michael Crabtree's catch, with the game on the line and two defenders in the area was nothing short of remarkable. Tech has now shown they are not the overrated, all-offense-no-defense machine they used to be, but now we'll see if they can sustain that high level of play with Oklahoma State and Oklahoma looming.
For More: Double T Nation, Burnt Orange Nation
Oklahoma 62, Nebraska 21: This game was kind of like K-State's game against OU last weekend, but without the useless second-quarter comeback by the losing team. Maybe it was more Nebraska than it was OU, but the Sooners played much better on defense in this game.
For More: Crimson And Cream Machine, Corn Nation