"We couldn't let Texas Tech beat us twice," Josh Moore said after the game.
K-State dominated in every facet of the game. It was a performance that would have made K-State teams of the 1990s and early 2000s proud.
No, Texas A&M isn't a juggernaut. It isn't a top 25 team, but it is a team with talent — a squad that lost by just five points to a very talented Oklahoma State team in College Station.
Jerrod Johnson entered the game No. 3 in the nation in total offense with 356.2 yards per game. The Aggies entered the contest No. 4 in the nation in total offense with more than 512 yards per game.
Saturday night, Johnson was held to 21-of-45 passing and threw three interceptions as the Wildcat defense bottled up the Aggie offense for just 301 yards.
As the clock hit zero, there was a reminiscing feeling in the air. The Wildcat players jumped up and down in the locker room with echoes of "purple, get ready to roll," bellowing out of the open doors.
There was excitement once again at Bill Snyder Family Stadium, something that had been lacking in the recent past.
"The whole week has been, maybe every week has a little theme to it so to speak and at the end of the day the themes are all tied together and they're all engrained in those 16 goals that we've promoted," K-State coach Bill Snyder said. "Our major focus during the course of the week — we've talked so much about playing with great spirit and with effort and I think our guys are closing the gap there."
No, the Wildcats are still nowhere close to where they need to be. But Saturday night was a stepping stone in the right direction — a step back to rebuilding a program that began to slowly crumble in the past five years.
It's just one victory, but one of significance for a team that many considered fragile going into Saturday's game against the Aggies. The Wildcats showed they wouldn't cave, and that was a big topic of discussion for them in practice this week.
"The biggest thing we talked about all week, we wanted to see what kind of character we had to respond after last week, after getting totally annihilated," said starting quarterback Grant Gregory. '"What kind of team are you, are you going to lay down or are you going to come back and answer?'
"I think we showed we have a good character football team."
The Wildcats showed enthusiasm Saturday. They came out with great spirit. Now, the question remains, can they maintain it?
That is the next challenge as they face Colorado next weekend.
"We handled adversity well, now we have to see how we handle prosperity," Gregory said. "We have a chance to go 3-1 in the Big 12 next week, that's a great opportunity."
