Dickey tweaked the helmet design, maintaining the light gray with purple
tint shell that had a one-inch white center stripe, a .375-inch gap that
showed that unique gray color, and three-quarter-inch purple flanking
stripes. The purple with white trimmed "KSU" logo from the previous seasons,
an interlocking diagonally oriented design now closely associated with
K-State, adorned both sides of the helmet. Dickey's grand experiment of
redshirting his entire class of returning senior players for the '81 season
did not help much in 1981. The undermanned squad managed a 2-9 mark but the
underclassmen received plenty of experience. When '82 began and as it
progressed, it resulted in KSU's best season since 1954, a 6-4-1 finish and
a bid to the Independence Bowl where they lost to Wisconsin 14-3 in their
first bowl berth in eighty-seven years! The overall finish at 6-5-1 was
highlighted by garnering the newly instituted Wheat Trophy as KSU defeated
Wichita State and, while wearing special gray uniforms, Kansas, the latter
in a nationally televised game. The "Samoan" running game of backs Iosefatu
Faraimo and Masi Toluao behind the blocking of FB Mike Pierson proved
effective when combined with QB Dickey's passing. The 3-8 skid in '83 was
not part of the plan but losing the opener to weak-sister Long Beach State
should have been a clue for what was to follow. If you're eighth in scoring
and seventh in scoring defense in an eight team conference, there are
problems. QB Stan Weber sat out a good portion of the season with a knee
injury but returned to push the Wildcats to their only conference victory
over Oklahoma State and a twenty-seven point per game average in the last
four outings. Huge 6'7" DT Les Miller transferred from Fort Hays State and
was Big 8 Newcomer Of The Year. The highlights of the 1984 season were a
mid-season win against Kansas and the finale's upset 38-6 rout of Colorado.
The remainder of the season was another hum-drum affair, 3-7-1 overall with
QB Stan Weber at the controls. Weber ran and passed well but offensive
inconsistency had soph Randy Williams getting a few starts. Entering
1985 under enormous pressure to succeed, Dickey held on until the conclusion
of the second game of the season. Opening with losses to Wichita State and
Northern Iowa were too much and he resigned with assistant coach Lee Moon
taking over for the remainder of the season. It was another K-State disaster
with an upset against Missouri the only bright spot in a 1-10 record. DE
Kevin Humphrey won another Big 8 Newcomer Of The Year Award for the Wildcats
but the porous defense lacked talent. Offensively, trying to emphasize the
passing game resulted in the team being ranked last in Big 8 scoring and
rushing and they had the highest interception ratio. Moon was replaced by
Stan Parrish at the end of the season but his three-year reign brought a
miserable 2-30-1 slate which in the long run of K-State football, was a
blessing. In 1989, the 1-10 record of Bill Snyder was but a prelude of a
seventeen year KSU career that made them a consistent top fifteen team, Big
8 contender, and bowl participant.
.jpg)
