Curtis Kitchen has followed the Big 12, Kansas State and national college basketball beat including K-State's run to the NCAA Tournament Elite 8 in 2010. You can currently follow his work at his blog: KitchenKC.com In the past, he also covered the Kansas City Wizards (now Sporting KC) for Major League Soccer's mlsnet.com site as well as the Kansas City Chiefs and Royals for the other sports station in town. His freelance portfolio ranges media outlets and publications, including gopowercat.com (part of the Rivals network), collegehoopsnet.com and the Miami Herald.
Curtis Kitchen: The Last Time K-State Was 5-0
by Curtis Kitchen,posted Oct 14 2011 7:03PM
By now, we all know the last time Bill Snyder and the Kansas State Wildcats were 5-0, the year was
2000. KSU would go on to finish that year 11-3 with a 35-21 Cotton Bowl win against Tennessee.
But, what else was going on 11 years ago? Let's take a trip back and remember what life looked like -
some K-State football related, some not - the last time K-State fans found their team in this position.
- K-State began the year ranked 8th, rose as high as 2nd in October, fell all the way to 19th in the
same month and finished 9th.
- When ranked 2nd, the 'Cats lost to 8th-ranked Oklahoma 41-31 the next week as Josh Heupel threw for
374 yards and scored three touchdowns. Sophomore Terence Newman returned a punt for a touchdown in that
game also.
- Current K-State freshman Tyler Lockett's uncle, Aaron, led the country in yards per punt return
(22.8).
- K-State's defensive future NFL'ers: Ben Leber, Jon McGraw, Terence Newman, Terry Pierce, Mario
Fatafehi, Monty Beisel, Jarrod Cooper, DeMarcus Faggins, Jerametrius Butler and Dyshod Carter.
- NFL'ers on offense: Rock Cartwright, Josh Scobey, David Allen, Quincy Morgan, Nick Leckey and Shad
Meier.
- All those names aside, if for no other reason, 2000 was fun because media and fans got to say the
name, "Johnno Lazetich."
- The Wildcats beat Terry Allen's Kansas Jayhaws 52-13, in Lawrence, scoring six rushing TDs. Jonathan
Beasley had four, Scobey the other two.
- Fans wondered if a young Ell Roberson would ever develop his passing skills enough to be an effective
quarterback under Bill Snyder.
- Darren Sproles was a senior in high school, in the middle of scoring 49 touchdowns and rushing for
2,485 yards for Olathe North.
- With all of that talent, who was perceived by many as the absolute "jewel" of that 2000 recruiting
class? Offensive lineman Chris Boggas, of course.
- Nebraska was the Associated Press Preseason No. 1.
- Oklahoma, with semi-unheralded guys like Heupel, Quentin Griffin, and J.T. Thatcher, beat KSU twice
(including the Big 12 Championship game), went undefeated and won the national title.
Outside of collegiate football:
- The national average price for unleaded gasoline was $1.51 per gallon.
- People were outraged at the rising price, but still thought of torching the Kansas City Royals
starting rotation of Jeff Suppan, Mac Suzuki, Blake Stein, Jay Witasick and Chad Durbin (and Dan
Reichert, who also started 18 games).
- Ricky Bottalico led the Royals with 16 saves.
- In December, George W. Bush wins the White House over Al Gore after the Supreme Court stops Florida's
"hanging chad" recount.
- In May, both Britney Spears and Eminem released their second albums: "Oops, I did it again," and "The
Marshall Mathers LP."
- I bought Eminem's album and still carried my fake ID out of habit even though I turned 21 in August.
- Limp Bizkit was still allowed to release stuff.
- Marshall Faulk was named the NFL's MVP, and the St. Louis Rams beat the Tennessee Titans for the
Super Bowl XXXIV crown in February.
- Cost of a Superbowl ad: $2.2 million.
- That following NFL season, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Elvis Grbac out-dueled Rams QB Trent Green
in a 54-34 Chiefs win at Arrowhead.
- It was the Rams' first loss after starting 6-0. The Chiefs moved to 4-3 and would finish 7-9 under
Gunther Cunningham.
- Major League Baseball no longer operated the American and National Leagues as separate entities;
instead moving them both under the Commissioner's office.
- Jason Giambi and Jeff Kent were the AL and NL MVPs.
- Tiger Woods won the U.S. Open by a record 15 shots. He also won three majors total that season.
- Angelina Jolie married Billy Bob Thornton in May.
- Brad Pitt married Jennifer Aniston in July.
- Google was still four years from becoming a public company.
