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K-State treats this road trip with business-like attitude By Arne Green - Special to The News MANHATTAN - Zach Kendall admits he had the time of his life the last time Kansas State ventured to a bowl game.As a freshman redshirt, he drove three teammates to Houston for the 2006 Texas Bowl in his 1993 Cadillac Sedan de Ville, the ultimate road trip"It was a blast," said Kendall, now the Wildcats' senior left guard for their return to the postseason in the inaugural Pinstripe Bowl. "Actually, it was one of the best times I've had."But the game itself - a disappointing 37-10 loss to Rutgers - also was a cautionary tale, one Kendall has shared with his younger teammates as they prepare for Thursday's 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Syracuse (7-5) at Yankee Stadium. "As an outsider looking in, I was also able to see how we didn't take it as seriously," Kendall said. "Granted, we were run pretty thin that season as far as our injuries and stuff like that, (but) we just were happy to be there."It's a risk with any team experiencing postseason play for the first time as all but a handful of Wildcats are. And none of the ones who made the trip to Houston got on the field."You always have that concern, but our players have addressed that, separate from what I might say to them," said K-State coach Bill Snyder, who led the Wildcats to a 7-5 regular-season record in his second season back from a three-year retirement. "One of our players got up and addressed exactly that issue with all of his teammates after a practice."I think they have that on their mind. Hopefully they're all responding the right way. I'd like to think they are."Senior center Wade Weibert, a junior college transfer who was not part of the 2006 team, also felt compelled to stand up in the locker room."It's like I told some of my teammates, there are certain places that I'll look back on with a little sick taste in my mouth just because we lost a game, and I don't want my first experience in New York to be that way," Weibert said. "It's not going to be an enjoyable trip and we're not going to look back on it years down the road as a pleasant place to be."In other words, the Wildcats are in it to win it."Coach Snyder's done a great job of just, keep an eye on the ball," said junior safety Tysyn Hartman. "He'll say things about maybe our plane to New York or our schedule and then he'll back that up quickly with, 'We're there to win a bowl game, we better remember what we're going there for."There's no reason they can't strike a balance, Kendall said. Mixed in with practice during their New York stay, the Wildcats have broken up the practice routine both with scheduled activities and free time to trudge around snow-packed Manhattan (New York, not Kansas)."We've been able to express to them that this is fun," Kendall said. "You should embrace it, you should enjoy it."But at the same time, this is a business trip."For the Wildcats, who are trying to recapture the success of Snyder's first tenure - 11 straight bowl appearances from 1993-2003 - a victory over Syracuse could go a long way."I feel like that's where we dropped the ball the last time we went," Kendall said. "We were more just excited to be there and kind of drinking it all in instead of (treating it like) a business."It's nice to be in a bowl game and there's perks and stuff with it, but it's also a chance to get this team better and showcase what we've got and get eight wins. That's the end goal - wed rather be an 8-5 team than a 7-6 team."Or in the words of senior cornerback Stephen Harrison:"We set out our goals at the beginning of the year," he said. "Everybody wanted to go to a bowl game and then we said, 'Why not win one?'"So it is one of our goals to go to New York and win the game."
I'm watching this Kansas St vs Syracuse Bowl game and the refs just decided the outcome of it! Its a shame what happened! Crazy!! Kids playing their hearts out and the game decided on a terrible yellow flag. SMDH
