1971 Kansas State Wildcats football team

American college football season

1971 Kansas State Wildcats football
Conference	Big Eight Conference
Record	5–6 (2–5 Big 8)
Head coach	Vince Gibson (5th season)
Home stadium	KSU Stadium
Seasons ← 1970 1972 →

1971 Big Eight Conference football standings
v t e	Conf.					Overall
Team	W		L		T	W		L		T
No. 1 Nebraska $	7	–	0	–	0	13	–	0	–	0
No. 2 Oklahoma	6	–	1	–	0	11	–	1	–	0
No. 3 Colorado	5	–	2	–	0	10	–	2	–	0
Iowa State	4	–	3	–	0	8	–	4	–	0
Kansas State	2	–	5	–	0	5	–	6	–	0
Oklahoma State	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	6	–	1
Kansas	2	–	5	–	0	4	–	7	–	0
Missouri	0	–	7	–	0	1	–	10	–	0
$ – Conference champion Rankings from AP Poll

The 1971 Kansas State Wildcats football team represented Kansas State University in the 1971 NCAA University Division football season. The team's head football coach was Vince Gibson. The Wildcats played their home games in KSU Stadium. 1971 saw the wildcats finish with a record of 5–6, and a 2–5 record in Big Eight Conference play.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Opponent	Site	Result	Attendance	Source
September 11	Utah State *	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 7–10	30,000
September 18	at Tulsa *	Skelly Stadium Tulsa, OK	W 19–10	23,500
September 25	BYU *	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	W 23–7	37,500	^[2]
October 2	at No. 6 Colorado	Folsom Field Boulder, CO (rivalry)	L 21–31	47,740
October 9	at Kansas	Memorial Stadium Lawrence, KS (rivalry)	L 13–39	51,151
October 16	Iowa State ^dagger	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	L 0–24	31,074
October 23	No. 2 Oklahoma	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS	L 28–75	37,198
October 30	at Missouri	Memorial Stadium Columbia, MO	W 28–12	52,498
November 6	at Oklahoma State	Lewis Field Stillwater, OK	W 35–23	34,758
November 13	No. 1 Nebraska	KSU Stadium Manhattan, KS (rivalry)	L 17–44	42,300
November 20	Memphis State *	Memphis Memorial Stadium Memphis, TN	W 28–21	17,234
*Non-conference game ^daggerHomecoming Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game

1971 Kansas State Wildcats football team roster

Players

Coaches

Offense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
QB	`10`	Dennis Morrison	Jr
G	`74`	John Wells	So

Defense

Pos.	#	Name	Class
DB	`19`	Ron Coppenbarger	Jr
DE	`86`	John O'Neill	Jr

Special teams

Pos.	#	Name	Class

^ "1971 Kansas State Wildcats Schedule and Results". SR/College Football. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved November 7, 2019.
^ "Cats overcome misplays, 23–7". The Kansas City Star. September 26, 1971. Retrieved September 18, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.

v t e Kansas State Wildcats football
Venues	Ahearn Field (1911–1921) Memorial Stadium (1922–1967) Bill Snyder Family Football Stadium (1968–present)
Bowls & rivalries	Bowl games Colorado Iowa State Kansas Nebraska
Culture & lore	Willie the Wildcat "Wildcat Victory" "Wabash Cannonball" "Kansas Wildcats" (march) Marching band Timeline of football in Kansas Aggieville riots 1939 Nebraska game
People	Head coaches NFL draftees Statistical leaders
Seasons	1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025