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1977 Kansas State

1–⁠10 (0–⁠7 Big Eight), coached by Ellis Rainsberger. Officially 2–⁠9. Mississippi State forfeited to Kansas State.

Schedule and results

Kansas State in 1977, game by game: lost at BYU 0–39; lost vs. Florida State 10–18; won at Wichita State 21–14; lost vs. No. 18 Mississippi State 21–24; lost vs. No. 9 Nebraska 9–26; lost at Oklahoma State 14–21; lost at Missouri 13–28; lost vs. No. 4 Oklahoma 7–42; lost at Kansas 21–29; lost vs. Iowa State 15–22; lost at Colorado 0–23+7−39Lost 0–39 at BYU-39BYULost 10–18 vs. Florida State-8Florida StateWon 21–14 at Wichita State+7Wichita StateLost 21–24 vs. No. 18 Mississippi State-3No. 18 Mississippi Sta…Lost 9–26 vs. No. 9 Nebraska-17No. 9 NebraskaLost 14–21 at Oklahoma State-7Oklahoma StateLost 13–28 at Missouri-15MissouriLost 7–42 vs. No. 4 Oklahoma-35No. 4 OklahomaLost 21–29 at Kansas-8KansasLost 15–22 vs. Iowa State-7Iowa StateLost 0–23 at Colorado-23Colorado
Each game’s margin, wins above the line and losses below.
DateOpponentResultElo
Sep 10atBYUL 0–⁠3919%
Sep 17vsFlorida StateL 10–⁠1837%
Sep 24atWichita StateW 21–⁠1438%
Oct 1vs18Mississippi StateL 21–⁠24won by forfeit27%
Oct 8vs9NebraskaL 9–⁠2623%
Oct 15atOklahoma StateL 14–⁠2118%
Oct 22atMissouriL 13–⁠2823%
Oct 29vs4OklahomaL 7–⁠4215%
Nov 5atKansasL 21–⁠2927%
Nov 12vsIowa StateL 15–⁠2222%
Nov 19atColoradoL 0–⁠2312%

Elo: a pregame chance from scores alone.

How it ended: Lost to Colorado 23–⁠0; unranked in the final AP poll; 8th in the Big Eight.

In program history: The 103rd-best season in program history by end-of-season Elo (of 125 on file).

Players on this team

Before 2004 our records hold honors and the draft; these are the players whose college years here, from their Wikipedia articles or their honors, include 1977.

Consensus All-AmericanGary Spani, LB

Record
1–⁠10
Conference
0–⁠7 8th in Big Eight
AP final
Unranked
Points
131–⁠286
Coach
Ellis Rainsberger
Elo
1304 −73 this season
SP+ rating
-2.8 No. 97 of 140; offense No. 98, defense No. 75
SRS
−2.3 No. 85 of 145 major-college teams
Recruiting class
—
Defensive coordinator
Dick Selcer

Drafted in 1978

The 1978 draft
Rd 3Gary Spani LBKansas City Chiefs

All-Big Eight

1 first team, 1 second team

First team

Second team

  • Charley GreenWRAP-2

From Wikipedia’s 1977 all-conference team article, with the selectors that named each player (AP-1: the Associated Press’s first team).

1977 Big Eight standings

TeamConf.OverallAP final
Oklahoma7–⁠010–⁠27
Nebraska5–⁠29–⁠312
Iowa State5–⁠28–⁠4
Colorado3–⁠3–⁠17–⁠3–⁠1
Missouri3–⁠44–⁠7
Kansas2–⁠4–⁠13–⁠7–⁠1
Oklahoma State2–⁠54–⁠7
Kansas State0–⁠71–⁠10

Ordered by conference winning percentage, then conference wins. Division splits and tiebreakers aren’t applied.