Twenty years ago, the Kansas State football team lost a gut-wrenching overtime contest to Texas A&M in the Big 12 championship game and missed out on a chance to play for a national title.
To anyone who followed K-State football in the late 1980s, it would have seemed ludicrous that the Wildcats were in the position.
The Wildcats had a 27-game winless streak when Bill Snyder took over as coach in 1989. But he proceeded to turn K-State into a conference powerhouse that included six 11-win seasons in a seven-year period and 11 consecutive bowl appearances.
By 1998, the Wildcats were unbeaten and playing in the Big 12 championship game with a chance to get to the title game.