The 2017 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented

Kansas State University Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

in the 2017 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The Wildcats played their home games at the

Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a stadium in Manhattan, Kansas. It is used for American football, and is the home field of the Kansas State University Wildcats football team. It is named after the family of head coach Bill Snyder. Over the past 31 ...

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 cen ...

, and competed in the

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

. They were led by 26th-year head coach

Bill Snyder William D. Snyder (born October 7, 1939) is a retired college football coach and former player. He served as the head football coach at Kansas State University from 1989 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2018. Snyder initially retired from the p ...

. They finished the season 8–5, 5–4 in Big 12 play to finish in a four-way tie for fourth place. They were invited to the

Cactus Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

where they defeated

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

Season

Pre Season

In January 2017 it was reported by many Kansas media outlets that

has been traveling to Houston, Texas for treatment for a "serious life-threatening ailment". On February 12, 2017 Snyder announced that he has been diagnosed with throat cancer and had been receiving treatment in Manhattan, as well at University of Kansas Medical Center, and in Houston, Texas. He said that his doctor expect a recovery and that he should be able to coach by the 2017 Wildcats Spring Game. Also on February 12, 2017 it was announced that Co-Offensive Coordinator Del Miller would be retiring, putting the other Co-Offensive Coordinator

Dana Dimel Dana August Dimel (born October 9, 1962) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head coach at the University of Texas El Paso. Previously he was the co- offensive coordinator and running backs coach at Kansas State ...

at the helm as the only OC and play caller for KSU, and Collin Klein would return to KSU to take over the Quarterback Coach position.

End Of Season

On December 6, 2017 it was announced that Offensive Coordinator

was hired as the new head coach for

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stu ...

. It was also said that he will be fulfilling his final OC duties for KSU while participating in the

Schedule

Kansas State announced its 2017 football schedule on December 13, 2016. The 2017 schedule consisted of seven home and five away games in the regular season. The Wildcats hosted Big 12 foes Baylor, Iowa State,

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

, TCU, and

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and traveled to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, and

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. The Wildcats hosted two of the three non-conference opponents,

Central Arkansas Central Arkansas, also known as the Little Rock metro, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as the Little Rock-North Little Rock-Conway Metropolitan Statistical Area, is the most populous metro area in the U.S. state of ...

from the

Southland Conference The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States (specifically Texas and Louisiana). It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it pa ...

and

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

from

Conference USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are l ...

and traveled to Vanderbilt from the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities of ...

. The team accepted the bowl bid to participate in the

and faced

in a bowl game for the second time. The first bowl meeting was in the

Alamo Bowl The Alamo Bowl is an NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football bowl game played annually since 1993 in the Alamodome in San Antonio, Texas. Since 2010 it matches the second choice team from the Pac-12 Conference and the secon ...

with

winning 40–35.

Rankings

References

{{Kansas State Wildcats football navbox

Kansas State Kansas State University (KSU, Kansas State, or K-State) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Manhattan, Kansas, United States. It was opened as the state's land-grant college in 1863 and was the first public instit ...

Kansas State Wildcats football seasons Guaranteed Rate Bowl champion seasons

Kansas State Wildcats football The Kansas State Wildcats football program (variously Kansas State, K-State or KSU) is the college football, intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Kansas State Wildcats, Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Di ...