Bill Snyder saw it coming all week in practice. The missed tackles. The dropped passes. The lousy blocking, terrible execution and distressing lack of focus gave the Kansas State coach trepidation with North Texas coming to town.
If not for another gutsy performance by Collin Klein, and a 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Tyler Locket, the No. 15 Wildcats might have been saddled with an embarrassing defeat before heading into next Saturday's showdown against fifth-ranked Oklahoma.
Instead, they managed to eke out a 35-21 victory on Saturday night. "If you don't prepare yourself well then most anything can happen," Snyder said afterward. "It was the attitude we took into the ballgame. There wasn't anything else to blame it on." Of course, Snyder was also quick to credit North Texas.
The Mean Green (1-2) scratched and clawed their way within 14-13 late in the third quarter before Klein hit and Tramaine Thompson for their second touchdown. John Hubert tacked on a TD run moments later, and Klein's fourth-quarter score allowed the Wildcats (3-0) to escape.
Albeit with a far less impressive showing than last week's 52-13 romp over Miami. "North Texas is better than people think, first of all," said Klein, who passed for 230 yards and accounted for three scores. "There was a lot of emotion coming off a big game, but the great teams are the exact same no matter who the opponent is."
Evidently, the Wildcats are still in search of greatness. "There probably isn't anything that doesn't need vast improvement," Snyder said. "It's taking something for granted. We didn't practice well Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday."
North Texas nearly made them pay for it, too. Derek Thompson was 25 of 28 for 208 yards and a late TD pass for the Mean Green, who converted the 2-point conversion to get within two touchdowns with 2:31 remaining in the game. An onside kick was recovered by the Wildcats, though, allowing them to run out the clock.
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"My football team came here believing that we could win, not hoping that we could win," said North Texas' Dan McCarney, who regularly faced the Wildcats when he was the coach at Iowa State. "I didn't sense any hope that we could go win a game. I sensed in our preparation and from watching on the sidelines this team really believed we could win the game," McCarney said. "But we weren't good enough to do it tonight."
