Old Pro Squares Off Against a Budding Talent

If you believe the oddsmakers, tonight’s 25th edition of the Holiday Bowl is the biggest mismatch of the bowl season.

The Kansas State Wildcats (10-2 and ranked sixth) are 18-point favorites over the Arizona State Sun Devils (8-5 and losers of three of their last four games). Of the two-dozen-plus bowl games, no other comes close to being rated as lopsided as the game at Qualcomm Stadium.

But while his players were enjoying Sea World, the San Diego Zoo and other tourist delights, Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder was watching game films and came away impressed with a young Arizona State team. As a hedge against overconfidence, he made sure his players got the same viewing.

“If any of them misunderstand this, we’ll have to sit down and take IQ tests,” Snyder said. “They watch the same tape I do, and unless they’re sound asleep, they see what I see.”

It appears to be a game of contrasts: an established football power versus a rising star, a dean of coaching versus a coach who looks barely older his players, a ground attack versus a passing game. Take a 17-14 loss to Texas out of the mix and Kansas State averaged 48.5 points a game.

Quarterback Ell Roberson ran for 13 touchdowns and passed for six more; running back Darren Sproles averaged 6.2 yards a carry and scored 16 touchdowns. “It’s the trifecta” of offenses, Arizona State Coach Dirk Koetter said admiringly.

While Kansas State is loaded with veterans, Arizona State has only four seniors among its starters. All-American defensive end Terrell Suggs, a junior, set an NCAA Division I record with 22 sacks, and quarterback Andrew Walter, a sophomore, threw for 3,584 yards with 26 touchdown passes and in nine games.

Still, Kansas State has one of the stingiest defenses in the country, allowing only 10.6 points a game. Senior cornerback Terence Newman won the Jim Thorpe Award as the nation’s best defensive back.

“In the beginning he was a speed guy who played football,” Snyder said. “Now he’s grown into a football player who happens to be fast.”

For Arizona State, a trip to San Diego was an unexpected reward after a season that began with a 48-10 thumping by Nebraska and ended with a third-place finish in the Pacific 10 Conference.

“This was not a great season, but it was a successful season,” said Koetter, in his second year at Tempe. “When you’re picked ninth in the league and you finish third and get to come to the Holiday Bowl, that’s a success.”

For Kansas State, bowl appearances are routine. This is the Wildcats’ 10th straight, including victories at the Holiday Bowl in 1995 (54-21 over Colorado State) and 1999 (24-20 over Washington).

The Wildcats had hoped for a bowl championship series invitation to the Orange Bowl. Instead, Iowa (11-1) got the at-large berth to face USC (10-2).

Part of the reason for the long odds comes from how each team fared against USC. Kansas State beat USC, 27-20, in Manhattan. But the Sun Devils lost to the Trojans, 34-13, at the Coliseum.

Talk of a mismatch has not riled Koetter. Holiday Bowl history leans toward high-scoring games and unexpected finishes.

“We’re going to go out and fire our guns and hope for the best,” Koetter said.