This was a huge K-State game that I had to miss.  My youngest brother’s bachelor party was that night.  Luckily we rented out a local bar and grill and the game was on all the TVs.  I don’t remember much of the party since I was glued to the television the whole time.

K-State, ranked number 25, hosted USC, ranked number 11, in Manhattan.  USC was led by Carson Palmer at quarterback and was coached by Pete Carroll.  Marc Dunn was named the starter at quarterback for K-State prior to this game when the entire fan base knew that Ell Roberson was the better option at quarterback.  No pun intended.

I found a grainy highlight video of the game here:

It’s still worth watching to see Terence Newman and Darren Sproles highlights.  Those USC defenders were picking up their jocks off the field!

Early in this game it was obvious that Marc Dunn was overwhelmed by USC’s team speed on defense, led by Troy Polamalu, and couldn’t do much of anything.  He was pulled for Ell Roberson in the second quarter and K-State’s offense came alive.  K-State eventually led this one 27-6 and held on for a 27-20 victory.

There is still an ESPN article online about this game and I chuckled at this comment from Bill Snyder after this game when asked about the performance of Ell Roberson, who was really the catalyst in getting the K-State offense moving and scoring in this one.

This game was played by two excellent teams.  K-State finished the season 11-2 overall and 6-2 in the Big 12, good enough for second place in the conference.  Their only two losses were 35-31 at Colorado and 17-14 against Texas.  They beat Arizona State in the Holiday Bowl to finish the season.

USC finished the season 11-2 overall and 7-1 in the Pac 10.  Their only losses were to K-State and 30-27 at Washington State in overtime.  They beat Iowa 38-17 in the Orange Bowl and finished ranked 4th in the final AP poll.  K-State was 7th.

You can watch the entire broadcast of this game here:

Wish I could have seen this one in person.  I have heard that KSU Stadium was the loudest it had ever been up to that point in time.  Oh well.  It’s still fun watching the highlights.  At least we still have those!  I also take great satisfaction that Pete Carroll is 0-2 all-time against Kansas State!