Best wins of LHC Bill Snyder Era

[CHONGS]

10% of 200 wins is 20, so I was thinking it should be fun to try to list the best 20 wins (where best mean most impact in terms of the college football landscape and against a team that actually ended the year pretty good).   I think most would agree that the most impressive  win was OU 2003 (by a large factor), but what are the rest?  I would think that SU 97, NU 98, and OU 2012.  USC in 02 was impressive too.

1. OU 2003
...?

[pissclams]

i think it's easy to undervalue that first ku win

[kslim]

top 5 for me

1. OU 2003 obviously
2. 98 UNL
3. UT(enn) cotton bowl
4. 36-35 baylor and the rise of arthur
5. 64-0

HM:
2012 texas
copper bowl
cal at arrowhead
isu blocked kick (xp) at arrowhead

[Trim]

How about 2003 at Nebraska?  I think they still ended up w/9-ish wins, and it ended the Solich era which was probably a big deal in college football at the time.

[Bookcat]

2000 Nebraska ranks high because their fans were so convinced '98 was a fluke...they came in as a favorite.... and we crushed their dreams by a point...and represented the Big 12 North.... .... It was kinda of the beginning of the end for Solich than 2001 Colorado happened.

[POWL]

this should be somewhere between 13 - 20......great comeback win

2002 HOLIDAY

(6) Kansas State 34, Arizona State 27
December 27, 2002 • San Diego , Calif. • Qualcomm Stadium
Attendance: 58,717

[kso_FAN]

Going by quality of opponent, not by significance of win for the program:

1. 2003 OU (12-2)
2. 2002 USC (11-2)
3. 2000 NU (10-2)
4. 1995 KU (10-2)
5. 2012 OU (10-3)
6. 2003 NU (10-3)
7. 2011 BU (10-3)
8. 1998 NU (9-4)
9. 1998 UT (9-3)
10. 1993 OU (9-3)
11. 2000 ISU (9-3)
12. 1997 SYR (9-4)
13. 1998 MU (8-4)
14. 2000 Tenn (8-4)
15. 1998 CU (8-4)
16. 1997 aTm (9-4)
17. 1999 UT (9-5)
18. 2012 UT (9-4)
19. 2012 OSU (8-5)
20. 2011 UT (8-5)

[POWL]

top 5 for me

1. OU 2003 obviously
2. 98 UNL
3. UT(enn) cotton bowl
4. 36-35 baylor and the rise of arthur
5. 64-0

HM:
2012 texas
copper bowl
cal at arrowhead
isu blocked kick (xp) at arrowhead

1993 Copper was a huge ass kicking and the fans loved it............the culmination of a year where the program had officially arrived.

[kslim]

top 5 for me

1. OU 2003 obviously
2. 98 UNL
3. UT(enn) cotton bowl
4. 36-35 baylor and the rise of arthur
5. 64-0

HM:
2012 texas
copper bowl
cal at arrowhead
isu blocked kick (xp) at arrowhead

1993 Copper was a huge ass kicking and the fans loved it............the culmination of a year where the program had officially arrived.

yes i still have my tshirt, it would be top 5 but quality of opponent hurts it some

[Woogy]

Going by quality of opponent, not by significance of win for the program:

1. 2003 OU (12-2)
2. 2002 USC (11-2)
3. 2000 NU (10-2)
4. 1995 KU (10-2)
.
.
.

This and somewhat 1994 KU as well.  Mason/KU had a year's head start on building a program over Snyder/KSU.  Long lasting impact for the psyche of the respective programs.

[420seriouscat69]

Besides the big 12 championship in 03. Our Fiesta bowl victory in 97 was our biggest postseason win in our program.

[kso_FAN]

I looked up final AP rankings and changed a few around:

1. 2003 OU (12-2) #3
2. 2002 USC (11-2) #4
3. 2000 NU (10-2) #8
4. 1995 KU (10-2) #9
5. 2011 BU (10-3) #13
6. 2012 OU (10-3) #15
7. 2003 NU (10-3) #19
8. 1998 UT (9-3) #15
9. 1998 NU (9-4) #19
10. 1993 OU (9-3) #17
11. 2000 ISU (9-3) #25
12. 1997 SYR (9-4) #21
13. 1998 MU (8-4) #21
14. 2000 Tenn (8-4) #29
15. 1998 CU (8-4) #26
16. 1997 aTm (9-4) #20
17. 1999 UT (9-5) #21
18. 2012 UT (9-4) #19
19. 2012 OSU (8-5) #29
20. 2011 MU (8-5) #29
*2011 UT (8-5) #30

[CHONGS]

That's a very useful list.

[Dugout DickStone]

Underrated:  Beating MU on their way to the SEC.

[kslim]

Underrated:  Beating MU on their way to the SEC.

could say the same for 4ot vs aTm

[Skipper44]

I looked up final AP rankings and changed a few around:

1. 2003 OU (12-2) #3 -KC - Lost in NC
2. 2002 USC (11-2) #4 - H - Won Orange
3. 2000 NU (10-2) #8 - H - Won Alamo
4. 1995 KU (10-2) #9 - H - Won Aloha
5. 2011 BU (10-3) #13 - H - Won Alamo
6. 2012 OU (10-3) #15 - A - Lost Cotton
7. 2003 NU (10-3) #19 - A - Won Alamo
8. 1998 UT (9-3) #15 - A - Won Cotton
9. 1998 NU (9-4) #19 - H - Lost Holiday
10. 1993 OU (9-3) #17 - H - Won Sun
11. 2000 ISU (9-3) #25 - H - Won Insight
12. 1997 SYR (9-4) #21 - Fiesta
13. 1998 MU (8-4) #21 - A - Won Insight
14. 2000 Tenn (8-4) #29 - Cotton
15. 1998 CU (8-4) #26 - A - Won Aloha
16. 1997 aTm (9-4) #20 - H -Lost Cotton
17. 1999 UT (9-5) #21 - A - Lost Cotton
18. 2012 UT (9-4) #19 - H - Won Alamo
19. 2012 OSU (8-5) #29 - H - Won Heart of Dallas
20. 2011 MU (8-5) #29 - H - Won Independence
*2011 UT (8-5) #30 - A - Won Holiday

I added where the game was played and what the opponent did in their bowl game if applicable.

I would put 2012 OU higher up to #4 if only because it was on the road and I would move 2000 ISU down around 18, they were a slightly above mediocre team with a nice schedule that got smoked when they played good teams.  98 Mizz and 2000 UTenn were better, both were tough teams that lost multiple nailbiters to good teams.

Had to fix location on 2003 NU

[kso_FAN]

I added where the game was played and what the opponent did in their bowl game if applicable.

I would put 2012 OU higher up to #4 if only because it was on the road and I would move 2000 ISU down around 18, they were a slightly above mediocre team with a nice schedule that got smoked when they played good teams.  98 Mizz and 2000 UTenn were better, both were tough teams that lost multiple nailbiters to good teams.

Nice additions. I wouldn't disagree with any of that.

[kslim]

ill always throw @ miami in the discussion, that was the start of a pretty damn good 2 year run and nobody thought we could win that game (outside of us of course)

[Skipper44]

Also it is interesting that none of the Bill's Holiday wins made this list as 99 Washington finished 7-5 and was only ranked for 1 week at #22 and 02 ASU finished 8-6, peaking at #16 in the AP poll before losing 4 of 5 to end the season.

[kso_FAN]

ill always throw @ miami in the discussion, that was the start of a pretty damn good 2 year run and nobody thought we could win that game (outside of us of course)

I agree, that was big. In some ways I think "significance of wins" is almost another discussion. I went about looking at the wins focusing on quality of opponent, mainly looking at record and rank.

[Skipper44]

ill always throw @ miami in the discussion, that was the start of a pretty damn good 2 year run and nobody thought we could win that game (outside of us of course)

in the same vein destroying ATM at home in 2009 after getting blasted by TT in Lubbock the week before was pretty big to keep "the game has passed him by" from getting too loud

Also, putting a fork in the Mangino era at KU in 2009 was big imo as I do think P5 football in the state of Kansas is a zero sum game.

[MakeItRain]

How about 2003 at Nebraska?  I think they still ended up w/9-ish wins, and it ended the Solich era which was probably a big deal in college football at the time.

This is the most underrated win in the Snyder era, it's #3 overall for me. People forget how monumental of a challenge this game was. The start of the game with Ell getting into Jamal Lord's face and it finishing with Darren dragging that dude into the end zone, it was all perfect.

[Dugout DickStone]

Underrated:  Beating MU on their way to the SEC.

could say the same for 4ot vs aTm

yeah but I don't get to downsize some loser ATM fan's face on a daily basis over it so....

[mocat]

2012 @ OU was amazing because even though it was in september, it was the b12 title game on the road and we won that rough rider

[scottwildcat]

I looked up final AP rankings and changed a few around:

1. 2003 OU (12-2) #3
2. 2002 USC (11-2) #4
3. 2000 NU (10-2) #8
4. 1995 KU (10-2) #9
5. 2011 BU (10-3) #13
6. 2012 OU (10-3) #15
7. 2003 NU (10-3) #19
8. 1998 UT (9-3) #15
9. 1998 NU (9-4) #19
10. 1993 OU (9-3) #17
11. 2000 ISU (9-3) #25
12. 1997 SYR (9-4) #21
13. 1998 MU (8-4) #21
14. 2000 Tenn (8-4) #29
15. 1998 CU (8-4) #26
16. 1997 aTm (9-4) #20
17. 1999 UT (9-5) #21
18. 2012 UT (9-4) #19
19. 2012 OSU (8-5) #29
20. 2011 MU (8-5) #29
*2011 UT (8-5) #30

when you take into account the qualifier of where best mean most impact in terms of the college football landscape I don't see how you could argue too extreme against this order.