Every Man A Wildcat

More people filled up the parking lots, fields, bars, restaurants and homes nearby, all locked in on the big game. New additions were even made to the facility over the offseason, including the Shamrock Zone in the south endzone. On the field, the season started off with a bang as K-State won their first three games, two of which were at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. The crowd roared, and the Alma Mater was sung with pride and joy after wins over Nevada and Southern Illinois. K-State would go on to win two more games at home, beating conference foes TCU and West Virginia.

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Perhaps one of the loudest cheers of the year was when quarterback Skylar Thompson jogged onto the field at the start of the Wildcats game against Oklahoma. Thompson had been hurt three weeks prior and was unable to play the two games before the matchup with Oklahoma. Head coach Chris Klieman said it was unlikely that Thompson would play against Oklahoma. It wasn’t until he ran out with the offense and joined the huddle that fans knew the sixth-year senior was back for the Wildcats. The PA announcer declared “Starting at quarterback for the Wildcats…number seven… Skylar Thompson.”

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In a way, Thompson’s return on October 2nd against Oklahoma was symbolic of the return of the game day atmosphere to Manhattan.In the end, it didn’t turn out to be a magnificent outcome, the ‘Cats lost to OU 37-31. Likewise, a 7-5 finish to the season was not anything that will be talked about years down the road. More than anything, however, fans were happy to have Thompson back. A quarterback they knew and loved so well and had been with for so long, who also happened to be out nearly the entire 2020 season, returned. In the same way, the feeling and experience that fans knew and loved so well and had been with for so long, which was taken away in 2020, returned. The crowd went ballistic.