KSU

1970 promised to be "The Year Of The 'Cats" with more records falling to QB Lynn Dickey and a senior-laden defensive backfield led by Clarence Scott and future collegiate head coach Ron Dickerson. On October 7, 1970, a promising year that began at 2-2 took a tumble when the Big 8 Conference placed K-State on three years probation for recruiting violations that included illegal financial aid, illegal recruiting practices, unethical coaching conduct, and scholastic eligibility issues. The 'Cats however followed the confident Dickey to another win over Oklahoma and defeats of strong conference foes Colorado and Missouri to finish at 6-5, their best record since 1954. Yankowski came up big and went on to play ten years at DE with the Cardinals. Dickey was the 3rd round choice of the Oilers and took his conference total offense record or 5779 yards there for four years before heading to the Packers for another nine. Bill Butler proved to be a worthy successor to Larry Brown with 497 yards rushing and HB Mike Montgomery whose dad Leroy was one of the Wildcats assistant coaches, would move on to a few good years as a versatile performer for the Chargers and Cowboys.

Gibson retained a similar uniform look for both 1970 and 1971, tweaking the helmet so that the silver shell with one-inch purple center stripe now had smaller one-and-a-half inch "NCAA-style" numerals in the rear, and the Wildcat head had a reversal of color and now sported a white nose and purple tongue. With the graduation of Dickey for the '71 season, Gibson reverted to a big back, ball-control offense highlighted by the rushing of future Saints RB Bill Butler, HB Isaac Jackson, and a good offensive line led by future Wildcat assistant coach Marion "Mo" Latimore. Their 5-6 finish however came after Oklahoma extracted payback for their 1970 upset loss in the form of a 75-28 thrashing, and from a furious offensive push that featured the passing of QB Dennis Morrison and a return to a wide-open offense that allowed for three victories in the final five games. This gave them a boost going into the 1972 season.