When I was a kid Wisconsin was awful.
Along with South Carolina and Baylor.
So the question is who has come the farthest.
That is in relation to having formerly been a bad athletic program.

These three are quick examples because they are really good now. So no reason To get bent out of shape being on the list is a good thing.

Oregon or South Carolina.

Oregon probably take it though. They were horrendous but have become a consistent power, even if the claims they are entering a slump are true.

Brookes wrote in his book that when he first took over if a kid asked to visit the school they crossed them off their recruiting list because facilities were so bad. Since then, they've played for a NC and have become a consistent winner.

That Nike $$ goes a long way.

Northwestern has to be a thought. They lost what 34 games in a row at one point....

Also what about Oregon? They weren't quite as bad, but they've gone higher than any of those you were mentioning.

to speak to Northwestern- from 1974-93, they were a whopping 37-180-3. That's right- in a 20 year period, they didn't even average 2 wins. They have won 36 games just in the last 5 years.

K-State

From worst, literally, to above average

K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

(08-06-2014 10:49 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

no one was as putrid as what Northwestern was. 34 straight losses I think it was?

(08-06-2014 10:52 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:49 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

no one was as putrid as what Northwestern was. 34 straight losses I think it was?

They also haven't gone on and played for anything like K-State has.

They may be a little worse all time but they also haven't turned around like K-State has.

K-State has won their conference, finished ranked in the top 5, and played in major bowl games.

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

Northwestern and Kansas St. KSU was dead last all time in W/L % as recently as 1995 and it wasn't close. In 2011 they had passed Kent, Wake Forest, UTEP, New Mexico St. and Indiana who were ahead of them in 1995 (along with being ahead of some newbies-FIU, Buffalo, La-Mo). They went from .394 to .435 winning %. When you've been playing for 115 years, that takes a lot of improvement. Northwestern was right in front of them in 2011 at .438.

KSU is a threat to win the Big 12 most years. Northwestern is only a threat to win occasionally in the Big 10. So even though Northwestern reached a lower low, KSU has moved up more. But those are the top 2.

(08-06-2014 10:14 AM)MJG Wrote:  When I was a kid Wisconsin was awful.
Along with South Carolina and Baylor.
So the question is who has come the farthest.
That is in relation to having formerly been a bad athletic program.

These three are quick examples because they are really good now. So no reason To get bent out of shape being on the list is a good thing.

Baylor was mostly lousy from the 20s to 70s. But from 1974-1995 they were pretty solid. They had a tough time at the start of the Big 12. By comparison, Texas went 10-9-3 vs. OU in that time frame when OU won several MNCs.. They went only 12-10 vs. Baylor.

Bill Snyder and KSU are the perfect match. I know how funny it can sound for a KU fan to talk down about another program (even in the past tense), but KSU was bad, bad, bad for a long time, and Snyder has gotten them to where they would consistently win the games they should win (and in the process, also raising that bar considerably) and also be a threat to win games against teams that should be able to beat them. Sure, they boosted their non-conference schedule with some weaker opponents, but they've also played some decent non-conference games and mostly taken care of business within the conference. In short, what people think about KU football now is what people used to think about K-State. The question is whether they'll be able to sustain that post-Snyder when he finally leaves for good.

One could argue Rutgers is the biggest turnaround. Mediocre at best and often times worse from the mid-70s (sans 1976 and 1978 although even those years they were relatively heavy on the soon to be 1-AA/FCS schools) when they started transitioning to big boy football until 2005 when they started to play slightly above average football most years. The exceptions being in 2006 and in 2012 (on D and ST anyway) where they played well above average football.

(08-06-2014 10:21 AM)stever20 Wrote:  Northwestern has to be a thought. They lost what 34 games in a row at one point....

Also what about Oregon? They weren't quite as bad, but they've gone higher than any of those you were mentioning.

I wasn't listing my top three just starting the conversation.
I think it is impressive to turn a program around.

(08-06-2014 10:56 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:52 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:49 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

no one was as putrid as what Northwestern was. 34 straight losses I think it was?

They also haven't gone on and played for anything like K-State has.

They may be a little worse all time but they also haven't turned around like K-State has.

K-State has won their conference, finished ranked in the top 5, and played in major bowl games.

You mean like the ROSE BOWL?



That season was every bit as big as Appalachian State's upset of Michigan. K-State gradually built up thanks in large part to soft scheduling whereas NW was shot out of a cannon, starting off with a hair-raising upset of Notre Dame and was a loss to Miami University from likely heading into bowl season as the number 1 team in the country.

oregon or oregon st from my perspective. Or. St was so bad at one time that they were questions asked if they should be playing 1-AA .

(08-06-2014 12:13 PM)brista21 Wrote:  One could argue Rutgers is the biggest turnaround. Mediocre at best and often times worse from the mid-70s (sans 1976 and 1978 although even those years they were relatively heavy on the soon to be 1-AA/FCS schools) when they started transitioning to big boy football until 2005 when they started to play slightly above average football most years. The exceptions being in 2006 and in 2012 (on D and ST anyway) where they played well above average football.

Although Rutgers has stagnated and probably underachieved, I'll never forget the Louisville game. I thought for sure Rutgers would be the next big thing after that, getting both Philadelphia and especially New York behind them and being bigger than even a Michigan or perhaps, ambitiously, a Notre Dame.

(08-06-2014 12:30 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:56 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:52 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:49 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

no one was as putrid as what Northwestern was. 34 straight losses I think it was?

They also haven't gone on and played for anything like K-State has.

They may be a little worse all time but they also haven't turned around like K-State has.

K-State has won their conference, finished ranked in the top 5, and played in major bowl games.

You mean like the ROSE BOWL?



That season was every bit as big as Appalachian State's upset of Michigan. K-State gradually built up thanks in large part to soft scheduling whereas NW was shot out of a cannon, starting off with a hair-raising upset of Notre Dame and was a loss to Miami University from likely heading into bowl season as the number 1 team in the country.

That was also the skip year(did not play) with Ohio State.

That helped a lot.

Posted from my mobile device using the CSNbbs App

(08-06-2014 12:30 PM)_C2_ Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:56 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:52 AM)stever20 Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:49 AM)HeartOfDixie Wrote:  

(08-06-2014 10:48 AM)stever20 Wrote:  K-State wasn't as bad as Northwestern was.

1976-89(the real bad stretch for Kansas St).
Kansas St was 32-120
Northwestern was 21-130

so Northwestern was 10 games worse than Kansas St was at their worst.

And K-State has gone on to do a lot more things than Northwestern. Hence, they are the better turnaround.

no one was as putrid as what Northwestern was. 34 straight losses I think it was?

They also haven't gone on and played for anything like K-State has.

They may be a little worse all time but they also haven't turned around like K-State has.

K-State has won their conference, finished ranked in the top 5, and played in major bowl games.

You mean like the ROSE BOWL?



That season was every bit as big as Appalachian State's upset of Michigan. K-State gradually built up thanks in large part to soft scheduling whereas NW was shot out of a cannon, starting off with a hair-raising upset of Notre Dame and was a loss to Miami University from likely heading into bowl season as the number 1 team in the country.

Northwestern got to one Rose Bowl.


KSU has been to two Fiesta Bowls and have been one game away from the national title twice (1998, 2012) with several other close years.