Kevin Haskin: Disappointing fumble from devastating loss does not linger for Michael Bishop

HOUSTON — Michael Bishop watched Wednesday inside NRG Stadium. And yes, he understood the significance of the Texas Bowl matchup.

The football programs represented — Kansas State and Texas A&M — were those involved in the most significant of the three defeats Bishop suffered quarterbacking the Wildcats to 11-win seasons in 1997 and ’98.

But Bishop, who lives in the area and works with more than 100 rising young athletes as a club trainer, was at peace alongside other Texas football contributors introduced during pregame ceremonies. He was part of the 2016 class of Gridiron Legends, a presentation the Texas Bowl conducts annually.

Sure, Bishop may have glanced at a Texas A&M helmet and thought about the double-overtime loss K-State suffered in the 1998 Big 12 championship game with a BCS shot at the national title available.

After all these years, however, no one — probably not even Bill Snyder — has answered for the defeat as much as Bishop.

As good as the Wildcats were that season, with a team as loaded (eight players earned All-America recognition) as any Snyder has fielded, Bishop was the undeniable catalyst.

Inside the TWA Dome in St. Louis, he passed for 331 yards and rushed for 101, but a fourth-quarter fumble he lost on his own 35-yard line galvanized a stunning rally by the Aggies.

“A lot of people always ask me about the fumble, but from my standpoint I don’t discredit myself for all the things that happened before the fumble,’’ Bishop said.

“The offense as a whole, I thought we did a great job. We were up 27-13, but then all of a sudden we started handing the ball off, handing the ball off. All year we’d been scoring a lot of points, but for some reason we took our foot off their throat.’’

The devastating ending cannot be rewritten. That much Bishop understands. He lives with himself just fine. Not only as a player proud of his achievements, but also as a proud K-Stater.

Anything less would betray his personality and his soul.

“Everybody wanted him, because he was such an athlete. They wanted him for defense, but he just fit what we like to do and has as much talent as anybody you could ever find,’’ Snyder said.

“And he was such a great leader. That’s the thing that goes unnoticed, because he had such great spirit for the game. He was the epitome of loving to play the game.’’

When shaping quarterbacks, Snyder rarely takes chances. Most come through the system. Those he has inserted right away usually competed with others in-season.

Not so with Bishop.

Although he was a heralded transfer off a national championship team at Blinn Community College, Bishop realized he needed to transition quickly.

He watched other quarterbacks, including Jonathan Beasley, and was impressed by their dedication to detail. Same with team leaders such as linebacker Travis Ochs and offensive tackle Ryan Young.

“When I got there in the fall, not taking first-team, second-team reps, I could sit back and see how they were practicing and see the kind of attitude they had,’’ Bishop said.

“When I got to K-State, I was at the bottom of the pole. Seeing guys who had been there and wanted an opportunity to play, and how they handled themselves in and out of the huddle, I had to grasp that and understand, ‘This is the way K-State does it.’’’

Yet the Wildcats could make room for an additional playmaker at the QB position.

Snyder never really entertained another choice. Bishop would be raw, yet his powerful arm and strong legs could allow him to overcome any difficulty with the playbook.

“It was difficult in regard to fitting him into a system, but I didn’t want to tamp down his capabilities,’’ Snyder said.

“A lot of people would say, ‘Well, he doesn’t know what to get into yet. He doesn’t know what to get out of.’ And I said, ‘Let’s not tamp down his abilities.’ He made a lot of plays, most of them weren’t designed. He just had so much ability, throwing it and running it.’’

The good thing is that Bishop realized his skills could carry him. Sufficiently enough that he eventually set 34 K-State records.

“I basically had to start over,’’ he said, “but football is football.’’

So, there Bishop was, starting in his first game with the Wildcats.

He was benched once, at Texas Tech as a junior during a 13-2 slugfest won by the Wildcats.

“A lot of people don’t know this, and I didn’t really say anything, but my dad had just had a heart attack and that was my only game my mom and dad didn’t make it to,’’ Bishop said.

“So I had a lot on my mind, but I knew I wanted to play. My dad had surgery. I’d grown accustomed to looking up in the stands and seeing them. I’d pray and I’d look up. That game, I was thrown off a little bit with all that emotion going.’’

Soon, both parents were returning their son’s game-time glance again. They were alongside too when Bishop was a 1998 finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

The award was still presented then — “They might as well do a Broadway show with it now,’’ Bishop joked — at the Downtown Athletic Club.

Ricky Williams of Texas took home the Heisman after breaking the NCAA career rushing record held for 22 years by Tony Dorsett. Bishop, arguably a more dynamic player — both in the Big 12 and nationwide — finished as runner-up.

A few years ago, when K-State played at Texas and both were in attendance, the two caught up.

“Me and him had a conversation about the whole deal and I said, ‘Rick, who do you think should have won the Heisman?’’’ Bishop related. “And he said, ‘Mike, you really had a great career. I really thought you were going to get it.’ I told him, ‘I should have got it, but when you broke the record that sealed the deal.’’’

That confidence, which projected into the kind of indomitable spirit Snyder liked as much as the quarterback’s immense talent, is part of what made Bishop special.

That fumble against Texas A&M stripped him of a football, but not his greatness.

“I’m not mad at myself for the fumble,’’ Bishop said. “At the end of the day, I left everything I had on the field.’’

Which explains, along with his talents, why Bishop — a finalist for the 2017 College Football Hall of Fame class, which will be announced Jan. 6 — was on the field Wednesday, honored alongside other Texans as Gridiron Legends.

Contact Kevin Haskin at (785) 295-1159 or @KevinHaskin on Twitter.