The 2003 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 2003 NCAA Division I-A football season. The team's head coach was

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 ...

. The Wildcats played their home games in

KSU 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 3 ...

. The team finished the season with a win–loss record of 11 wins and 4 losses, and a

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 ...

record of 6 wins and 2 losses. They notched a stunning 35–7 victory over the #1 ranked

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Run ...

in the Big 12 Championship Game. With their 1st conference championship since 1934, they earned a berth in one of the Bowl Championship Series bowl games, the

2004 Fiesta Bowl The 2004 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl, played on January 2, 2004, was the 33rd edition of the Fiesta Bowl. The game pitted #7 Ohio State against #8 Kansas State. It was a match-up between a perennial powerhouse in Ohio State, and a school that was only ...

, where they were defeated by the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree ...

, 35–28. The Wildcats played 15 games, most in school history. During the 2002 and 2003 seasons teams were allowed to schedule 12 games as well as a kickoff game. As a result, Kansas State became only the second team in the modern era to play a 15-game schedule. The first was the 1996 BYU Cougars. Running back

Darren Sproles Darren Lee Sproles (born June 20, 1983) is an American football executive and former running back and return specialist who is a personnel consultant for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football ...

led the nation in rushing, and the Wildcats scored 549 points, good for third all-time at Kansas State. This remains the only season in college football history in which Kansas State,

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 ...

, and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

all played in a bowl game in the same season.

Schedule

Roster

Rankings

Game summaries

vs. California

Troy State

McNeese State

UMass

Marshall

at Texas

at Oklahoma State

Colorado

Kansas

Baylor

at Iowa State

at Nebraska

The Wildcats clinched a share of the Big 12 North title by winning in Lincoln for the first time since 1968. Kansas State also handed the Cornhuskers their worst defeat at Memorial Stadium since 1958.

Missouri

Darren Sproles ran for a school-record 273 yards in the win over Missouri. Sproles also broke the single-season rushing record for the second consecutive year.

vs. Oklahoma (Big 12 Championship Game)

Kansas State manhandled the #1 Sooners at Arrowhead Stadium to win their first conference title since 1934.

vs. Ohio State (Fiesta Bowl)

*Source:''

Statistics

Scores by quarter

Team

Offense

Rushing

Passing

Receiving

Awards and honors

2004 NFL Draft

References

{{Big 12 Conference football champions navbox 2003 Big 12 Conference football season, Kansas State Kansas State Wildcats football seasons Big 12 Conference football champion seasons

Kansas State Wildcats football The Kansas State Wildcats football program (variously Kansas State, K-State or KSU) is the intercollegiate football program of the Kansas State University Wildcats. The program is classified in the NCAA Division I Bowl Subdivision (FBS), and ...