"You don't want to hear what I said to them," he said.
As the team stood in the locker room, the score of the Nebraska/Iowa State game flashed on the television screens. The Cornhuskers had been upset by the Cyclones. The one team that looked to have the most favorable schedule in the Big 12 North now had two losses just three games in.
Every team in the conference outside of K-State had now lost two league games. Yet here sat the Wildcats at 3-1, with everyone ready to pat them on the back and talk about the potential feel-good story of them sitting in first in the North.
But Snyder didn't forget where this team came from and he refused to let his team forget. This was a K-State team that some predicted would win three or four games total this season. They have five victories with four games remaining.
Prognosticators said the K-State coach would struggle in his second stint in the Big 12. The league was much more difficult than the time when he turned the program from nothing into a national power.
Nebraska was supposedly on the rise. Kansas had established itself as a program to be reckoned with, and Missouri was no longer the team that Snyder had beaten 13 times in a row. The Tigers had supposedly become a force.
My oh my how things change. The North is as down as ever. A 5-3 record is going to win this division. That has rarely happened in the past.
Two different times Snyder-coached teams went 7-1 in the Big 12, and twice, the Wildcats didn't even win the North. Nebraska won it both those seasons.
Two separate occasions the Wildcats went 6-2 in the league, and both times, they didn't get the chance to represent the North in the conference championship game.
Back then, Tom Osborne and Nebraska were a national power to be reckoned with. Colorado was a top-20 team in the nation most years.
Currently, not a single Top-25 team resides in the North, which means this thing is open for anyone's taking. So why not the Wildcats?
This is a team that's already exceeded a lot of critics' expectations.
But not Snyder's. As I wrote following the game on Saturday, Snyder smells blood in the Big 12 North waters. Rather than looking to merely calm those waters, like he stated so many times before the season, he's now the shark looking to hunt for his prey in it.
That's a scary thought for the rest of the Big 12 North.
Saturday signified that Snyder is back. He wants it just as much as he ever did before.
The Wildcats have two winnable home games remaining against teams Snyder has made a living dominating in his career. Tiger coach Gary Pinkel has never defeated Snyder. KU coach Mark Mangino has done it once, but never in Manhattan.
If K-State can win those two games, it will likely win the North. It's that simple.
This division is sitting on a platter for K-State. It can be done.
So I ask again, why not K-State? Snyder has pulled off surprises before. I'd be hard-pressed to think he couldn't do it again.
