The 2012 Kansas State Wildcats football team represents Kansas State University in the 2012 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats play their home games at Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium, in Manhattan, Kansas as they have done since 1968. 2012 is the 117th season in school history. The Wildcats are led by head coach Bill Snyder in his 21st overall and fourth straight season since taking over for his second tenure in 2009. K-State is a member of the Big 12 Conference. Conference play began with an upset victory over the Oklahoma Sooners, which was the first win for the Wildcats in Norman since October 25, 1997. The Wildcats started the season with an undefeated 10â€"0 record, and were ranked as the #1 team in country after a Week 10 defeat of Oklahoma State. However, the Wildcats' undefeated season and #1 ranking were derailed two weeks later after they were defeated by upstart Baylor. The regular conference season came to a close with a fifth straight win over the Texas Longhorns, ending with an 8â€"1 record to clinch a share of Big 12 title with Oklahoma. Both teams made the postseason for the first time since the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. Kansas State finished the regular season as the #5 ranked team and were invited to the Fiesta Bowl for the third time, where they were defeated by Oregon. The Wildcats suffered their second consecutive Fiesta Bowl loss since 2003 in the 2004 Fiesta Bowl, ending the season with an 11â€"2 record and were ranked #11 in the final polls.
Off-season
2012 K-State vs West Virginia Football - Kansas State (7-0,4-0) vs. West Virginia (5-2,2-2) Date: Oct 20, 2012 • Site: Morgantown, W.Va. • Stadium: Milan Puskar Stadium • Attendance: 60101 Kickoff ...
The 2011 Wildcats finished the season with a 10â€"3 record overall, 7â€"2 in Big-12 play, behind Oklahoma State. They were invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where they were defeated by the Arkansas Razorbacks, making it the first Cotton Bowl Classic loss for the Wildcats since the 1996 team lost to the BYU Cougars in the 1997 Cotton Bowl Classic.
In mid-August, highly touted incoming freshman quarterback Tavarious Bender decided to leave the team and the university for undisclosed reasons.
Recruiting
Schedule
Game summaries
Missouri State
The Wildcats were favored by 34 going into the game.
Miami
Kansas State was favored by 7 going into the game.
North Texas
Kansas State was favored by 28½ going into the game.
Oklahoma
Oklahoma was favored by 14 going into the game.
Kansas
Kansas State was favored by 24 going into the game.
Iowa State
Kansas State was favored by 7 going into the game.
West Virginia
West Virginia was favored by 2.5 going into the game. The game was hyped as a matchup between Heisman Trophy hopefuls Geno Smith from West Virginia and Collin Klein from Kansas State. Kansas State took an early lead and had the score at 52â€"7 with 2:25 left in the third quarter. The final score was a Kansas State victory 55â€"14.
After the conclusion of the season, ESPN sportswriter David Ubben named this the fifth best game of the Big 12 Conference for the season.
Texas Tech
Kansas State was favored by 7 going into the game.
Oklahoma State
Kansas State was favored by 8.5 points going into the game.
TCU
Kansas State was favored by 7 points heading to the game.
Baylor
Kansas State was favored by 11 points going into the game.
Texas
Kansas State was favored 10.5 points heading to the game.
2013 Fiesta Bowl (vs. Oregon)
Oregon was favored 9 points going to the game.
Rankings
Roster
Coaching staff
The following is a list of coaches at Kansas State for the 2012 season.
References
