K-State Q&A: Why legendary QB Michael Bishop belongs in the college Hall of Fame
As cool as it was to watch Darren Sproles jump around with excitement when the former Kansas State running back learned he was heading to the college football Hall of Fame earlier this week (and it was really freaking cool), I couldn’t help but wonder why he had to celebrate the milestone achievement alone.
He should have been virtually high-fiving Michael Bishop for the exact same accomplishment, with Bill Snyder smiling from ear to ear as he looked on via a Zoom call in Manhattan.
Instead, Bishop was left to wonder why he was once again overlooked for Hall of Fame inclusion, despite his storied career with the Wildcats.
It’s long past time for HOF voters to select Bishop, and I’m dedicating the space at the top of this week’s mailbag to explain why.
Bishop is the greatest quarterback in K-State history (sorry Collin Klein, Ell Roberson, Lynn Dickey and Steve Grogan), and he led the Wildcats to their best season in school history at the height of Snyder’s powers as coach back in 1998. That alone seems like enough to make him the next K-State Hall of Famer.
But if you are looking for a few more reasons, I’ve got some. Quite a few, actually.
As a junior-college transfer, he only played two seasons for the Wildcats but he still helped them win 22 games. They went 11-1 in 1997, beating everyone on the schedule other than old nemesis Nebraska. Then they started 11-0 and earned the school’s first No. 1 ranking in 1998, before a double-overtime loss in the Big 12 championship game prevented them from playing for a national title.
Other K-State teams have won 11 games, but none were better than those squads.
Bishop is one of the main reasons why. He threw for 4,401 yards and 36 touchdowns. He rushed for 1,314 yards and 23 touchdowns. Can you imagine the type of numbers he could have put up over a full four seasons?
He was a Heisman finalist, a consensus All-American and the Davey O’Brien Award winner in 1998.
There are quarterbacks currently in the college hall who haven’t accomplished nearly that much.
One more thing that I think gets overlooked: He did all of that after arriving on campus only a few weeks before his junior season began. Most quarterbacks wouldn’t have a prayer of leading an offense with so little time to prepare, but he was so talented that it didn’t matter. Who needs to know the intricacies of a system when you can just make a play happen by being really good at football?
“He made a lot of mistakes, but the great thing about Michael was that he made up for mistakes,” Snyder said a few months ago. “I always said Michael was the greatest sandlot football player that ever existed. He just loved to play the game and went out there and played. All the X’s and O’s didn’t mean all that much in the beginning. I probably tempered his talent by trying to make him learn more than time allowed.”
More than all that, it’s the way he played that should set him apart. He was ahead of his time as a dual-threat quarterback. Some credit him and Snyder for inventing the “wildcat offense” because Bishop was so successful running the ball behind 10 blockers out of the shotgun formation.
He also had a cannon for an arm. His college highlight tape remains legendary to this day.
Bishop didn’t go on to have much success in the NFL, and maybe that’s why he has been overlooked, but I would argue that he entered the professional ranks a few decades too early. Bishop, in his prime, would be an ideal fit for a modern NFL offense. He reminds me a lot of Cam Newton, who will almost certainly end up in the college Hall of Fame.
I’m not sure why Bishop isn’t also seen as a sure-fire selection. Maybe it’s because he only played two years of major college football and spent the other two at junior college? Perhaps it’s because he never developed into a star at the NFL level and voters have forgotten about his accomplishments from the 90s?
Neither of those are good reasons. His two seasons in Manhattan were elite.
It’s too bad Bishop and Sproles can’t be part of the same class. With Snyder already a member of the Hall of Fame, it would have made for a heck of a night to see all three of those K-State legends celebrating together at the induction ceremony in New York.
But there is still plenty of time for Bishop. Hopefully the voters wise up and select him in the near future. No former K-State player deserves the honor more.
Now, let’s get to your questions. Thanks, as always, for providing them.
It’s hard to say what it will take for Bishop to make it into the Hall of Fame, other than voters reading what I just wrote.
But I can say the Tony Romo vs. Michael Bishop thing isn’t worth getting upset about.
The National Football Foundation uses a weird voting system that is based on regions. There is also different criteria for anyone that played in FCS vs. FBS. So you can gripe all you want about Romo getting in over Bishop this year, but former FCS players (like Romo) come from an entirely different voting system than former FBS players (like Bishop) and only one of them is typically chosen every year. In 2020, that player was Steve McNair.
Voters like to make sure each class has members from different levels of college football. In other words: Romo didn’t take a spot away from Bishop. He took a spot away from another former FCS legend.
A voter filled me in on the process this week.
Kansas schools are in a district with Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. This year, there were about 30 candidates from those schools. Josh Heupel, who won a national title at OU, and Brad Banks, who was a Heisman runner up at Iowa, were two of the other quarterback candidates.
So even though Bishop has a deserving resume, he may have to wait a while with classes consisting of about 15 members. Only the truly slam-dunk options like Sproles get the call during their first year on the ballot.
I actually proposed an idea like this to a FCS athletic director once. My argument was that his football program could play exclusively guarantee road games for one season, bring in a huge surplus of money and then return to a normal schedule the following year.
He promptly gave me a million or so reasons why that was a horrible idea.
No athletic director likes selling home games, but lots of them do it occasionally in exchange for exposure, prestige, recruiting or money. Gene Taylor told me he probably wouldn’t have moved K-State’s upcoming game against Stanford to AT&T Stadium with a normal schedule that featured six or seven home games. But with eight home games on the schedule in 2021, and one of the team’s road games in Lawrence, it seemed like perfect timing.
The pandemic also had an impact. In normal times, maybe $2.8 million doesn’t look so enticing. But coming off a challenging financial year, that money is needed, especially when no one is sure how many fans will be allowed to watch games in Manhattan next season.
A quick aside: some have suggested this would never have happened with Snyder as coach. But I feel compelled to point out K-State twice played regular-season games at Arrowhead Stadium under his watch. And he agreed to play Oklahoma on the road every single year when he first arrived in Manhattan in exchange for cash.
I get both sides of the argument. Some want as many home games as possible to help the Manhattan community. Others want the Wildcats to rub shoulders with Alabama, USC, Ohio State and other powerhouse teams that have recently played kickoff games in Arlington, Texas.
K-State fans have been debating the topic since I wrote about the possibility of moving the Stanford game to a neutral venue back in 2019. At this point, we will all have to agree to disagree.
It’s happening.
The only other thing I would like to add to the conversation is that this will look and feel exactly like a home game for K-State. The Wildcats are getting ten times more tickets than the Cardinal and the pregame build up will be the same as it would be at Bill Snyder Family Stadium. It will just be played in Arlington.
Those are all valid reasons, especially that last one.
I will also say that playing in one of the kickoff classics sends a message that you have a quality football program. It’s not like college basketball where every single team is invited to play in an early season tournament.
The Dallas Cowboys don’t invite just anybody to play college games at their stadium. They want good matchups with good teams.
Playing this game won’t magically turn K-State into a blue blood, but it does help their prestige rating.
I’m expecting Stanford to be a small favorite, something in the neighborhood of a field goal.
The Cardinal went 4-2 this season, with all four victories coming on the road. Even under pandemic circumstances, that’s weird. They lose senior quarterback Davis Mills, but they return some key talent elsewhere.
K-State is probably in better shape than some would have expected with Skylar Thompson, Bronson Massie, Jahron McPherson, Cody Fletcher and possibly other seniors announcing their intentions to return for another year.
But the Wildcats ended their season on a five-game losing streak while the Cardinal ended their season on a four-game winning streak. Advantage Stanford.
I wouldn’t write off Will Howard just yet.
But K-State fans are definitely hoping something close to that comparison comes true with Skylar Thompson sticking around to mentor Jake Rubley and Howard next season.
The best possible scenario is that the presence of Howard and Rubley lights a fire under Thompson and he plays his best football next season, while Howard and Rubley see some snaps behind him and then hit the ground running in 2022.
But things rarely go that smoothly in college football. Someone could get injured or decide to transfer. Alex Smith and Patrick Mahomes were also both top 10 picks, while the verdict remains out on just how good Thompson, Howard and Rubley all are.
It’s not a perfect comparison, but it will be fun to monitor.
No.
Howard still has four years of eligibility remaining, even after starting seven games as a true freshman last year. So I can’t imagine any need to limit his games next season.
Rubley can play in up to four games next season and still retain four years of eligibility. If he’s the No. 3 guy on the depth chart, maybe the coaching staff will try and protect his redshirt. But if he’s the primary backup or the starter they won’t hesitate to play him. If he’s as good as advertised, they will want him on the field one way or another.
My current guess is that we won’t see any turnover on Chris Klieman’s coaching staff this offseason, but things can change at a moment’s notice.
No one was expecting departures last year until Michigan State had a late coaching change and the Spartans showed interest in former defensive coordinator Scottie Hazelton.
I’m the type of grocery shopper that tends to overlook an item or two on his list (often metaphorical, rarely tangible), so you can find me at Dillon’s several times per week buying something.
But that’s not the only place I go. Every month or so I end up Aldi, which my wife for some reason insists on calling Aldis, for protein bars or McDonald’s style breakfast hash browns.
I can’t really tell you what I specifically shop at HyVee for, but I do make a few visits there each year.
They are all quality establishments.
But I will always be partial to H-E-B. That’s what I grew up on in Austin, Texas.
It’s been a minute since I thought about the K-State baseball team, so forgive me for not being able to tell you every single detail about the Bat Cats.
But they looking good before their season was cut short last year with some excellent young pitchers. If they can build off that and find some offense, this could be the year Pete Hughes guides K-State back to the NCAA Tournament.
I think the four-game series will help the Wildcats for two reasons. First, they have good pitching. Second, it gives them more opportunities to beat quality competition.
My gut tells me the fighting Bruce Webers will win exactly four conference games this season.
But that comes with a pretty big caveat: Will that team every get healthy? The Wildcats are already down Montavious Murphy for the remainder of the season, and I have no idea what Kaosi Ezeagu and Luke Kasubke will be capable of when/if they play again this year.
Did I forget to mention the possibility of losing more players because of COVID-19 protocols?
At full strength, or something close to it, I see K-State winning three more Big 12 games — Iowa State (assuming it gets rescheduled) and Oklahoma at home, plus an upset somewhere.
But if they’re going to be the walking wounded all season, I’m lowering expectations.
There’s nothing too exciting to report.
Rodney McGruder is averaging 1.5 points as a role player with the Detroit Pistons.
Wesley Iwundu is averaging three points with his new team, the Dallas Mavericks.
Dean Wade is averaging 2.8 points as a reserve big with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This story was originally published January 15, 2021 at 5:00 AM with the headline "K-State Q&A: Why legendary QB Michael Bishop belongs in the college Hall of Fame."