poll. During the 1995 season, Snyder led the Wildcats to the first 10-win season in school history. They also finished sixth in the AP Poll and seventh in the Coaches' Poll–their first top-ten finish in school history. This included a 41-7 thrashing of then-No. 6 Kansas in what is still the only Governor's Cup between two ranked teams. That win was also Snyder's 40th victory at K-State, vaulting him past Mike Ahearn to become the winningest coach in school history. Having never before won 11 games in a season, the Wildcats hit their stride from 1997 to 2000 with four consecutive 11-win seasons. By this time, the "Powercat" had all but replaced Kansas State's longtime mascot, "Willie the Wildcat," whose costume was redesigned to resemble the Powercat head. During the 1998 season, Kansas State posted an undefeated 11–0 regular season and earned its first number 1 ranking in the national polls, just ten years after being named the worst program in the country by Sports Illustrated. They lost to the Texas A&M Aggies in the Big 12 Championship Game, which has been called one of the greatest games played. The loss stopped them from reaching the National Championship and sent them to the Alamo Bowl, where they lost and finished the season 11–2. In the 2003 season, the team won the Big 12 championship — the school's second major conference title and their first since 1934. At the time, the 69-year gap between conference titles was the longest in Division I history. They beat #1 ranked Oklahoma in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game, 35–7. Leading up to the game, many college football analysts called Oklahoma one of the best teams. With an 11–4 record in 2003, Kansas State also became the only team in the country to win 11 games in six of the previous seven years and just the second program in the history of college football to win 11 games six times in a seven-year stretch. Following disappointing seasons in 2004 and 2005, when the Wildcats went 4–7 and 5–6, respectively, Snyder retired from Kansas State on November 15, 2005 with an overall record of 136–68–1 (.667). Not only did this make him far and away the winningest coach in Kansas State history, but his 136 wins were as many as his combined predecessors had won in the 54 years prior to his arrival. The day after